The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

lengthened and remodeled and the Rapids steamer Rapids King launched, both of which vessels are to be in commission the coming season. The construction of two other vessels is contemplated. The sum of $36,000 has been set aside out of the year's earn- ings as an insurance fund. NAVAL APPROPRIATION OF $95,000,000, An appropriation of about $95,000,- 000 is provided for in the naval appro- priation bill agreed upon recently by the house committee on naval affairs. -- The bill provides for an additional bat- tleship, two torpedo boat destroyers, and appropriates $2,0000,000 for sub- marines. 'This $2,000,000 is additional to the $1,000,000 for submarines 'pro- vided last year, which has not yet been expended. Provision ss made for about 3,000 additional sailors and 900 additional marines. The rank of the commandant of marines is raised from brigadier general to major general. The new battleship provided for is to be a sister ship of the monster authorized by congress last year, which the bill required should be "a first- class battleship, carrying as heavy ar- mor and as powerful armament as any known vessel of its class, to have the highest practicable speed and greatest - practicable radius of action." Last year's bill provided that plans for such a ship should be submitted to congress, and the navy department sent these plans to the capital early this session. The cost of these two battleships is estimated at $10,000,000 each. REVENUE CUTTER BIDS RE- JECTED. Washingtot, D. CG. Feb. 13--Be-- cause none of the bids on the rev- enue cutter which is tg be built under the last appropriation of congress complied with the specifications as to delivery, the secretary of the treas- 'ury has readvertised for bids. Accord- ing to the advertisements the new bids are to be opened Feb. 26. In re- sponse to an urgent appeal from the Pacific coast congressional tion the secretary of the treasury in the specifications for the first bids re- quired Puget Sound delivery. It was expected that the Pacific coast ship yards would take advantage of this . specification bid for the cutter. But the result was disappointing as there were no bids from the coast, In the new specifications 'yard delivery is re- quired. This places all ship yards on the same basis. The limit of cost for the ship is $160,000. delega- "TAE MARINE. REVIEW SHIPMASTERS' LICENSES. A. bill introduced by Mr. Waldo, of New York, was recently reported out' of the house committee on merchant ma- rine and fisheries, which amends the revised statutes relating to licensed mas- ters, mates, engineers, and pilots. It reads as follows: "Every master, mate, engineer, and pilot, who shall receive a license shall, when employed on any vessel, within forty-eight hours after going on duty, place his certificate of license, which shall be framed under glass, in: some con- Spicuous place in such vessel where it can be seen by passengers and others at all times. Provided in case of emer- gency, such officer may be transferred to another vessel' of the same owners for a period not exceeding forty-eight hours without the transfer of his licenses to such other vessel,..and for every neglect to comply with the provision by any such master, mate, engineer, or pilot, he shall be subject to a fine of one hun- dred dollars or to the revocation of his license." It is stated in the report' that it is practically impossible to comply with the present statute in large ports. Ferry lines, tow boats and lines of steamers running to nearby ports usually have many vessels engaged in the traffic, and in the case of sickness or injury it is frequently necessary to transfer officials or employes from one boat to another. Without this, boats would frequently be tied up, greatly to the inconvenience of travel. : : The merits of the bill seem to be without question, and those back of it © are confident that it will receive prompt attention. It has been recommended by _ the department of commerce and labor and a letter to that effect is appended to the renort. TOO MANY NAVY YARDS. So much dissatisfied are the mem- bers of the naval affairs committee of the house, as' well as several other congressman interested in naval mat- ters, with the present management of the navy yards that they are planning 'to send the naval officers stationed in. them back to their ships and put the navy yards into the hands of civilians who know something about business. The. committee estimates that $1,- 000,000 can be saved annually by con- solidating the various bureaus. It is likely that committee will recommend that next year civilians be put at the head of the construction work. Chair- man Foss expressed the opinion that such a plan not only would give back to the navy 200 officers, of which it is in great need, but would greatly re- duce the expenses of the navy yards. 23 "This matter is only in its forma- tive stage, however," he said. "It is unquestioned that naval officers are more valuable to the government when they are at sea, their natural ele- ment, than when doing' shore duty. If the present plan is carried out, we would authorize the navy to hire trained civilians to be put in charge ot all construction work at navy yards. Naval officers could continue to perform the military functions of the yards, and they would be detained as designers and inventors, but the work they mapped out, we believe, could be done better if it were turned over to civilians for execution." Some members of the committee are of the opinion that there are too many navy yards, and are in favor of abolishing those at Portsmouth, N. H., Philadelphia, Charleston, Wash- ington and New Orleans, and concen- trating all the work at Boston, Brook- lyn, Norfolk and Pensacola. TURBINE CHANNEL STEAMERS. There will soon be a notable fleet of turbine steamers in the English channel as the two turbine steamers which Messrs. Denny & Bros., Dum- barton, are building for the South- eastern & Chatham railway, will be ready for service in the summer. The London & Southwestern and the Great Eastern railways are seriously con- sidering turbines as a means of pro- pulsion for their next new steamers, and the Zeeland company, now run- ning paddle-wheel steamers between Queensborough and _ Flushing, will likely build an experimental turbine steamer when the paddle boats are superseded. For channel service tur-_ -bines are much superior to reciprocat- ing engines, although the advantage is not so marked in the 18-knot boats as it is in the boats whose speed is over 21 knots. The bid lof the International Contract © Co. of Seattle was the lowest submitted for a dredge to be used at Panama, --- The schooner Casco, which carried Robert Louis Stevenson on his voyage through the south seas, went ashore at San Quentin Bay and will prove a total loss. She was owned by the Victoria Sealing Co. \ The Richelier & Ontario Navigation Co. has under consideration the building of a new passenger steamer for its Rap- ids'service. The vessel is to be a sister 'ship of the Rapids King and will prob- ably be named Rapids Queen. The com- pany also contemplates building a freight and passenger steamer for its Hamilton line.