The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

What the British Are Doing Short Surveys of Important Activities in Maritime SPECIAL deputation of traders A waited upon railway representa- tives at the Railway Clearing House, London to urge a reduction in the dock dues on ships and merchandise from 60 per cent above prewar to 50 per cent, and in the coal tipping charge from 414d to 4d per ton. (The railway repre- sentatives expressed their desire to make concessions, but said they were unable to do so in view of the increase in the wages of dock laborers since the last con- cession was made, and the further claims confronting them for wage increases. oes RESIDING at the annual meeting of the Cunard Steamship Co., Ltd., at Liverpool, the chairman, Sir. Thomas Royden, said that their steamers and shipping investments were shown at £18,- 434,919 as against £17,936,805 last year. The increase was due to further pay- ments to shipbuilers on account of new steamers. On the whole, travel from the United States to Europe was some- what greater than last year. The ton- nage operating in the Atlantic and Medi- terranean services was 434,000 and if they included the tonnage owned by and build- ing for the associated lines the total ex- ceeded 1,000,000 tons. UTIL Zt] N MID April the Goodrich Transit Co.’s City or Horranp replaced the Intros on the run from Chicago to Benton Harbor, St. Joseph and Hol- land and the ILLiNors in turn supplanted the ALABAMA on the run to Muskegon and Grand Haven. The ALABAMA went into drydock at Manitowoc to he re- painted and fitted out with its summer wheel. )rooeed * * * The Peninsula & Northern Navigation Co., Milwaukee, has chartered the Art- ZONA of the Goodrich Transit Co. for service between Milwaukee and Muske- gon until Sept. 15. The Unirep Srates, which is owned by the Peninsula & Northern company and will share the run with the Arizona, has been docked at Manitowoc. Capt. John C. Crawford, Centers of Island Empire HE Great Western railway reports that during March both the general cargo and the coal trades of the South Wales port showed improvement as compared with the opening months of the year. At Port Talbot a record tonnage was dealt with during the week ended March 8, the quantity of traffic handled being nearly 80,000 tons. eae AMES LITHGOW, of Port Glasgow, ex-president of the Shipbuilding Em- ployers’ federation addressing the com- mercial committee of the house of com- mons on shipbuilding difficulties said that before the war British ships were re- sponsible for 52 per cent of the carry- ing trade of the whole world. Right up to the war Great Britain built practically the whole of British shipping and 60 per cent of the whole world’s shipping. Neu- tral countries were increasing their pre- war output while Great Britain main- tained only half of the former output. The present percentage of unemploy- ment was 33 per cent or ten times the highest prewar figure. The causes of unemployment were the decline of naval building, the general depression in trade and the greater competition in ship- building for such work as was avail- SOIL LULU What s Doing Around The Lakes Srl HUNAN NK HULU a Goodrich officer, who was on the IN- DIANA last year, is commanding the ArI- ZONA this year. Frank Shaw continues as chief engineer. Ce ee The KeEarsarcE, laden with twine and implements from the Deering works of the International Harvester Co., went aground in the north branch of the Chi- cago river, April 12, and for two days prevented the closing of the Fullerton avenue bridge. OE cee The Illinois legislature at Springfield has approved a bill increasing the bond- ing power of the Chicago sanitary dis- trict $24,000,000. Bonds to this sum are to be issued shortly, it is stated, to provide an early start on the sewage dis- posal work made mandatory by Secretary 206 able. ‘The trade was hampered very much by the fact that British shipbuilding working hours were 47 per week, German hours 54, and Dutch hours at Rotterdam 55%. Wages of skilled timeworkers in Germany were 31 per week as against 47 in Great Britain and in Holland they were a little over £2 per week. British pieceworkers wages were £4 per week as against £2 in Germany and £2 10s in Holland. He believed that Great Britain had still a decided advantage in manage- ment, in scientific attainment and in skill and British yards were as up to date as any in the world. i ee HE president of the board of trade replying to a question as to why orders for five motor boats for Furness Withy & Co. had been placed abroad by that concern said that the explanation was that British quotations ranged _ be- tween £60,000 and £100,000 in excess of the German prices. The earliest de- livery mentioned in the case of the Ger- man quotation was ten months and in the case of the British 14 months. The contracts were offered to British ship- builders* at £10,000 per ship in excess of the German price. Furness Withy did not feel they could do more. IIIT All of War Weeks: in return for not shut- ting off perceptibly the Lake Michigan flow into the Chicago drainage canal at this time. ee ee A Chicago boat, the Harvester, owned by the Wisconsin Steel Co., was the path- finder through the Soo locks this spring. It locked through on April 12. The first ore cargo to reach Chicago this spring came in the Hyprus to the Fed- eral furnace plant in South Chicago. * * * Transshipment between Chicago and Montreal will be made unnecessary by establishment of through service by the Rutland-Lake Michigan Transit Co. Pack- age freight and passenger service is as- sured, but heavy freight service de-