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May, 1916 to operate its vessels under the Amer- ican flag for the present at least. Provided the seamen’s act should prove too much of a restriction in the Pacific trade, the vessels will prob- ably be transferred to the Chinese or Japanese flag. Lines Charter Fleets The American-Hawaiian Line and the Luckenbach Line, which decided to charter their fleets for time or trip charters, since their withdrawal from the alternative Panama service, are making fair-sized profits out of the high charter rates which their vessels are able to command. On charters placed with the United States & Brazil Line, many of the American-Hawaiian vessels now stand excellent chances of returning to their owners within the next few months their original costs, if not even more than that.. The steamer Iowan has been chartered to the steamship sub- sidiary of the Steel Corporation at a rate of about $90,000 a month. N interesting and detailed re- port on the working system of the transport department of the British admiralty, which has under requisition approximately 1,800 British ocean-going steamers, is pub- lished in the Liverpool Journal of Commerce. The report is made by T. Paterson Purdie, president of the Clyde Steamship Owners’ Association and a member of the British govern- ment ship licensing committee, and is based on observations during an official visit which Mr. Purdie re- cently paid to the department. A card index in. maintained with a card for every ship in the mercantile marine. These cards are distinguished into 28 classes by colors and “tabs”, and movable colored signals, which are changed day by day, follow the movements of the ships and show at a glance in what area of the world each ship is at any moment. This card index enables the transport depart- ment, when new requirements have to be met, to obtain at short notice a complete list of all the possible suit- able vessels. Full information is registered and brought up to date by monthly re- turns from each owner, and also by reports each day as actual charters are made, showing on what employ- ment their vessels are engaged, so that the transport department has full information in a readily accessible THE MARINE REVIEW Within successive periods of 10 days each, the American-Hawaiian Line has likewise chartered its steamers Cot- UMBIAN, ARIZONIAN, OREGONIAN, CALI- FORNIAN, MOoNTANAN, PENNSYLVANIAN and Hawaltran, and with each new char- ter the rates stipulated have been in- creasing. Thus, CoLtumpran has been chartered out for approximately $122,000 a month, OREGONIAN and CALIFORNIAN are believed to have brought even higher charter prices, while ArizoNIAN has been let out for a two-trip charter to Brazil for the neat sum of $146,000 per month. Charters for the American-Hawaiian vessels have been practically limited to the South American route. This is due to the fact that on those routes the vessels are not exposed to the war hazards which they would meet in the European zones and operation costs are also not as high at present. in the South American trade. The steamers can also be turned around more rapidly at South American ports than they can at European ports. The United States Steel Corpora- form of just what each of the 6,000 or so possible vessels are doing. An elaborate system is also main- tained to show at a glance what pre- vious service under requisition each owner has done in the period during which market rates have risen con- siderably above requisition rates. This system takes into account the num- ber of ships in the owner’s fleet, the time each of them has been engaged, the size of the ships, and also the number in service at the moment. Before new requirements are met, a special list is made out from the above records showing all the possi- ble vessels which are of the right type and in the right position for the serv- ices in question. On such a list is shown (a) the service on which the vessel is engaged, (b) what cargo she would be carrying if left free from requisition, (c) her size, type, etc., (d) her exact position, and lastly (e) a figure showing just how the owner’s previous service compares with other owners’ service. This list is then ex- amined with great care, so that the transport department may _ choose, first of all, the ships that are most suitable for the service and the proper position; secondly, those whose requi- sitioning involves the least possible disturbance of other important serv- ice and least dislocation of industry, and thirdly, so far as these primary considerations allow, those which be- penditure and the advance Varine in 181 tion has been practically the sole charterer of the American-Hawaiian ships, working through various steam- ship agencies. While many independ- ent steel companies have been and are now experiencing serious diffi- culties owing to the shortage of ferro- manganese and the consequent ad- vance in the price of spiegeleisen and ferro-silicon, the Steel Corporation has been able to place itself in a strong position because of the far- sightedness of its officials. More than a dozen large steamers are now being continuously employed by the Steel Corporation in carrying manganese ore from Brazil to this country and the Corporation has three furnaces mak- ing ferro-manganese and two turning out spiegeleisen. While the charter prices paid by the American-Hawaiian vessels which have been called into such service are admittedly high, the great need for the manganese ore, it is believed, has warranted the ex- in steel prices is said to have practically made up the difference. Al long to the owners who have done less than the average amount of pre- vious service for the government. A vessel is never requisitioned ex- cept on the expert advice that she is entirely suitable for the service or the most suitable of those available, and after the most careful considera- tion of the effect the requisition will have upon the industry of the country and its ordinary overseas trade. Around the walls of the statistical department were full lists with the ships’ names and positions corrected and kept up to date as telegrams came in daily and nightly advising the movements of each ship. Once a ship is requisitioned the na- ture of the control exercised by the transport department necessarily de- pends upon ‘the particular work to which it is allotted. If it is sent to bring stores to Great Britain, the work is more or less commercial in char- acter, and the vessel can be as com- pletely controled and as_ effectively managed as under commercial condi- tions. If, however, the vessel is al- lotted to attend on the fleet, it is ob- vious that its management must de- pend upon many considerations which do not have to be taken into account in commercial undertakings. It must partly depend upon strategical neces- sities and be largely, therefore, deter- mined by the arrangements of the na- val authorities, though there is, in } ;