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14 THE BUSY PORT OF KARACHI. BY WALTER J. BALLARD. According to Consul E. H. Denni- son of Bombay, in Daily Consular and Trade Reports, Karachi, India, is a very busy port. It serves the province of Sind and the Indus Val- ley. Exports from this port in 1906-7 (March 31) reached $51,085,069, an increase of $14,177,779 over 1905-6. They consisted of, chiefly, raw cot- ton, 'cotton seed, raw hides, rice (not in husk), seeds (rape $5,510,000), skins, wheat ($23,186,474), raw wool, chick peas, grain, barley, and animal bones. Rape seed exports increased 101 per cent in value over 1905-6. Smaller crops in Bengal and Burmah account for the four-fold increase in rice ex- ports. In cotton seed the export in- crease was 512 per cent in value. In spite of the plague keeping many native merchants and country dealers away the imports during 1906- 7 fiscal year were the largest on record, and about 10 per cent more than in 1905-6. Sugar figured for $5,958,062, supplied chiefly by Austria- Hungary, $2,356,712 worth; Germany, $1,637,639, and Java, $1,084,056. Pro- visions, metals and manufactures de- creased for 4 to 9 per. cent. Con- siderable increase occurred in nails, hardware, building materials, tools, rails and plates, large increase (over 100 per cent) in kerosene, reaching 6,994,133 gallons worth $1,026,539. Ar- ticles wholly and partly manufactured increased $1,539,208 or 9 per cent. Yarns and textile fabrics totaled $15,- 965,991, an increase of $2,544,377. In all the imports footed up $31,395,615, a net gain of $2,253,000. In sheetings and drills, American makes suffered a loss of $136,877. In the aggregate the American share of the port's total trade rose from $1,658,510 in 1905-6 to $2,676,121 in 1906-7 due to larger sales of kerosene and larger pur- chases of hides, skins and wool. Still the United States gets only 3.18 per cent of the total trade of the busy port of Karachi. FRENCH LINE'S PROGRESS. In a recent address to stockholders of the Compagnie Generale Transatlan- tique (the French line), Mr. Jules-Charles Roux, the president, gave the following interesting information showing the com. pany's financial and physical progress: "The fleet, being the most important of our tools, underwent thorough modi- fications and improvements, The gross tonnage from December, 1904, was 171,- 127 tons; December 31, 1905, 196,815 tons; December 31, 1906, 205,014 tons; Decem- ber 31, 1907, 225,305 tons. In an interval THe Marine REVIEW | of four years our fleet has been increased 54,178 tons, a proportion of 32 per cent during that period. "The average age of our steamers, which in 1904 was eighteen years, in 1905, sixteen, 1906 fourteen, has dropped to twelve years in 1907. The age of our fleet has, therefore, been reduced six years, that is, about one-third. "Tn a word, the value of the ton which before the reduction of the capital (De- cember 31, 1903) was 624 francs, 436 in 1904, 426 francs in 1906, is found to 'have been reduced to 383 francs Decem- ber 31, 1907, which may be considered a reasonable price for a fleet composed, in a great part, of steamers of a very high cost price. Consequently, from 1903 to 1907, there is a difference as to the value of the ton of 241 francs, namely, a de- crease of 38 per cent, notwithstanding the addition to the fleet of La Provence, of which the price of the ton is 1,040 francs. "In 1907 there disappeared from the fleet 9,061 tons. There was added this year 29,661 tons, and there will be 52,600 additional tons next year. "As ragards our receipts, these have progressed as follows: 51,775,165 francs in 1904; 57,427,000 francs in 1905; 68,393,- 559 francs in 1906; about 72,000,000 in 1907, and as we have not made many more sea miles than last year, as our expenses will proportionately remain the same, we will be in a position to prove to our shareholders, when our next meet- ing takes place, that we have in no way forgotten the sacrifices they so courage- ously made four years ago." GOVERNMENT STEAMSHIP LINE. J. L. Bristow, who was appointed as special commissioner of the Pan- ama railroad last August with instruc- tions 'to report whether it was advisa- ble to establish a government steam- ship line between Panama and United States ports on the Pacific coast, has made a-report to the secretary of war in which he says that the weight of the argument is strongly in favor of establishing the service. He thinks a government line on the Pacific coast would be desirable for the trans- portation of canal supplies and ma- terials and canal employes, for keep- ing open and improving the Isthmian route of commerce and for procuring cargoes for the Panama railroad for steamships homeward bound from Colon. Mr. Bristow says that to per- form the service required on the Pacific coast would necessitate the purchase of from six to nine ships at an estimated cost of from $3,500,000 to $6,000,000. PRESERVATION OF PILING AGAINST MARINE BORERS, The length of service of piles in . wharfs and other marine structures js greatly shortened 'by the attack of marine borers, or ship worms. A method of protection, both efficient and cheap, is much needed, the more so because the timbers best suited for piling are becoming very scarce and are increasing rapidly in price. 'Marine borers are found as far north as Maine and Alaska, though they are more numerous and destruc- tive in the warmer water farther south, Since they require only a small exposed surface in order to gain entrance and completely destroy a pile, any effective means of preserva- tion must protect the wood from high waiter mark to a point in the mud be- low which the borers do not go. A number of excellent methods have been devised for protecting pil- ing by external coatings or sheathings, any of which, properly applied, will increase the life of the pile. Three factors which decrease their efficiency are the corroding action of salt water', the wash of the waves which injur jes and often breaks the casing, and © dangers from floating 'timbers debris. Thick iron cases resist " age from these sources for as. long period, but they are very expereAsive. The injection of prese /rvatives through holes bored in the ~ top of of wood. All soluble saltsgs have also shown a tendency to leach out when exposed to salt water. GImpregnation with creosote, a coal-tar "?product, has usually proved highly ¢ efficient with suitable kinds of timber, ,'properly pre- pared, when a sufficient quantity of good creosote is used. The principal timbers /Pused for pil- ing are longleaf, short! teaf, and _ lob- lolly pine, and white arfd red oak on the Atlantic coast ands Gulf of Mex- ico, and Douglas fir ¢bn the Pacific coast. Spruce, redwoc$d, cedar, cy- press, eucalyptus, and | palmetto are used locally. All of thépse woods with the exception of palmetto are subject to damage by borers.} Hardness is not a complete barrie to their at- tack, although boring | is probably slow in dense woods. jSouthern pine and oak can be impregnjated with cre- osote, and this promiseg; to be one of the most efficient mearts of resisting the borers. It is probajble that some of these timbers can we successfully treated by the operp-tank process. However, if a heavy absorption is de-