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ceived, the lowest being that of $1 per barrel by the Burt Portland Ce- ment Co., Bellevue, Mich. Only two bids were received for the work of excavation, one from the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., Cleveland, at 43 cents per cubic yard, and the other from FF, L.. Dulocherat Sault. Sté. Marie, at 4734 cents per cubic yard. While lying at the mouth of Stur- geon Bay waiting for the steamer Mo- hegan to pick her up, the barge,: An- nabel Wilson was run into by Car- ferry No. 1 in tow of the tug Fisher. The stern of the Wilson was crushed in. Three scows, belonging to the Lake Erie Dredging Co., Buffalo, broke away from the tug Fred A. Lee while being towed from Erie to Buffalo last Monday and ran ashore near Dunkirk. While being towed down the Cuya- hoga river from the Irishtown coal dock Aug. 12, the stern of the steam- er Wm. Livingstone hit the fishing tug Charm and damaged her house. Hy, - His. fhonipson, diver, has. suc- ceeded in raising part of the machin- ery of the steamer Hesper which was sunk near Beaver Bay several years ago. He bought the wreck some time since from the underwriters. The little passenger steamer Plow Boy ran aground at the entrance to Portage Lake at midnight on Tuesday last. The passengers were taken off and carried to Houghton. The Plow Boy was released, uninjured, the fol- lowing day. The steamer Oregon, loaded with pulpwood which ran on Diment shoal, North Channel, last Monday night, caught fire and was totally destroyed. Part "of the cargo "was saved. ~The Oregon was owned by J. W. Squires, of Michigan City, Ind. The Pittsburg Coal Co.'s fuel dock at Point Aux Frene in Mud Lake col- lapsed last week. The north pockets and derricks were thrown into the water. John A. Donaldson, general agent for the company, went to in- spect the damage. Capt. A. C. Bartlett, an old time ves- sel master on the great lakes, died last week. Capt. Bartlett began his career as a sailor when a boy in the early forties and continued until 1882. Among old time craft which he sailed were the schooners Magic, Champion, Albatross,:'C.. Y. Richman,. Lark, Jz S: Newhouse and Monteagle and _ the steamers Old Concord, Comet, Benton, Norman, St. Paul, Messenger, Skylark and Lora. Major Charles Kellar, upon his re- turn from the annual inspection of the lighthouses in his district this week - of the various political parties, ps : TAE Marine Review reported that the new lighthouse build- ing on Rock of Ages, at the wester- ly end of Isle Royale, Lake Superior, is practically completed. Only the in- terior work on the lighthouse and the placing of the beacon remains to be done, and it is expected that the light will be placed in operation by Oct. 1. President Livingstone, of the Lake Carriers' Association, is advised by the state department that the Canadian government will provide and maintain a light vessel at Southeast Shoal, Lake Erie. The lightship Kewaunee, at present stationed at this shoal, is maintained privately by the Lake Car- riers' Association. SECOND BUSINESS MEN'S CON- FERENCE. Another conference of the business interests of the port of New York was held recently at which the com- mercial development of the port was discussed with a view to providing remedies for existing evils such as lack of terminal facilities, excessive port charges and unfair discriminations, which have led to the failing off of a great portion of the grain trade form- erly going to that port but now cen- tered in Montreal. Among the ideas advanced was one that the state of New York should own the waterfront of 'the! city 'of New York The following resolutions were adopted: (1) That this conference directs at- tention to the lack of proper canal, rail and terminal facilities to handle the commerce of the port and state of New York, to excessive port and terminal charges, inflicting undue and unnecessary burdens upon our com- merce, and to the existence of other unfair discriminations, which all com- bine to divert a large portion of the commerce naturally tributary to us, in consequence of which all interests are made to suffer. (2) That this conference hereby ap- peals to the nominating conventions that only such persons shall be deemed worthy to fill the offices of governor, lieutenant governor, senator and as- semblyman and the administrative of- fices of the state who, in addition to other high qualifications, shall be zealous to bring about a repeal of laws now obstructing the commercial development of the port and state of New York and who will do all in their power to secure the enactment of laws requisite to hasten the restora- tion of our commercial prosperity. (3) That the president, together with at least two members to be ap- pointed by him, shall constitute the committee on finance, who shall have power in such manner as they | may deem wise and expedient to "sectre funds to carry out the objects: of the ponte ea ITEMS OF GENERAL INTEREST. The Danish bark Emilie recently ar- _ rived at New York under jury rig, having tun into a gale off Cape Hatteras in which she lost her deck load of mahog- any, her masts and a goodly share of her canvas. The Emilie was bound from Santa Cruz to Havre when overtaken and left helpless by the storm. 'The army engineers engaged in the survey of the Panama railroad have located it in such a manner that it is expected to lessen the cost of chang- ing its route to accommodate the canal by $781,000. A synopsis of Col, Goethals' annual report contains this statement as well as a statement to the effect that more than a million dollars has been saved by the satisfac- tory settlements that have been made with persons owning land which is to be appropriated for canal purposes. In- stead of costing $2,000,000 the assess- ments will aggregate only $250,000. The navy department is soon to invite bids for the construction of ten oil-burn- ing torpedo boat destroyers of the swift- est and most efficient type, not more than three of the vessels to be built at any one plant. The limit of cost for each vessel has been placed at $800,000. The new bat- tleships provided for at the last session of congress are also to have tanks for carry- ing oil fuel although for ordinary steam- ing coal is to be used, the oil being used only when extraordinary speed is desired. The government has previously hesitated to make any practical use of crude pet- roleum for fuel, although it is in high favor by steamship owners on the Pacific coast, many vessels having been fitted with the apparatus for its use in the last few years. A new Italian steamship law pro- vides that the captain of every steam- ship carrying more than 50 emigrants to Italy must have a permit from the Italian consul at New York before sailing to certify that he has com- plied with the requirements of the law with respect to space on deck and below as well as in the food. sup- plied. All particulars must be entered on the permit by the consul and any captain sailing without such a permit will be punishable. Consul General Annibale Massiglia, of the port of New York, began the enforcement of this regulation recently by a thor- ough inspection of the Cunarder Pan- nonia and the Austro-American liner Argentina.