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“has been considerably disturbed that other government owned vessels, such as those recently built for the Canadi- an National Steamships, have been puilt outside of Canada, on the ground of cost. Insofar as the Canadian National Steamships are concerned it would seem reasonable that no other policy could consistently be adopted, as they have to meet competition in operation with vessels flying flags of other na- tions. After all one cannot very well bemoan the annual payment of deficits against government steamship opera- tions, while at the same time endeavy- oring to compel the government by force of popular opinion to unduly in- crease capital charges by anything from 50 to 100 per cent. The case of the car ferry is radically altered by the fact that its operation is not a competitive one, the mainte- nance of the service is a necessity re- quired by the act of confederation, re- gardless of whether it is an asset or a liability from a financial standpoint. It was not surprising, therefore, to find a disposition emanating from Ot- tawa favoring the construction of this vessel and all its component parts in Canada, and attaching broadly more importance to the distribution of the money involved among Canadian work- men, and in the use of Canadian ma- terials, than to the economy possible by the allocation of the work outside of Canada. There are, of course, some items of ship material and equipment which are not manufactured in Canada, and these were required to be obtained from British manufacturers. Labor, as in the case of other gov- ernment contracts, has to be paid rates in conformity with the stipulation of the “fair wage clause,” which is anoth- er factor influencing cost of construc- tion in favor of British shipyards. After considerable competition from the various Canadian shipyards able to tender on this construction, the con- tract for the new ferry, named the CHARLOTTETOWN, was awarded to the Davie Shipbuilding & Repairing Co. Ltd,, of Lauzon, Quebec, who was re- @uired to deliver the vessel ready for Service by July 15, 1931—and delivery TUONTLUDANN TUT UCD TUTTE TEAL Boat and Prome- nade deck on the carferry Char- lotteown looking from Bridge deck. Life boats under mechan- ical adavits. ‘Two Stacks arranged athwartship UUTUTTTUTLETELLLLAHLUUULATA UU COTTITE was made just a few days after this date. While, as before stated, the ferry, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, has maintained an adequate service in the past, the growing railroad traffic requirements, and the entirely recent provision re- quired for the transportation of auto- QUUDUUNNLUUIVTUNNTEUAOUASNUTOOOUUA TESST Smoking Room on the Carferry Charlottetown. Passenger AcC- commodation are of the highest type to provide comfortable trav- eling for _ 1750 people AUUDUNUUUQUUAUODOONSEONNNTOOSESUNTENNATAHOE mobiles has necessitated a vessel con- siderably larger and more powerful. The principal particulars of the PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND are: Carferry Length between perpendiculars, feet... 285 Breadth, moulded, feet 52 Depth, moulded, feet .......... HOYSCPOWEY .icesseosssscssersescenssncessecsssseaseatencsastees Railway car carrying Capacity... 12 Automobile carrying Capacity... Se TTTTVOUUGHOATULUUTULEeA LULL LLOce LULL Three railroad tracks on the Carferry Char- lottetown for 16 large freig ht cars. There 1s also space for 40 automobiles ar- ranged so cars can be driven on and off without Maneuvering SUUUTUUUUDONUAUOQUQUUAUUOUANAQUCON 000 ENTITY MARINE REvIEw—October, 1931 The similar particulars for the ferry CHARLOTTETOWN are: Length between perpendiculars, feet... 310 Bre-dth; feet scission ein eee Depth, moulded, feet .............0. Horsepower eeissssch ccteeseilsyocsessees Railway car carrying capacity Automobile carrying capacity In order to avoid the necessity of building new terminals which would entail a heavy capital expenditure, and in order to avoid the neccessity of dredging the terminal approaches to a greater depth which, by reason of the rocky nature of the bottom, would en- tail excessive cost, it was desirable that this larger, heavier and more powerful vessel should operate at the same draft as the existing ferry, and this require- ment has in itself necessitated the adoption of oil fuel for the new vessel instead of coal fuel as is used in the existing vessel. The reason for this is that the weight of oil fuel required to give the vessel a stated steaming pe- riod is very much less than would be the case with coal fuel, and in fact, allows of a saving in displacement or. an increased weight to the vessel, its machinery and equipment of as much as 300 tons. In other respects also, an analysis of the operating conditions disclosed considerable economical ad- vantage to oil fuel. Special automobile approaches have been constructed at the terminals, and the automobile deck is so arranged that automobiles will be driven on to the vessel and off it in single file and STRAINS, 21