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6 MARINE REVIEW. The Northern Coal Surplus. Special Correspondence to the MARINK REVIEW. Dvut,uTH, MINN., April 2—A large increase in the demand from new manufacturing concerns and a long drawn out winter that had a mild begining, are the causes that have led to a big reduction in the coal supply. At the opening of navigation in 1888 the docks at the head of Lake Superior were swept clean of coal of any kind. The opposite extreme was reached in the year following, 1889, when navigation opened with fully 400,000 tons at the head of the lakes. Last spring the stock carried over amounted to about 200,000 tons, and it is generally admitted now that there will not be mo e than 125,000 to 130,000 tons of both hard and soft coal in this vicinity when the first boats arrive. The Pioneer Fuel Conipany estimates its nest egg as only 5,000 tons at the opening of navigation. The Lehigh places its probable surplus at 10,000 tons of hard and 10,000 of soft coal. The Northwestern reports its stock as moving rapidly and the matter of a surplus is rather uncertain. Probably 50,000 tons will have to be carried over. The Silver Creek and Morris, and the St. Paul & Pacific will undoubtedly have left about 30,000 tons. A representative of the Ohio company says that sales have been fully thirty per cent. greater than they were last year. From Across the Border. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. KINGSTON, ON’., May 2.—The way things look now it will make very little difference to marine interests whether the ice that is still strong in the harbor remains for two months or breaks up immediately. The in- formation in the last REVIEw that while last year at this time there were four million bushels of grain in Chicago to be sent forward, there are not half a million now, has caused forwarders to feel rather gloomy. They realize that a dull season across the border will have its effects here. Then remembering that there will be little or no timber carried this season the outlook for vessel owners and sailors is very blue. Not a single charter has yet been announced here, a fact which some say is unprecedented. It was the intention of the Montreal Transportation Company to be- gin the construction of a monster steambarge for the lake grain trade, but certainly at present there is no encouragement for the beginning of such a work. No doubt the building of the boat will be delayed till the prospects are brighter. The enlargement of the steamer Norseman will not be completed until near the end of May, which will be at least two weeks later than she _ should be on her route across the lake to Rochester. The route will not _ suffer, however, as Mr. Gildersleeve, her owner, will see that a good sub- ee te will do her work till she is ready. The Norseman will be one of the finest boats on the lakes. The steamer Hero, owned by the same gen- -gleman, is also being improved. She had a very successful season last _ year, and $5 would pay for all mishaps. The steamer Isaac May, owned by the Collinsby Rafting Company, and which was burned last fall, has been rebuilt and is now like a new boat. She will have the name Orion on her bow. : Word comes from Oswego that owing to poor prospects almost any vessel in that port could be bought at a low figure; that several have al- ready been sold, and that others are advertised for sale. In speaking of the disappearance of wrecking in these parts, Wrecker John Donnelly says the main cause is the fact that very few small vessels are now on the lakes. The number is growing less each year, It was not many years ago when he could stand on one wreck in Lake Ontario and shoot a bullet into eight others. Then money was made by wrecking, but the harvest seems to have been reaped. News That Runs the Rapids. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. Port Huron, Mich., April 2.—Ed. J. Kendall, marine reporter, went up the shore about two miles, Monday, with his marine glasses but was not able to see any water. The ice was piled up ten feet high, and he thinks an early opening impossible, even if it was desirable. The steamer Conger was stuck in the ice four days near Marine City, but arrived up all right. The work of removing wrecks of the Tremble and Ben Hur is pro- ceeding slowly. Diving in the rapids at this time of the year is very risky, but the divers have made several examinations. Joseph B. Comstock will be the name of the new barge building at Algonac for A, W. Comstock. Happenings at Lake Michigan East Shore Points. Special Correspondence to the MARINE REVIEW. GRAND HAVEN, Mich., April 2.—At Capt. Kirby’s saw mill some 200,- ooo feet of ship timber delivered during the winter is being cut up and it is expected that the captain will lay the keel fora large steamer during the summer. On the other hand the Cutler & Savidge Lumber Company is preparing to sell its two schooners, the David Macy and Hunter Savidge. ‘The boats are being fitted out but the present season will see an end to operations of the lumber company at this place. The tug Sill, of Racine, has been purchased by Crosby & Co., of Muskegon, and will be used in doing government work at Muskegon. David Charles, of Muskegon, will command her. The schooner Charles E. Wyman, recently purchased by Milwaukee parties, is the first boat to make a move outside of the regular line car- riers. She took lumber at Manistee for Milwaukee. Bloecker & Co., are overhauling the engines of the propeller Wood, which arrived here from Saugatuck. Congress and the Lake Marine. Hon. IT. E. Burton, who represented Cleveland in the Fifty- first congress, was greeted by Cleveland masters, members of the Excelsior Marine Benevolent Association, Saturday, and he addressed them in a most instructive manner. Mr. Burton’s ef- forts in behalf of lake commerce during his term in congress can only be appreciated by those who understand the enormity of the work which he had on hand. His sacrifice of interests that might serve him well in a political way is known in all parts of the lakes. His address to the captains was upon the system at- tending the passage of different measures through congress and the make-up and workings of committees. By using, as a com- parison, bills for harbor improvements and light-houses, Mr. Burton succeeded in instructing his hearers in a manner that will prove valuable to them in dealing with future legislation. Taking up a light-house bill Mr. Burton followed it from its in- troduction in the house to the efforts attending recognition of it by the general committee to which it -is referred and the sub- committee that may bury it at its inception; thence to the secre- tary of the treasury, through that officer to the light-house board and again to the local officer of the district in which the light is sought. It is again returned over the same route to the general committee, with no hope for it if it has not met with approval. In the general committee there still remains a great deal of labor even with the most urgent measures. But it is in connection with bills of this kind reported favorably by the general commit- tees and their adoption by congress that the great mistake is made by many in thinking that appropriations authorized for light-houses, fog signals, public buildings, etc., carry with them the actual appropriations when, in fact, the moneys are seldom set aside until the following session. Only when appropriations authorized in this way are included in the sundry civil appropri- ation bill, which is passed toward the close of thesession, are the moneys forthcoming, With harbor improvements included in the river and harbor bill, however, the system is somewhat differ- ent, the appropriations being carried with the passage of the bill, on account of the variety of interests and the great amount of detail attending the preparation of this great measure edch year. ‘To illustrate the vast amount of committee work in con- gress and the hopelessness of succeeding excepting with meas- ures of the greatest importance, Mr Burton said that it was shown at the opening of the Fifty-first congress that only a twenty-fifth to a fourteenth of the bills acted on the three pre- ceeding congresses had been carried through. “Keep constantly hammering away in all efforts for improvements,” he said in conclusion. ‘This great body, the United States, is cumbersome and moves slowly. Do not be discouraged by the delays pertain- ing to the machinery of government affairs. It isa long road with many turns. Move public sentiment and you will move the administration, congress and all. It is the settled policy of the government that we have a 20-foot channel between I Chicago and Buffalo and this can be brought about sp persistent effort on your part. And now let me say sion that for the work I did in congress I feel amply pa ee Ne ee ee, ee ee bering that it was in the interest of a merchant marin promise of being the greatest on the globe.” _ ’ The binders advertised in the Review some been received. Order at once. Price 75 cen