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LOSE similarity to the ship bill C prepared and advocated by the New York Chamber of Com- as a substitute for the ad- is found in the plan adopted by British Col- umbia to aid the development of a merce, ministration’s shipping bill, merchant marine. Details of this plan as outlined in a report from Vice Consul R. M. Newcomb, stationed at Victoria, follow: “The act provides for the province to make loans amounting to 55 per cent of the value of the ships built, construction to be under the super- vision of the board and upon plans and specifications approved by the board. The loans in direct aid to ship building will be paid to the owner of each ship up to the number of not more than 20 ships constructed and launched in this province after the coming into effect of the act, in 10 annual installments, each install- ment being computed so as to bring the net earnings of the ship, in respect of which aid is granted, up to 15 per cent of the actual cost. The subsidy paid in any one year, how- ever, shall not amount to more than $5 per ton deadweight capacity. The first annual payment will be made in the first year after peace is declared and thereafter annually. lated that this subsidy shall be paid only so long as the ship remains in continuous British Columbia service, that is, carries cargo from British Columbia and bring return cargoes to this province. No subsidy will be _ paid to any middleman or promoter; and the subsidy will not be subject to assignment or attachment, and will be a first charge upon the ship. Pro- vision for aid to the aggregate amount of $2,000,000 to shipping and the ship building industry of the province is contained in the bill. “Provision is also made for aid to ship building plants to the extent that the commission may advance in securities to the amount of 55 per cent of the actual cost of such plant, as certified by the commission. Great care has been taken in providing for the conduct and operations of the commission, the first 43 sections of the act being devoted to that purpose. The commission will be a pérmanent body and have powers to own, buy, lease, manage, charter, build, rebuild and repair ships and all kinds of descriptions of property.” One company has already been in- corporated to build ships in British Columbia as a result of this promise of government assistance, while an- It is stipu- . THE MARINE REVIEW ) ® ding other concern has announced plans for expansion. “The plan is not unlike that of the New York Chamber of Commerce,” said Irving T. Bush, chairman of the chamber’s committee on merchant marine and foreign trade, which pre- pared the bill recently, “in that it provides for government cooperation and not government competition. The fundamental basis upon which the government should undertake to de- velop a merchant marine is to help private interests and not to compete with them. “The administration’s ship bill has been much improved over its original form, but I. still disagree with the fundamental principles of the measure as it emerged from the house. Speak- ing as chairman of the chamber’s committee, we think that the appoint- ment of a commission will be helpful and are not opposed to many features of the bill as it was sent to the senate. There is, however, one feature which it seems most unfortunate cannot be entirely, corrected, and that is the power given. to the government to operate steamships. The present pro- t September, 1916 vision, which makes it mandatory that the government cease all operations at the end of five years after the conclusion of the present war, is in the nature of a compromise to attempt to show the people that the govern- ment does not intend to go into the steamship business. But the fact that the government may go into the busi- ness in competition with the private investor for that period is quite as likely to deter him from making the investment as out and out govern- ment operation.” The chamber’s bill provides for payment to owners by the govern- ment of a sum equivalent to the dif- ference in cost of building a ship in this country and the lowest price at which it could be built elsewhere, and for additional semi-annual payments over a period of 20 years to reim- burse the operator for the difference of cost of operation under the Amer- ican flag and navigation laws, and the highest cost of operation under the flag or navigation laws of a com- peting country, which has a merchant marine, the aggregate tonnage of which exceeds or equals that of the United States, engaged in foreign trade, payments to be regulated and distributed by a federal shipping board. By H. H. Dunn 1. to shipping on the American coast of the gulf of Mexico caused by a storm the early part of July will reach $1,500,000 at the low- est estimate. Figures approximately accurate are beginning to come in, and while individual estimates are not ob- tainable for the entire extent of the hurricane-swept coast, it is considered certain by shipping men that the ulti- mate figures of loss will be greater than those for the storm of Sept. 29, 1915. On the eastern side of the gulf, Tampa, Fla., caught a slight blow, but the first real force of the hurricane exerted itself at Pensacola. Passing westward, Mo- bile, Pass Christian, Gulfport and Biloxi, with all the intermediate small ports and Ship island were forced to bear the brunt of the Caribbean sea gale. Fishing and oyster fleets at the mouth of the Mississippi river, still further westward, also suffered, more than 40 boats being piled at one time in the marshes extending from Pilot Town some 20 miles up the river. Galveston also felt one wing of the wind. Pensacola’s total damage is. estimated at more than $800,000, probably half of which was done to shipping in the har- bor and to vessels: which make the were Florida city their home port. Shipping damage at Mobile was close to $750,000. In Mobile bay, the steamers James A. CARNEY, BEAVER, PLEASURE, and_ the large power boat, J. T. Rowe, were sunk, and probably will be total losses. The river steamer Crry or Mopite, was blown high and dry on her docks. Several thousand dollars will be re- quired to repair her. Seven smaller power boats are reported sunk or so badly damaged as to be practically de- stroyed. Fifteen barges were blown ashore or sunk where they were tied up. Seven sailing vessels were sunk, in the harbor, and as many others badly dam- aged. The tug GuLrrort, which was in the Ollinger & Bruce dry docks, drifted, docks and all, from Pinto island, to come to rest against one. shore of Mobile bay. Dry docks and steamer ‘undamaged. Practically every small boat, including the part of the fishing fleet which was in port, ex- perienced damages from a few dol- lars to thousands. The damage to those ships at sea has not been learned. i In Pensacola, highest individual dam-_ age was suffered by the power cruiser CoRINTHIA, owned by C. B. Fox, New