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LEC ec Ore NE of the most interesting fea- QO tures of recent shipping news 1s the rapid progress being made in the formation of new steamship lines. Philip Mason, New York, recently re- turned from China, where he concluded ar- rangements for the organization of the Pacific & Eastern. Steamship Co., Inc., which will operate steamship services, under the American flag, between China, the Philippines, and the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the United States. The company is a joint American and Chinese enterprise and has just been incorporated under the laws of the state of New York. It will commence business with a capital of $2,000,009. Half of the capital has been subscribed by American and half by Chinese. The directorate consists of seven members, four American and three Chinese. The American interests are represented by F. Mertens’s Sons, Cumberland, Md., and Washington, D. C. The Chinese interests are represented by Chinese capitalists in Shanghai and Canton. The president of the company is John Mitchell Jr., of the firm of F. Mer- tens’s Sons. Mr. Mitchell is also presi- dent of the Washington and South- ern bank, Washington, D. C. Philip Manson is managing director. The com- pany expects to buy or charter. steamers so that sailings may begin as soon as possible and also’ plans to build new steamers to be delivered as quickly as possible. The principal office of the company in the United States is in New York; the principal office in China is in Shanghai. A new line of steamers, forming an- other direct monthly service between New York and Canary island ports, has been inaugurated by the arrival at Las Pal- mas, Grand Canary, of the first vessel dispatched by the Ocean Transportation Co., New York. Three steamers have already been announced as placed on the new line, and this number will be added to so as to permit of a regular monthly service in each direction. The first ves- sel reloaded here with fruit for Bar- celona, where return cargo direct to the United States was waiting for shipment. The Swedish Steamship Co., Helsing- borg-Luggude and Vola, has established a new freight line to England, known as the Swedish Line Liverpool-Man- chester-Baltic. The object is to carry piece goods from Liverpool and Man- chester to Sweden and eventually to Denmark and other Baltic ports, where cargoes will be received for the British West Coast. The line will consist of three steamers and will begin opera- tions shortly. A new line of steamers with regular sailings has been established between Bilbao, Spain, and various ports in England. The vessels will touch, after leaving Bilbao, at such Spanish ports as may offer cargo, as well as at Oporto and Lisbon in Portugal, and sail thence to Tyne, Tees and Hull, touching at London, Middlesbrough and Newcastle. Armstrong, Lord & Co., of Newcastle- on-Tyne, are directors of the lines Frutera and Affriteurs Reunis and the vessels of both of these companies will be engaged in the service now inaugu- rated. Modesto, Pineiro y Cia, of ‘Santander, are the Spanish agents of the new line, which is to be known as the Intera. An official announcement has _ been made regarding the new Pacific steam- ship company which has been formed in Holland under the name of the Java-Pacific Line, and the first steamer of which was dispatched from Batavia, Dutch East Indies, on Dec. 15, for San Francisco. There will be four boats on the run, giving practically monthly sail- ings. boats will be from 10,000 to 12,000 tons. The Java company’s boats will carry a limited number of first-class and steer- age passengers. The boats ‘of the other lines will probably carry only steerage. The companies interested in the new Pacific service are the Java-China-Japan Line, the Nederland Royal Mail Line, and the Rotterdam Lloyd Royal Mail Line. The first-mentioned company will furnish two of the boats and the two others one each. If the business war- rants, other boats will be added later. The inauguration of this service is no doubt due in some _ considerable measure to the efforts of the govern- 29 Lines: Kstab| The average capacity of these. A Review of the Charter Market on Coasts Lakes—Pointers for the Men Who Get the Business I “uc ae ment of the Philippine islands, as it was necessary to relieve the difficulties which resulted from the withdrawal of the Pacific Mail by inducing other lines to include Manila among their ports of call. The San Francisco chamber of commerce has likewise been deeply in- terested in the extension of the Java Line to the Pacific Coast. Ten or 12 years ago, the Java-China- Japan company considered the advis- ability of extending its service to Van- couver, but it was deemed then that the conditions did not warrant an Oriental-Pacific connection. Following the withdrawal of the Pacific Mail, and as a result of the abnormal freight rates, it was decided that all interests would be materially benefited by the service. Germans Lose Money The German merchant marine has for thirteen months been practically inactive, and only a few steamship companies maintain an irregular service with Scan- dinavian countries, and between Emden, Hamburg and the Baltic German ports and also to Libau in Russia. This service, as is frankly acknowl- edged by the companies, is only partly covering operating expenses, and no in- formation can be had as to the cost in- volved in keeping in trim steamers in- terned in American, Portuguese, and Spanish and other ports, together with the cost of maintaining the chain of branch offices in Germany and abroad. Naturally, it would be difficult to obtain accurate figures in this respect, and the fact remains that, in spite of the lack of yearly balance sheets of the compan- ies, a number of steamship companies, such as the Hamburg-South American Steamship Co., the German Kosmos line and others, have paid dividends. A num- ber of the larger companies were able to reduce expenses by utilizing their well-organized equipment on land for military purposes, such as commissary department, etc. According to Lloyd’s register, 370 steamers with an aggregate tonnage of 846,000 tons have fallen into the hands of Germany’s enemies. 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