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18 done so well, having in four years decreased the proportion of first-class passengers carried by them from 37.3 to 35.8 per cent of the total in 1906; their second-class passengers have in- creased, however, on the same basis, from 37.3 to 38 per cent; but there has been a falling-off in their quota of steerage passengers from 36.2 to 33.2 per cent. vessels sailing to and from the south of England have an advantage, and it is consequently interesting to know that the White Star line propose to conduct their principal service from Southampton, with a call at Cher? bourg. The German liners call at both ports, in addition to Bremen and Hamburg, which gives a great advantage over Liverpool.--Engineering. GERMAN STEAMSHIP PROFITS. The steamship companies have begun to announce 'their business results for 1906, and, so far, these have not come up to the overwrought expectations that the speculating public had indulged in. Earn- ings, indeed, have been quite satisfactory, but the companies are setting aside large reserve and building funds; and this pre- vents the increase of dividends. The Hamburg-American line last week dis- appointed its stockholders by announc- ing a dividend of 10 per cent, as com- : pared with 11 per cent for 1905. The recent loss of two fine steamers at Jamaica, however, caused the company to be more careful than usual in con- structing its balance sheet. for the year. A semi-official statement has been given to the press calling attention to the fact that the profits of 1905 had been swollen by about 10,000,000 marks through the sale of old vessels to Russia and through the transportation of coal for the Russian government during the Russo-Japanese war. Leaving that factor out of account, the earnings in 1906 from ordinary sources rose from 26 to 32 million marks. The company's ocean-going fleet, including eight steamers now under con- struction, embraces 158 steamers of an aggregate tonnage of 830,000 tons. The North German Lloyd's business results for 1906 have not yet been offic- ially announced, but it is understood that gross earnings reached 36,000,000 marks, as compared with 33,000,000 marks for 1905, and according to semi- official outgivings the dividend will be 8% per cent, as compared with 714% per cent for 1905. The company has ordered seven steamers at German yards, mostly freighters of large capacity. The fourth swift steamer for the New York line, the Kronprinzessin Cecilie, which will be put on during the summer, will be the most efficient vessel of its class, having 45,000 indicated horsepower and making ap- There is no doubt that the. TRAE MARINE REVIEW proximately 24 knots. It will accommo- date 729 first-class, 318 second-class and 740 third-class passengers. The Hamburg-Australian Steamship Co. has announced a dividend of 12 per cent, being the same as for 1905. In view of the prosperity of its busi- ness a higher dividend was regarded as probable. The company has just pro- posed to the stockholders an increase of its capital from 12,000,000 to 16,000,000 marks. The Hamburg-South American Steamship Co., too, has just decided to raise its capital from 11,250,000 to 15,- 000,000 marks, besides issuing 5,000,000 marks in preference shares. Its total working capital is thus brought up to 30,000,000 marks. 'The increase is ren- dered necessary by the recent decision of the company to take over the New York-Brazil connection of the Union line, as well as for the purpose of putting faster steamers on the Hamburg-Buenos Ayres line. IRON DISTRICT OF THE FUTURE. The subject of the exhaustion of 'the Lake Superior ore deposits is an en- grossing one and estimates made by various students. of conditions gener- ally prove of interest. E. C. Eckels in the Engineering Maga- gime recently gave his convictions voice. He says: "The Lake Superior district, at pres- ent the leading American producer, has been explored more thoroughly than any other ore field in the United States, but estimates as to total ton- nage range within rather wide limits. At present the totals commonly quoted vary from 1,500,000,000 to 2,000,000,000 tons, of which the United States Steel Corporation is commonly supposed to control over three-fourths. This sup- ply is being drawn on to meet a con- stantly increasing annual demand, and it is conceded that before 1915 the dis- trict will probably be called upon to ship over 50,000,000 tons of ore a year. It is obvious that at such a rate the Lake Superior ores can hardly be ex- pected to last beyond the year 1950; and it is equally obvious that long be- fore that date the value of good work- able deposits of iron ore, both there and elsewhere in the United States, will have increased immensely. During the past year ore lands in the lake district have been. sold at a valuation of $1 per ton of ore in the ground, though the average valuation is still, of course, considerably below that price. "With regard to the southern iron ores the case is very different. Here the work which the Geological Survey has carried on during the past three years, and which was planned so as to obtain data on the quantity of ore available, gives us a fairly secure basis for tonnage estimates. The fol- lowing figures (in tons) are submitted as representing minimum values for the workable iron-ore reserves of cer- tain southern states, with the caution that further exploratory work in the south will probably increase rather than decrease these estimates: ; Red ore Brown ore PAA ys soe wich ee , 1,000,000,000 75,000,000 GeORStA iy vies eee oe 6 200,000;000 125,000,000 VENnESSCE see vs ws 600,000,000 225,000,000 NWiteinias 50 (esate * 50,000,000 300,000,000 POLO a ta ere wk ware aie 1,850,000,000 725,000,000 "This gives a total estimated re- serve for the red and brown ores of the four states noted of 2,575,000,000 tons. If to this we add the ores oc- curring at deeper levels in the states named, the red and brown ores of Maryland, West Virginia and Ken- tucky, and the magnetic ores of the other southern states, it is probably fair to assume that the total American ore reserve will amount to very nearly 10,000,000,000 tons--or five times that credited to the Lake Superior district." MASSACHUSETTS NAUTICAL SCHOOL. The fiftieth annual report of the com- missioners of the Massachusetts Naut- ical Training School has been issued. The school is maintained by the com- monwealth of Massachusetts for the pur- pose of training young. men for nautical pursuits, the duties both of bridge and engine room being given attention. The training ship Enterprise is used by the school. for practical voyages to various parts of the world. A large number of the graduates of the school during the past 12 years have obtained and held responsible positions at sea and consider- ing the enfeebled condition of the mer- chant marine the showing is remarkable. A scheme is afoot for the construc- tion of a canal across. Central. Scot- land, connecting the Atlantic and Ger- man oceans--the two most frequent- ed seas in the world. 'The canal-is to be capabie of carrying the largest bat- tleships afloat and would extend from Yoker on the Clyde to Grangemouth on the Forth and would be 29 miles long, 36 ft. deep and 120 ft. in width at the bottom. The Atlantic Works, Inc. 28th street and Gray's Ferry Road, Philadelphia, Pa., recently received an order from the Portland Ship Building Co., Portland, Me. for one of their large dimension planing machines arranged to plane tim- bers 30 ft. in length.