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HE worst effects of the coal [ strike are now being felt at the shipbuilding yards. This is especially hard upon the steel trade, which has waited anxiously for months for the orders for shipbuild- ing steel, so essential to large pro- duction. Several of the most expen- sive modern mills have been laid down for the production of ship plates. It was announced a day or two ago that Harland & Wolff’s yard at Govan has been closed down for lack of shipbuilding steel. The yard has orders for twelve large vessels, and has been unable to lay down a single keel. This is only one example of many. Some Clyde firms have suf- ficient contracts to keep their yards and shops going for well over twelve months, and the shipbuilding outlook is undoubtedly better. ee ee HE Scotch output for August consisted of only eleven vessels of 85,474 tons, of which the Clyde turned out 31,970 tons. In spite of difficulties the Clyde total was larger than any of the three preceding months, though rather smaller than the three months previous to May. For the eight months the Clyde out- What the British Are Doing Short Surveys of Important Activities in Maritime Centers of Island Empire put comprised 100 vessels of 203,419 tons, whereas in the corresponding period of last year 153 vessels of 389,- 731 tons were launched. The high- est record for the period was in 1920 when 142 vessels of 440,174 tons were launched. The output is the lowest for many years. Some of the yards have not been reopened since the July holidays, although one firm has three vessels on its books. Those at work, have of course, made large use of foreign steel. * * * HE following contracts were re- ported during August, though they have not all been officially con- firmed: William Hamilton & Co., Port Glasgow, to build an oil tank steamer for H. E. Moss & Co., Liver- pool, and a general cargo steamer for foreign owners; Lithgows (Ltd.) Port Glasgow, a cargo steamer for Turner & Co. of London and Liver- pool, and a cargo steamer of 8000 tons deadweight for other owners; Fer- guson Brothers, Port Glasgow, two hopper barges, each 170 feet in length and. costing altogether £58,000 for the government of Queensland; Alley & MacLellan, Polmadie, 18 barges, each 80 feet in length; and McGruer & Co., Clynder, a 6-ton ketch for a Glasgow owner. It was also reported that the two larger motor liners or- dered on the upper reaches by the New Zealand Shipping Co., and the Federal Steam Navigation Co. acting in co-operation, had been canceled, but so far as can be ascertained all that has happened is that the plans are being radically altered. * * * A FERRYBOAT for transporting passengers at the Royal Albert dock, London, and which had just been delivered to the Port of London au- thority has some special features. The ferryboat is required to move in any given direction, either ahead or astern, at an angle broadside on, or even about its own vertical axis. Owing to the crowded condition of the area it must be free from out way projection and dispense with either rudder or crew. A further re- quirement is that it shall be able to hold itself against landing stages or steps when embarking or disembark- ing passengers, without the necessity for tying up. To meet these require- ments the principle of hydraulic pro- pulsion is adopted of the Gill type. (Continued on Page 62) ONAN NNN EAVY rains and the _ swelling Illinois river combined to help slacken the withdrawal of water from Lake Michigan last month, when of- ficials of the Chicago sanitary district ordered that the water in the drain- age canal be sufficient only to pre- vent the Chicago river from resuming its original flow into the lake. This was not a part of the Great Lakes level controversy, but the measure was taken to relieve the Illinois river which threatened further dam- age to territory along its course, following almost unprecedented rains for the fall season in that territory. The diversion of water from Lake Michigan was kept at a low rate un- til the downstate conditions were re- What's Doing Around The Lakes rll VNU lieved. Representatives of the Illinois Agricultural association had appealed to sanitary district officials for high- water relief. * * * IVE passenger steamers’ have been taken off Lake Michigan serv- ices by the Goodrich Transit Co., Chi- cago, as lake tourist interest ebbs with the waning season. The Mac- kinaec Island route is out for the season, and the excursion boats to Milwaukee, Michigan City and Ben- ton Harbor also have been taken off, but the regular services to these points still are being maintained. Lack of protracted hot weather dur- ing the summer stifled tourist traffic on the Great Lakes, but some of the 46 rill HULA steamship companies report their 1926 business showed no more than a 5 per cent loss from last season. The traffic to Mackinac Island and some of the other upper Michigan points was comparatively good. this season. ; * * * G Penereky OF COMMERCE HOOVER’S recent address _ be- fore the Hammond, Ind., chamber of commerce on Great Lakes levels, ornneae and the extent of Chicago’s water “steal” from Lake Michigan has stirred anew the Chicago sanitary district’s argument for regulating works at proper points in the Great Lakes so that the surplus of water in years of heavy rainfall might be