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28 have had her out she was handled by a lake captain who has had much experience in handling twin screw car ferries on the lake, and he ex- presses himself as being pleased, thoroughly satisfied, delighted, with 'the way in which the boat could be handled. There is practically only one other point about the boat which is some- what unusual, and that is the matter that has to be tested out. It is not 'known really whether it will be a good thing or nof, and that is the dredge spuds which are fitted to the boat. Since the drainage canal was opened in Chicago, the current through the main river and through the south branch sometimes runs from three to four miles an hour. If a fire should take place in a grain elevator, for instance, right on the bank of the river, it is possible that the boat would find no place she could tie up' to on the same side of the river, where she could reach the fire with her ~ streams. Tt . might very well be, at the particular point that a fire happens, that the other side of the river is too far away, and it would be difficult to hold the boat against the current in one position. We therefore fitted in the boat these steel hollow dredge spuds, two for- ward and one aft, as shown in the drawing, and the idea is to run them down until their pointed ends strike into the bottom of the river. They can be run twenty-four feet below the surface of the water, and the usual depth is twenty feet. It is supposed they will be very useful, but that remains to be seen. Mr. Edwatd P, Bates: How. many miles of the river is suitable for dockage from the lake, inland? Mr. Babcock: I should say ten or twelve miles altogether. There is one thing I am very happy to say I could sue Captain Kenlon on, * and that is the position for the suction of the pump. Discussion by F. M.. Wheeler. Mr, Prederick M.. Wheeler: --.1 would like to ask a question, and drop a little thought in regard to the matter of this loss of pressure be- tween the pump and the hose nozzle. I have studied more or less the sub- ject of currents in piping, but I have been stirprised to learn how little there is recorded in that connection, very little experimenting, and' very little: written on the subject. It is one that 'is full of interest, and I hope sometime to institute some ex- THe Marine REVIEW periments with glass tubes to show the effect of different currents 1n p1p~ ing. I ask what was the character of the piping between the points? Also, the character of the stream of water as it was delivered by the pump into the pipes? We all know that it is very easy to deflect. air currents and sometimes hard to put them back again to their initial direction. When once you establish an air cur- rent, it is apt to-keep on that way, and with the water it is still more so. If water enters a pipe in a spiral manner, a pipe of a certain size, it is apt to continue that way, and it. is easy to deflect it. You see it: in streams and brooks, which is the effect of eddies and suctions. Take a pipe, it may have certain kinds of rings that will establish certain kinds of currents. If we could get inside of the pipe and see for our- selves what is going on there, we would give up wondering why we get certain results. When we have right angle connections, like a T and two streams going together, we do not wonder why we have a jarring. I would say that there is too little use of these generous elbows and Y connections, and for economy, or want. Of space, we ate apt to use right angle connections, like 'T's, much to the detriment of the coal pile and the material of the pipes and pumps. : It occurred to me that the charac- ter of the stream itself, as delivered by a reciprocating or centrifugal pump, varies, and it is noted by the character of the pipe, design of the pipe, and the obstruction of the char- acteristics of the inside of the pipe. I have seen a hose thresh around and maim people within reach. I would like to see some one who would really investigate this thing in a scientific way, the influence of cur- rents in pipes. I once experimented in the American Society of Mechani- cal Engineers with a plain goose- neck, by doubling up a goose-neck, and establishing the current through one side by obstructing the other side, by simply putting your hand over the mouth, and then removing your hand, and no water would come out of one end for hours. Reverse the operation, and it would go the other way. The German Reichstag passed a bill Feb. 15 authorizing an annual subsidy to the North German Lloyd Steamship Co. of $125,000 for opening up a line of steamships between Singapore; New Guinea and Australian ports. IMPORTANCE OF TERMINALS AT NEW YORK, In the State Waterways Confer. ence, held at Brooklyn, N. Y,, recent. ly, the New York State Waterways Association was formed to succeed the older organization. : The meeting of the conference proved to be a good one and it js the hope of the members that it wil] be able to accomplish much in the coming year toward the betterment of New York's waterway facilities. The most widely discussed subject was that of terminal facilities at New York, without which it is certain that port cannot 'hope to regain much of the traffic which, though hers by right, has of late been diverted to other cities. This movement for better terminals has been carried to the leg. islature, where 'bills are 'before both branches providing for an investiga- tion by a commission concerning the conditions prevailing at the ports of New York, Buffalo, Oswego, White- hall and Tonawanda, after. which the commission will make a report to the governor of the state. With regard to appropriations for terminals, it was brought out in the course of the discussions at the con- ' ference that the main appropriation of $101,000,000 voted for the barge canal makes no provision for the acquisition and maintenance of terminals in con- nection with the ports at either end of the canal. It was stated by speak- ers that owing to the careful prelim- inary investigation the contracts for the canal, about one-third of which so far have been let, are well within the estimates and a saving of as much as one-fifth may be made on-the original sum allowed by the legislature. It is suggested that any savings of this na- ture should be laid aside to go tow- ards expenses incurred for terminals and other improvements, such: as the construction of lift or swing bridges which it may be found desirable to substitute for fixed railway bridges. The executive committee has already before it two practical questions for early consideration. One is the quicker and cheaper transportation of coal from coal fields by 'the improvement of waterways now obsolete or anti- quated, with some necessary canaliza- tion so as to giive access to the ter minals at Buffalo through the up-state lakes and to New York by direct com- munication with the Hudson rivet. What is wanted is the standardization of canals to allow the passage of the biggest units that could traverse the entire system. The maximum size of