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68 mandered practically all of the refrig- erator ship tonnage operating between South American ports and Great Britain, no requisition order affecting the ships of the Nelson Line has yet been issued. The story goes that the average com- pensation paid to the owners of requi- tioned tonnage by the British govern- ment is about one-half of the prevailing market quotations. As a measure of economy therefore every British meat ‘carrying steamer plying between the River Plate and the United Kingdom has. been placed under requisition, with the single exception of the Nelson Line boats. This is said to be due to the fact that that company entered into a long term contract with River Plate shippers to transport their shipments to the United Kingdom ports, at a rate which is about one-fourth of the pre- vailing market rate for such service at the present time. If the British government requisitioned the vessels of the Nelson Line, the com- pany would automatically have its con- tract rate for carrying the meat products doubled. Inasmuch as the line is obli- gated by contract to carry the meat at a rate lower than the so-called “requisi- tion rate” would net, the British ad- miralty has not interfered with the operations of the line, although ship- ping men abroad say efforts have been made to have the steamers requisitioned. * * * Gite of the British, German and Austrian laws in regard to the transfer to foreigners of their national ships have been received recently. The information conveyed is especially valu- -able at the present time, when efforts are being made to extend American ownership of ships engaged in inter- national traffic. British Ship Transfer Law A bill to restrict the transfer of British ships to persons not qualified to own British ships makes the provisions: 1—A transfer made after Feb. 12, 1915, of a British ship registered in the United Kingdom, or a share therein, to a person not qualified to own a British ship, shall not have any effect unless the transfer is approved by the board of trade on behalf of His Majesty, and any person who makes, or purports to ‘make, such a transfer after the com- mencement of this act, without that ap- proval, shall, in respect of each offense, be guilty of a misdemeanor. 2—This act shall apply to British ships registered at foreign ports of registry, and to British ships registered in any British possession other than those men- tioned in the schedule to this act, and it applies to British ships registered in the United Kingdom. 3—This act shall have effect only dur- ing the continuance of the present war. The scheduled countries are British THE MARINE REVIEW India, Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia (including Papua and Nor- folk Island), New Zealand, South Africa and Newfoundland. The German law of Oct. 21, 1915, for- bids the transference, in whole or part, of the ownership in merchant vessels that are already built or in the course of construction, to persons who are not German subjects. Contravention, or such attempt, will be punished severely, also. when committed by Germans abroad. The Handels-Museum, the official pub- lication of the Austrian. museum of commerce, announced in its issue of Sept. 9 a decree of the ministry of commerce, dated Aug. 27, with reference to the sale of merchant vessels to for- eign countries. The provisions of this decree are: | 1—All legal business by which. the ownership of Austrian merchant vessels shall be wholly or partly transferred to subjects of foreign governments requires special consent of the ministry of com- merce. Such legal transactions closed without said consent are prohibited and invalid. 2—Transgressions of this decree, in so far as not subject to criminal punish- ment, will incur a fine of up to 5,000 crowns or imprisonment for six months. 3—This decree enters into force on the day of publication. * OK OK HE chamber of commerce of the United States states that, “The principal trouble with the American merchant marine is not that it is in- finitesimally small. It is quite respectable. both in number and tonnage. Its la- mentable weakness lies in the fact that it is out of all proportion to the enor- mous trade of the country. “Out of a total of 26,701 registered and licensed vessels, less than 3,000 ever plow foreign seas. In foreign trade, our merchant marine consists of 37 steel sail- ing ships averaging 1,600 tons each, 544 wooden sailing vessels averaging 600 tons, 239 wooden steamers averaging 300 tons, and 331 steel steamships averaging 3,800 tons. There are also 537 motor boats and 1,106 barges. “In large merchant steamers, the class that is fast growing in commerce and which is of a size and speed to render some assistance as naval auxiliaries, the United States stands third, surpassed only by Great Britain and Germany. But 60 per cent of the big and able steamers in the world are owned by Great Britain and less than 7 per cent by the United States. “The trade of the United States has at its disposal only about one-tenth of the shipping facilities available to the British merchant and manufacturer. If the United States is to take its proper place it must not be content with mere rank,” February, 1916 Lumberman Discusses Merchant Marine Evidence is multiplying that men of affairs in all walks of life are becom- ing awakened to the seriousness of our merchant marine situation. One of the most interesting discussions of this subject by a man not directly identi- fied with shipping interests is found in the recent annual address delivered at San Francisco by J. J. Donovan, president of the Pacific Logging Con- gress. Mr. Donovan said in part: “Because we have few suitable ships for the foreign trade on the Pacific many logging camps are closed and many mills are silent. The foreign ships on which we depended find the food and munition trade with the warring nations so remunerative that there is little space or thought of lum- ber, except for military purposes. Legitimate trade languishes because the one conspicuous failure in our economic progress is the development of our merchant marine. Do Not Be Deceived “Let no grandiloquent boasting of dreamer or demagogue deceive you. Our flag is gone from the Pacific. It will go from the Atlantic as soon as the great war ends, unless we rad- ically change our laws along lines which will enable us to compete with the fleets of maritime nations. We may build up a lake and coastwise marine, no matter how onerous the legal handicap, by the simple expedi- ent of shutting out all foreign ships. That we have done, but on the world’s highway we have trimmed our sails to every political breeze and our ships are water-logged.” New Ship in Service The new American steamship Muna- MAR, built by the Maryland Steel Co., Sparrow’s Point, Md., for the Munson Steamship Line, has been placed in commission and is now in active service between New York and the eastern coast of. Cuba. Munamar is 367 feet 9 inches in length with a beam of 47 feet 3 inches, and is provided with bilge keels. The interior finish of the ship is said to be of an exceptionally elaborate and artistic character. The Antilla, Nite Bay and Nuevitas region of eastern Cuba, which MuNamar will serve, is a district of comparatively recently de- velopment. Land which a few years ago was virgin jungle is now raising large crops of sugar and fruit, a great deal of American capital being invested in this region.