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it 1902.] MARINE REVIEW. a SHIP BUILDING IN SCOTLAND. SUMMARIES FOR THE HALF YEAR--THE SHIP BUILDING MATERIAL MARKET-- OUTLOOK IN SCOTCH YARDS--NOT GREATLY IMPRESSED WITH PROPOSITIONS OF THE COMBINE. Glasgow, July 10.--There has been rather a pause in the combine power since my last letter. No new prospect has jumped from the brain of some sensation-loving journalist with more wealth of imagination than knowledge of shipping. Your reports of Nixon's ship building combine are, however, read with interest, though with some surprise that the mag- nitude of it is so much exaggerated. The capital involved does not seem as large as in our own Vickers-Beardmore combine, which, again, is but one among a crowd. It is an error to claim that the United States Ship Building Co. will be the only concern.in the world able to build and equip a battleship in every detail. The Armstrong-Whitworth Co, of New- castle-on-Tyne have for many years been in that position--able to supply a complete warship from the iron ore, smelting their own pigs, casting their own steel, founding their own guns, and sending the biggest of mod- ern warships straight away from their own quay to. sea ready to engage an enemy in the offing, if need be. The Vickers-Beardmore combine are now in the same position, with the advantage of two ports of origin, the Clyde and Barrow. And as for general producing capacity, we produce on the Clyde alone (without taking into account the great English rivers at all) as much tonnage in a year as all the ship yards in the United States put together do, and that of the most perfect quality both as to hull and machinery. _ In June the Scotch ship builders turned out twenty-six vessels of 47,896 tons, of which twenty-two vessels and 389,200 tons were on the Clyde, two vessels and 4,620 tons on the Tay, and one vessel of 4,000 tons on the Dee. This total compares with forty vessels and 59,250 tons in May, and with twenty-nine vessels and 47,000 tons in June, 1901. It brings up our total for six months ending June 30 to 259,800 tons, which is 13,000 tons ahead of our previous record, and that of the first half of 1901. I show the June and the half year output since 1890 for purpose of comparison, HALF YEAR OUTPUT OF SCOTCH SHIP YARDS. Month | Six months Month Six months Year. of Jutie. ending June. | Year. of June. ending June. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. 1890) ees 33,670 209.670) | ASOT 3. 31,960 159,450 1891 4 ees 43,470 LOL 00018908. 51,070 227,600 IBOF ees 38,430 240,890 t 1800 2. oe 38,565 256,310 18908 se 27,900 132,090 | 19000. ee 52,530 232,590 189A ae 40,700 183,490 | 190) 005. 4. 3 47,030 246,750 1890. ee 45,500 14 880 =) TO0R ea 47,900 259,800 1896 es 28,350 201,290 | Of the June product one vessel was over 6,000 tons, two between 5,000 and 6,000 tons, three between 4,000 and 5,000 tons, four between 3,000 and. 4,000 tons, four between 1,000 and 2,000 tons, and the rest under 1,000 tons each. Among the items were the twin-screw Sardinia of 6,850 tons and 3,500 I.H.P., built by Barclay, Curle & Co., Ltd., for the P. & O. Co.; the twin-screw California of 5,600 tons and 5,000 I.H.P., built by Caird & Co. for the Pacific Steam Navigation Co.; the single-screw cargo boat Kish of 5,500 tons and 2,300 I.H.P., built by Scott & Co. for the Clyde Shipping Co.; the twin-screw South Port of 4,300 tons, built by Napier & Miller for the Norfolk & North American Steam Shipping Co. of New York; the steamer Wyandra of 3,650 tons, built by Alexander Stephen & Sons for the Australian United Steam Navigation Co.:; the spar-deck steamer Chlumeckey of 3,600 tons and 1,700 I.H.P., built by Russell & Co. for Austria; the screw steamer Bacchus of 3,100 tons, built by Robert Duncan & Co. for Greece; the Victoria of 3,000 tons and 3,500 1.H.P., built by Gourlar Bros. & Co., Dundee for Melbourne, Australia; the screw Runa of 1,600 tons, built by the Caledon Ship Building & En- gineering Co., Dundee, for the Wilson line, Hull; the awning-deck steamer Taurus of 1,240 tons, built by the Campbelltown Ship Building Co. for Norway. There were a number of small coasters for the colonies and continent and a number of dredgers, hopper barges and fishing steamers for home and colonial ports. Of the tonnage launched 6,770 tons was for Australia, 1,400 tons for Natal, 210 tons for New Zealand, 3,580 tons for Austria, 3,100 tons for Greece, 1,240 tons for Norway, and the rest for British owners. This large half-year output has necessarily reduced the amount of work on hand, but orders have been coming in more freely during the second quarter than during the first quarter. And more contracts have been booked than have been reported. I estimate that Scotch builders still have on hand orders for about 400,000 tons of new shipping, not in- cluding what is already in the water in various stages of completion but just what is on the stocks or is being made ready to lay down. The new admiralty contracts account for nearly 50,000 tons and some big liners have been arranged for without any advertisement. The comparatively low price is also tempting owners of cargo boats to place orders on the quiet, in the hope that the freight markets will have improved before any- thing now being contracted for can be ready for service. This week, for instance, an order has been placed for a 6,000-ton "tramp" at a price that will work out at somewhere about £6 10s. per ton. I need scarcely say that this is a very low figure compared to what has been paid during the last two or three years. CONDITION OF SHIP BUILDING MATERIAL MARKET. Ship builders are not getting much relief.in their wage bills, but all material is lower and there is an expectation of still lower prices. Steel ship plates are quoted here £5 17s. 6d., less 5 per cent., and in the north of England £5 15s., less 2% per cent., but I doubt if any builder has actually paid these figures and I hear of sales appreciably under them. Prices of iron and steel material would undoubtedly be lower but for the firmness of pig iron caused by conditions in the United States. Our stocks of crude iron are now very low indeed and there is always before the market the passibility of the whole of these stocks--or such portion of them as may be procurable--being shipped off to America, leaving our warrant yards in the condition of the cupboard of our old friend Mother Hubbard. In such circumstances smelters are naturally very firm in their ideas, and they also have no stocks, sending all their weekly outputs direct into consumption. Pig iron is going across from Glasgow to the United States by liners every week, and in occasional full cargoes from the Tees, A day or two ago an order for 4,000 tons Scotch foundry iron was booked here for prompt shipment to America and another for 3,500 tons Cleve- land iron for shipment from Middlesboro. I also hear of a sale of 5,000 tons of Cumberland hemetite for shipment, via Glasgow, if direct freight cannot be got from one of the small Cumberland ports, and of one ot 3,000 tons Scotch steel billets, all for your side. These instances by no -- means constitute the whole of the movement in iron and steel westward from us; they are only named as examples within the last few days of what is going. And so long as they are going on it is not likely that our mar- kets will react. But as soon as the pressure in America eases off, I think we shall see a decline in ship building material here, and it is upon the probable decline during the last six months of the year that ship own- ers and ship builders seem to be now acting. As it is, our ship yards are already provided with a fair amount of work to carry them over the winter, although at the moment there are fewer men employed than at this time last year. Next week the Clyde yards will prepare to shut down for the annual "fair holidays,' whose duration depends both on the state of the men's exchequer and on the state of the employer's order book. It is usually about a week, but sometimes is spun into a fortnight and the inter- regnum is utilized for general overhaul and repairs in the workshops. To the above named output of Scotch ship yards in June must be added the output of the English yards, estimated at 44,000 tons (as com- pared with 76,800 tons in June last), from which it will be seen that the English yards are not nearly so well employed as those in Scotland, The Irish output was only 3,000 tons, as compared with 12,000 tons in the cor- responding month. The output of all the yards in the United Kingdom in the six months ending June 30 last was about 670,000 tons, as compared with 725,000 tons in the first half of 1901 and with 610,000 tons in the first half of 1900. The Wyandra, mentioned above among the June products, is a steamer built by Alexander Stephen & Sons with special designs for the inter-colonial trade of the Australian United Steam Navigation Co. of Melbourne. She is 350 ft. in length, 46 ft. in breadth and is of 3,650 tons. Accommodation for 200 first-class and 150 second-class passengers is provided on three decks. There is a combined poop and bridge deck, 250 ft. long, on which are special deck cabins, and a promenade deck over- head on which are officers' cabins. At each hatch are hydraulic cranes of rapid and noiseless motion, and the machinery for steering gear, warping gears, etc., is of steam. NOT DEEPLY IMPRESSED WITH THE COMBINE'S PROPOSITIONS. Shipping men here are not deeply impressed with the evidence given by Mr. W. J. Pirrie of Harland & Wolff and the White Star line before a select committee on shipping subsidies, a summary of which has doubtless been cabled to your side. According to Mr. Pirrie the Morgan combine has been established '"'purely for commercial purposes and on business principles," which is precisely what everybody (except a few hysterical London newspapers and the people who take their opinions from them) have all along taken for granted. Mr. Pirrie also says that the deal is "in every way satisfactory to the English companies," which it is not diffi- cult to believe, seeing that they have got for their property about five times its market value. But he doth protest too much when he tries to convince the committee and the public that by the establishment of the: "community of interests" the British national shipping and ship building industries will be placed in a more secure position than before. People -- feel that in this connection it would be better for both Mr. Morgan and Mr. Pirrie to drop the patriotic and national lay. The deal has been negotiated by each in his own interests, and in the interests he manages, and there is no need to gloss over anything. As for Mr. Morgan's offer to contract with the admiralty that none of the British vessels in the com- bine shall for fifty years be transferred to a foreign registry without the written consent of the president of the board of trade, and that all ships built in Britain for the combine during that period shall be held at the disposal of the admiralty, either for cruisers or transports, on the same terms as those that may be accorded to other British owners--well we do smile. It would be interesting to know how much Mr. Pirrie himself would offer for such a contract were it put up to auction. It tickles the noses of the newspaper men who cannot see beyond the end. of those or- gans, but it is only froth and flummery. Is the Morgan Combine worth five, not fifty years', purchase? _ Pittsburg offices of Westinghouse, Church, Kerr & Co. have been removed from the first floor of the Westinghouse building to more com- modious quarters on the eighth floor of the same building. This change is the direct outcome of largely increased business in the district. This company is prepared to give immediate attention to all classes of general engineering and construction work as applied to power and its uses in transportation and industry. They will provide in all cases from their engineering force adequate personal supervision of work in hand, both during construction and subsequent thereto, and the increased facilities afforded by their new quarters will enable them to fulfill the most extensive contracts. The official address is Westinghouse, Church, Kerr & Co., Westinghouse building, Pittsburg. In attempting to enter the harbor at Christiania, Norway, the battle- ship Illinois struck the bottom and will have to go into dry dock in Eng- land. It appears that while the Illinois was standing into the harbor, lead- ing her squadron, her steering gear failed and her helm jammed hard to starboard with the ship headed straight for the shore. Both anchors were let go and her engines backed promptly, but the port anchor chain parted. The ship struck bottom and two small compartments were filled with water. She eventually backed off and anchored safely. It is likely that Rear Admiral Crowninshield wil{ transfer his flag to the cruiser Chicago. Mr. C. E. Walker, who has for a number of years been connected with the Marine Review, and who is at present its advertising representa- tive in Chicago, has secured an interest in the American Jeweler, a Chi- cago monthly publication. He will assume the business management of the American Jeweler. As Mr. Walker's experience in trade journalism is extensive the American Jeweler cannot help but be strengthend by his intimate connection with it. : oe