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Fourth National Merchant Marine Conference HE United States shipping board ae Dec. 17 fixed the date and ap- proved the agenda of the Fourth National Conference on the Merchant Marine, to be held in the main as- sembly hall of the United States Chamber of Commerce building, Washington, on Jan. 21 and 22. These annual conferences, held un- der the auspices of the shipping board, have brought together the various groups comprising the Amer- ican shipping industry and have fur- nished a common meeting ground and forum for the discussion of out- standing problems relating to the merchant marine and American for- eign trade. The spirit of solidarity and co-operation developed at the meetings has proved of the great- est benefit to all concerned. Among the important topics to be discussed at the January meeting are the training of personnel for the new ships which, under the present building program, are rapidly being added to existing overseas services; the effect of marine engineering de- velopment and research on new ship construction; safety of marine work- ers, afloat and ashore; marine in- surance, with special reference to the efforts now being made to have all American risks underwritten by American companies; and the im- portant problem, perhaps the out- standing item on the program, of securing from American shippers and travelers an increased amount of patronage for American flag ships. The full agenda approved Dec. 17 by the board is as follows: Unfinished business: Reports of Committees on marine insurance, safety of marine workers, reduction of differential be- tween shipbuilding costs here and abroad, government aid to American ships not benefited by mail contracts, training of offier personnel; modern- ization of the American merchant marine; methods of increasing pat- ronage for American lines, views of manufacturers, agricultural inter- ests, trade associations, traffic clubs, exporters and importers, railroads and shipowners; legislative needs of the American merehant marine; American coastwise and intercoastal shipping; marine engineering devel- ment and research; loadline develop- ments; liquidation activities of the Merchant Fleet Corp. Index for 1930 HE index for the year 1930, cov- ering all the valuable editorial material which appeared in MARINE Review last year, is now ready for distribution. Copies will be sent on request, without charge, to those sub- scribers who have kept a complete file of copies and desire the index. Examinations for Boiler And Hull Inspectors The United States civil service commission announces open competi. tive examinations for local and as. sistant inspector of boilers and loa] and assistant inspector of hulls, steamboat inspection service. Appli- cations for local and assistant inspec. tor of boilers (inland ports other than central western rivers) and local and assistant inspector of hulls (alj classes of ports) must be on file with the Commission, Washington, not later than Jan. 13, 1931. The entrance salary for local in- spector is $3200 a year; for assistant inspector it is $2900 a year. Compet- itors in the examination for local and assistant inspector of boilers will be rated on letter writing; arithmetic; boilers, engines, motors, machinery, and inspection; and experience. Com- petitors in the examination for local and assistant inspector of hulls will be rated on letter writing; arithme- tic; hull construction and inspection; pilot rules and inland navigation; in- spection laws and vessel equipment, and experience. Applicants for posi- Applicants for local inspector must have at least three years’ experience in a responsible position on board a steam or motor vessel of certain spe- cified gross tonnage; for assistant in- spector the experience requirement is two years. At least one year of the experience to be within five years. What the British Are Doing in Shipbuilding HE Scottish shipbuilding industry Ti suffering from the scarcity in new orders and November output was the poorest month of the year both ‘for tonnage launched and new con- tracts placed. In Scotland there were launched 13 vessels aggregating only 31,900 tons, about half the output for October and no substantial orders were booked. The Clyde output for the eleven months exceeded that for the same period in 1929 by 11,000 tons gross but it was considered very un- likely that .the lead would be main- tained as the Clyde shipbuilders would have to launch over 77,000 tons in the last month of the year in order to reach the total of 1929. * * * NE of the most important of re- cent launches on the Clyde was that of the motor tanker BriTiIsH PripE which Lithgows, Ltd. built for the British Tanker Co. Tanker ton- nage which has been a boon to Clyde shipbuilders is unfortunately being 60 rapidly exhausted. The BritisH PRIDE is the third tanker which the firm has built during recent months and they have another under construction. The * * & HE contract placed with John Brown & Co., Ltd., Clydebank, to build the giant new Cunarder has been signed and sealed and a start made with the laying of the keel. The construction of this steamer will provide employment for about 3000 shipyard workers in Clydebank during the next three years and thousands of workmen in numerous other trades will be occupied in furnishing and fitting out the vessel. When com- pleted she will be by far the largest vessel in the world. The principal dimensions of the vessel were re- vealed in the house of commons by Secretary W. S. Smith of the board of trade who announced that she would have a length of 1018 feet, a tonnage of 73,000 and a capacity of 7,300,000 cubic feet. It is stated that the re- MARINE REVIEw—January, 1931 sult of many years’ research work and experiment among naval archi- tects and marine engineers will be manifest when the vessel is com- pleted. Her propelling machinery will consist of quadruple screws driven by four sets of Parsons tul- bines with single reduction gearing, steam being supplied by oil fired — boilers of Yarrow design. * * * HE purchase of three more re dundant shipyards for the purposé of dismantling with restrictions 00 the sale of the sites against their use in future for shipbuilding was officially announced by National Shipbuilders Security Ltd., a concentration com pany formed in February as a collec tive scheme within the industry to int prove the industry’s outlook in inter national competition and to secure more economical working by the com centration of production. The first 0 the three yards is that of Napier & Miller Ltd. of Old Kilpatrick.