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OCEAN TRANSPORTATION FOR COAL. I am asked to supplv definite information on the subject of heavy transportation of coal from Great Britain and America to France, for the purpose of demonstrating the propriety of building special coal-carrying steamers. In the actual condition of the carrying trade, ‘the complaint of all owners is that the business is: being done on. un- profitable terms, if not with absolute loss to themselves ; 5s. 6d. (equal to 7 francs, or $1.35) per ton from Cardiff to this city is at this writing a high price. More charters are being written at $1.20, and they hover between the two extremes. From Baltimore or Newport to, Marseilles the present price is fairly firm at 9s. ($2.25), and the dif- ference between these two rates is $1:10. Hardly more than a year ago, the difference between coal rates from Baltimore and from Cardiff to Marseilles ranged from $2 to $2.30. While the depreciation in freight rates is very generally explained by the release tonnage heretofore required by the British Government for war operations, the superabundance of new tonnage and the large number of ships.contracted for and in process of construction, the change in the relative difference between the rates from Cardiff and Baltimore to the Mediteranean is at- tributed to ‘special conditions. It is pretended that a very large number of steamers have recently gone to the United States for grain and cotton which have not been offered for shipment, and that these ships have therefore been forced. to take what they could get in the way of cargo, upon any terms, with the result that the relative difference between American and British coaling ports has been hammered down fully so per. cent. My informants be- lieye that when the large quantity of tonnage now in American waters returns to this side it will engage in whatever may be offered in Europe at the time, in prefer- ence to repeating the operation of carrying coal at 9s.; since, while there may be no monev in bringing British coals into the Mediterranean for about 5s., there is al- ‘ways an opportunity to go from Marseilles to the Black Sea or to Spanish ports, where grain or iron ore may be picked up for delivery in England, while there is substan- tially nothing in the wav of cargo to be taken back to New York. , A steamer of 3.000 tons capacity can today load at Car- diff with navigation coal of the tvpe usually required in this citv at 12s. ($2.92) a ton. Assuming the owner to have contracted for payment at the rate of 7 francs $1.35) per ton for freight (and this is today the very outside price), he must calculate upon expenditures amounting in all to 5.30 francs ($1.02) per ton before he can begin to take. into consideration depreciation and profit. The official charges would perhaps vary somewhat from the following figures; but experience shows that upon a vessel of 2,000 tons the items of expense per ton, amounting to 5.30 francs, actually average as below. the local charges at Baltimore would be the same as at ‘Cardiff, and making due allowance for the increased ‘eneth of the voyage, I establish the comparative cost ‘of delivering 3,000.tons of coal at Marseilles from either ‘Cardiff or Baltimore as follows: * * * Thus the owner shipping coal from Cardiff may look for depreciation, repairs, and net profits from the difference between 5.30 franes and an extreme of, say, 7 francs per ton, while the owner shipping from Baltimore must look for his from the difference between 6.35 francs and 11.25 francs—the apparent discrepancy being very much to the advantage of the steamer from Baltimore. But it requires one-third more time to ship from Baltimore, and the pros- pect of some return cargo, moderately certain in the first case, is equally remote in the second. It will be noted that in practice as much time is reauired for loading and discharging coal from. Cardiff. as the voyage, properly speaking, demands, and it may be assumed that one of the first efforts of American navigation companies. will be to reduce this extended period. Demurrage charges in this port are practically unknown, and discharge facilities are at present limited to 600 tons per day. "6 __ The market becomes a more valuable one every year, _the tendency of the established lines being to frequent this port for the purpose of coaling, the total annual require- ments of the port having doubled within the last three or four years. There is also a prospect of supplying the Swiss market from this port, and to that end the Paris, Lvons and Mediterranean Railway Co., has prepared a tariff reducing the rate from Marseilles to Geneva from francs ($2.70) to 11.85 francs ($2.28) per ton. This tariff requires the sanction of the Minister of Commerce before it can become effective, and for some unknown reason this sanction has not yet been. obtained. - If the lower rate is adopted, it is moderately certain that a very considerable interior business will be done in consequence. Except for the troublesome question of return cargo, it | be easy to assert that the American voyage, includ- delays for loading and discharging, being one-third ‘ that the Cardiff voyage, requires in fairness.a rate ily one-third more than that of the latter, the longer time sea being perhaps overcome by the advantage of cheaper In practice, the American exporter is at present ig more than this one-third, and there never was fair yr the former difference, which ranged from 7s. 1.70 to $2.92). Whether general rates be high ething like 1,000,000 tons of foreign coal must n annually in Marseilles, and the fluctuation in e rate from Cardiff or Baltimore will largely de- - proportion of American trade in this region. | Assuming that: THE MARINE RECORD. Standard navigation coal from Cardiff is today selling,at 22s. ($5.34) in Marseilles. It costs 12s. ($2.92) at Cardiff, or 13s. ($3.16) with the export tax included. American competing ,coals are being sold here at a discount of Is. 6d. (36 cents). Experience and prejudice, .or whatever the controlling causes have been, have set this, margin as a measure of comparative quality. American coal -at; the seaboard, then, must be sold low enough to cover the, hight er freight charge and a. persistent prejudice , because: of quautv. The items average now from 4s. to. 5s.|'In other words, is must be sold, quality for quality, at f. o. b. prices dangerously near 8s., or perhaps 9s. ($1.94 to $2.19), and every cent under these figures represents. the advantage which our dealers have in the Mediterranean market at present. ‘ We have sold 184.797 tons of American coal.in Marseilles during eleven months of 1901, against 941,171 tons of Brit- ish-coal. It gave entire satisfaction.. I have before me a letter from Worms & Co., the heaviest single importers, in which they say: Our importations of American coal during the year will approximate 100,000 tons. ‘The principal companies to which we have sold it regularly are the Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Co., the British India Steam Navi- gation Co., the Nippon Yushen Kaisha Steamship’ Co., and the Messargeries Maritimes Steamship Co. They have all declared themselves very well satisfied with the quality of the fuel. ys a These are the largest steamship companies doing busi- ness in the Mediterrean. During the year, local selling prices went to pieces, and the dealers’ war has prevailed until a week or two ago. This has involved the making of many contracts for next year’s delivery at prices cer- tain to net a loss of from 30 to 75 cents ‘per ton, unless market conditions change materially. One dealer has fig- ured out for me about 500,000 tons already contracted for, and seems to think that these contracts will tend to diminish American importations next year. I do not think’so:, The Paris, Lyons, and Mediterranean Railway Co., which re- quires 300,000 tons, has not yet closed, I understand. All this is guesswork, to some extent. ‘There is no war either for or against American coal. It has demonstrated its ex- cellence, and it will come in when the price permits it. Meantime, the. war between the dealers has ceased; and they are taking no new contracts at less than 22s. ($5.34). American anthracite in the meantime has invaded the mar- ket and would control it were not the fuel itself so hard to secure. With American mines taxed to supply domestic demands, it may be said that the European is at present more interested in American competition here than is the American himself. As the case stands, dependent as we are upon foreion ships, we are in the Mediterranean coal trade, and we can probably remain, but there is always an “if.” If, as at the height of the war excitement, we must again pay 2Is. ($2.43 or $2.91) it is obvious that we can not: cut our f. c b. prices to that extent. That we could pay that enormous freight at one time was only because the f. o' b. prices at Cardiff were well over twice what they are to- day. Thus, while reasonable business policies encourage faith in the permanency of our Mediterranean coal trade under existing conditions, the mere memory of freight rates once paid is a standing menace. #4) : I have always contended, and still maintain, that our commerce in coal can be guaranteed only by the land trans- portation lines engaging in the ocean scarrying trade. Even a very small fleet of colliers controlled by the coal roads would provide a steadv influence of inestimable value. It may be doubted whether the owners of colliers are losing anything to-day, in snite of their cry of distress. They have been enjoying abnormally high prices, and the years of plenty have been followed by a year of. famine. Business is dull everywhere except in the United States, and even there the freight furnishers are refusing to ship hoping for better times abroad. In shipping’ circles, a gradual stiffening is anticipated soon.. As an independent proposition, the creation of a fleet of coal carriers—par- ticularly if they should he of, modern type, capable of loading and discharging promptly—seems favorable, and, contemplated as an enterprise of one of the seaboard coal roads, it is not only attractive, but almost an imperative requirement. ‘The foreign market is the only thing that will guard the mining companies from stagnation, in the event of dull domestic trade. The threatened through bill of lading from the mine to the consumer abroad, is one of those moral influences which are to-day holding down the level of ocean freight rates. A gentleman largely in- terested in foreign transport enterprise tells me that. every Atlantic carrying companv is shortening sail with a view to this contingency. He said: “The American railroads are so important in them- selves and drain so vast producing areas, thus contributing the bulk of east-bound freight, that they cannot afford to re- main in any sense dependent upon foreign navigation com- panies to take these goods to market. Whether they buy us out and run our ships for their own account or secure legislation which will lead to the construction of a purely American fleet, it amounts to the same thing in the end. The railway companies can stand hard times as well as the British shipowner, and when the good times come their stockholders will. pocket the profits, instead of ours. “The through bill of lading would simply leave us without any- thing to stand upon, in so far as American trade is con- cerned.” Rozert P. SKINNER, Marseilles, December 12, root. Consul-General. world. MARCH 13, 1902. NOTES. A meErHop has been patented by a resident in Ontario, Canada, for lighing rivers electrically. A cable would be laid’ along the bottom of the river or other navigable ‘channel, wires would be branched off this, floats attached to thése, and the floats would carry electric lamps fed by the cable. ‘If desired, the lamps could be raised 20 feet above the floats. The inventor claims that this would be cheaper than employing lighthouses, buoys, and_ pilots along the St. Lawrence river. ' Tur damming of St. Mary’s Rapids is an engineering feat that not' long since would have been looked upon as impossible, but is now being successfully done by .H. E. Talbot & Co. for the Lake Superior Power Co. A dam across the river above the rapids is necessary if Lake Supe- rior is.to be kept, at its present level, as it is being drained by five ‘canals—three ship canals and two water power. A new. water power at Sault Ste. Marie, will increase the drainage. Five stone piers will be built and sluice gates put between them, when the first step in the work will have been completed. G. B. Huwnverr, of Swan, Hunter & Co., the well known ~ shipbuilding firm at Newcastle-on-Tyne, after an investiga- tion into the subject of steel shipbuilding in Canada, says it can be done here cheaper than anywhere else in the No country in the future will be able to compete with Canada, neither England nor Germany, nor the United States, when steel plates are made in Canada. Mr. Hunter is in favor of a very fast Canadian Atlantic service, and suggests 25 knots. This would require three vessels, which could be built for $10,000,000. A fourth vessel would be necessary if it was proposed to come up the St. | Lawicnce. Taxtnc the factory te the raw material instead of bring- ing the material to the factory is an innovation just put into operation on the Mississippi river by a button factory. The factory is a boat 42 feet long and 12 feet wide, fitted with machinery for the manufacture of buttons, and pro- vided with a three horse power engine. The principal smaterial used is mussel shells, which are found all along the river,,and,one of the great expenses heretofore has been the cost of transporting the shells to the factory. © Now the factory has reversed the operation and will go to the mussels. When a bed of the shells is found the boat will drop its anchor and go to work. When the bed is ex- hausted it will move on. Curer ENGINEER Emi, Priuwrrz, of the North German Lloyd steamship Kron Prinz Wilhelm, is experimenting with an arrangement which he has placed in the ship for use in case of collision. A small wheel abaft the pilot- house is turned and instantly hydraulic pressure closes twenty water-tight doors in the lower part of the ship, mak- ing sixteen water-tight compartments. ‘The fact that all the doors are closed is instantly shown on an electric dial, , on which the numbers of the doors and their locations are printed. The sixteen water-tight rooms are more than enough to float the vessel in case any part of her hull is punctured. The experiments show that not more than two minutes is required to render the Kron Prinz Wilhelm unsinkable. : Tue secretary of the British Admiralty has introduced the naval estimates for 1902-3 in the House of Commons. They show a total of £31,255,000, as compared with £30,-~ 875,000 last year. estimates of last year, in view of the fact. that the army | was engaged in a difficult conflict seven thousand miles , away. ‘The secretary said that the progress of naval. con- . struction during the last year had been unparalleled. The present estimate gave the government £15,000,000 for new ships, and it was intended to spend the money. Forty- nine ships would be put in the water during the present vear, and next year there would be under construction . 60 ships, in addition te 27 others that would be laid down. Besides this, a large program of reconstruction would be - undertaken, thereby adding greatly to the fighting power of the fleet. : Tue following is the board of directors of the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Co., elected at the annual meeting ~ held last month: Senator Forget, R. Forget, W. Wain- wright, F. C. Henshaw, George Caverhill, E. B. Garneau, C. Paradis, J. Kerr Osborne, H. M. Pellatt. H. Markland Molson and Wm. Hanson. Last season was one of the best in the company’s record. The gross receipts were $1,100,456, and operating expenses, $920,559. After deduct- ing fixed charges the net profit was $166,097. New stock to the amount of $626,400 is being issued for the following purposes: Payment for new steamer Montreal, $412,000; for furnishing steamer Montreal, $113,000; two wharves at Quebec, $15,000; improvements upon the company’s new hotel, the Manior Richelieu, $26,400. During the year the company spent over $80,000 in renewing and _ repairing steamers. For instance, $14,500 had been spent on the Algerian for feathering wheels, improved state room ac-— commodation, etc, on the steamer Columbian $22,700; on the Canada, $24,500; on the Spartan, $18,300, and on the Hochelaga, $6,200. These improvements were in addition to the regular outfitting which is done annually. Three old steamers for which the company had no further use were disposed of. ‘They were the Caspian, sold for $21,000; the Riviere de Loup, sold for $2,000, and the Island Queen, - sold for $2,000. It- was announced that no more vessels would be sold for some time. Mr. Arnold-Foster remarked that no « thinking man could have anticipated any reduction of. the