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THE MARINE RECORD. d sea like that had strick ow be at the bottom with the Gil- vessel men state that the upper steamers are too light. Capt. “nigger ” firemen could butt down most of the lake steamers. continue their fall activity. Duluth 35 cents and firm, for the present at ems to be no danger of a weakening in intates. The coal and grain movement clipse all yearly records. Py TORONTO, ONT. ¢ to The Marine Record, Lakeside has made her last trip to St. after a very prosperous season’s business. 1er last work for the season, she towed the ity from Pt. Dalhousie to Toronto, it is in- raise the machinery of this steamer during winter also to fit her with sleeping accom- or passengers as she will make three or four h parties from ‘Toronto and St. Catharines to d's Fair at Chicago. armona had her false sides removed. These ton her a year ago last spring, but as they de- her speed, her owners decided to remove them, ing the winter she will be provided with patent ig wheels so we may look for a great increase ate of speed next season. Jno. Boydis at present in charge of the Niagara, Morgan is laid up on account of sickness. erry steamers Luella, Mascotte, Hanlan, Truant and Queen were in dry dock last week and have e into winter quarters, anntial meeting of the Hamilton Steamboat Com- , has been held at Hamilton, when a very satisfac- statement of the season’s business was presented the management were highly complimented for the which the interest of the company had been SParTa. ee ee FROM THE HEAD OF LAKE SUPERIOR. Correspondence to The Marine Record. of the most prosperous, barring a few late and de- le accidents, that the upper lake marine has ever is fast drawing to a close, and there will not be a couple of round trips for any of the big freight- Freights have held well up on tonnage from here from the ore ports and Port Arthur, which is con- from this city, until the middle of last week, hen there was a sudden break on wheat. ‘The rate up at time had been 4 cents, and it broke, under the uence of a lot of untaken tonnage, to 3% cents, eit has been dull ever since. The shipments of week were small and aggregated only about 805,000 shels, as against receipts of nearly 1,750,000 bushels, thus indicating an increase in stocks of over 800,000 els, giving a total in store of about 6,250,000 bush- ‘This is an excellent commencement for the winter, will give the elevator companies a nice little nucle- o work on in figuring up storage charges, for not ery much of it will probably go out between now and e close. But little tonnage is chartered ahead here w. ‘The state grain inspection department does not k for large receipts tocontinue for a long period, and e eisa general expectation that there will be a let-up receipts soon, perhaps in two weeks. The crop is ell known to have been short, while the receipts have so far kept well up to last year’s phenomenal record, so that there is not nearly so much grain back in the coun- y to be drawn on as last winter; and as a consequence will probably not be any such great stocks of grain here next spring as there was in the spring of 2. ‘This is, however, a good ways ahead and it will hardly do to figure very heavily on next spring until iter in the season. Besides the wheat here, there are 135,000 bushels of coarse grains, of which nearly three- urths are on the Duluth side the bay. _ Tron ore matters are also quiet. Shipments are now 1,120,000 tons from the docks of the Duluth & Iron mge road, and the first cargo from the docks of the ith & Winnipeg will go out early this week, the le 102 having been at the dock for a week getting load. This load comes, as I have before stated, the Mountain Iron mine, and is the first of several goes to go forward this fall. Ore rates are very at $1.30 to Lake Erie ports and $1.25 to Chicago. ing is being taken out of wo Harbors except on company’s boats. 1e new whale barge 127, took a load of flour out of [mperial mill this week, 2,200 tons. She is said to lent boat for the flour trade, and the second ; new fleet will load at the mill next week. The people speak of the terrible accidents of w weeks on the lakes as a proof that their 7 type of vessel is the best, and claim, as they can, that the whale steamers and tows have never been compelled to put back or to stay inside on account of stress of weather, Of course many of the other steel ships of the upper lake marine are also in the habit of putting on through everything and the Jim Hill fleet particularly So, but there is a good deal of difference in the construc- tion of the Northern liners and the style of vessels that have suffered this fall. It is blowing great guns here to-day, (Monday) and most everything in harbor is stay- ing there, but I noticed at noon one of the Northern line ships putting out into the wind and sleet. A local newspaper figures out that the increase in the value of vessels owned here, together with the expendi- tures alongt he water front in docks and dredging, will amount to the large sum of $1,050,000. Of course any such total as this is entirely misleading and ridiculous- ly exaggerated. ‘The dredge work of the year is put in at about $350,000, the dock building and extension at $450,000, and the added floating property at $250,000. It is safe to say that the facts will cut this total square in two, and then leave an abundant margin, and a very respectable showing as well. There has been more in the way of dredging and dock building on the Superior side the bay than on the Duluth side this year, though the reverse will probably be the case next season. Nothing is settled as yet in regard to the proposed canal tunnel, and a council meeting is looked for to set- tle some of the difficulties in the way this week. ‘The following are the estimates of the work and material on the tunnel: Steel, 18,229,000 pounds; cement, 3,030 tons; earth excavation 351,500 yards; dredging, 2,200 yards. The longshoremen’s strike is settled and the men are all back at work at the price they demanded, 40 cents an hour. Several of the big handlers of freight here and at Superior are laying plans to be rid of any necessity for the employment of dock wollopers another year, and will make public their plans before long. The new Canadian steamer Arabian took out her first load this week. She was chartered here for wheat at Port Arthur and left there with a 42,500-bushel cargo for Montreal on a 10 cent rate. The Great Northern road had just madea rate on coal to Washington State that will allow the coal companies here to reach the Spokane market with Ohio and Penn- sylvania coal. The new rate is $12 a car, a reduction of $4, This ought to have a very important effect on the coal business at the head of the lakes, and to increase the quantity of coal handled here quite materially. D, E. W. THE RECIPROCAL WRECKING BILL. Orrawa, Ont.—In reference to the statement given out at Washington denying that the delay in issuing the proclamation bringing into operation on both sides of the line the respective acts granting reciprocity in wrecking and towing, was due to the Washington goy- ernment, the question can be understood by a reference to the last official act of the Canadian government. This was the adoption by the Privy Council of the following report on the 16th of August last : “The committee of the Privy Council have had under consideration a dispatch of the 6th of July from the Hon. Michael Herbert, her Majesty’s charge d’affaires in the British legation at Washington, enclosing an unofficial note from the Assistant Secretary of State of the United States, in which he inquires whether your Ex- cellency’s government construes the act passed on the 10th of May, 1892, respecting wreckage and towage, to apply to the Welland canal, the canal improvements of the waters between Lake Erie and Lake Huron, and to the waters of the St. Mary’sriver and canal. ‘The Min- ister of Justice, to whom the matter was referred, states that annexed to the dispatch in question is a copy of the reciprocal act, passed by Congress of the United States. That act gives the same privileges to Cana- dian vessels in American waters as the Canadian act gives to United States vessels in Canadian waters, but it provides that it shall be construed to apply to the Welland canal, the canal improvements of the waters between Lakes Erie and Huron, and to the waters of the St. Mary’s river and canal.”” The Minister of Justice thinks that the object and intent of this provision are not clear. The words “wrecked, disabled or distressed” in their ordinary sense, are not applicable to vessels in canals, and in his view, the waters in ‘the canals men- tioned can in no way be deemed “‘ waters of Canada con- tiguous tothe United States,’ though possibly the ap- proaches to the canals, and the waters between Lakes Erie and Huron, as well as the waters of St. Mary’s river, may come within that description ; that if the ob- ject be to secure to the United States wrecking vessels the privilege of towing salved ships or wreckage, or of carrying salved merchandise through the canals in question, such privilege would be allowed as to either United States vessels or merchandise, and that citizens of the United States have equal facilities with her Ma- jesty’s subjects inthis regard. The committee, on the recommendation of the Minister of Justice, advised that “in the event of your Excellency being informed that the proclamation referred to in the act of Congress will be issued on any day named, a like proclamation under the Canadian act be issued, in order that the privileges granted to Canadian and United States wrecking re- spectively may take effect the same day.” A copy of this order in Council was sent to her Majesty’s Minister at Washington. The point is now plain. The Ameri- can act is made to apply to the Welland, St. Clair and St. Mary’s canals, and the Canadian act isnot, the Can- adian government holding that such a thing as a wreck inacanal is an impossibility, and that the act as it stands would cover wrecking in waters such as the St. Mary’s river. The above quoted order in Conucil guar- antees the right of free passage through the canals mentioned in the act of Congress of all United States vessels coming under the provisions of the Canadian act of Parliament. It now turns out that this is not considered satisfactory to the American government, and it seems possible that reciprocity in wrecking, which everybody thought was secured months ago, is as far off as ever, owing to the slight difference between the acts of the two legislatures. ene ciieeetintieeeee FLOTSAM, JETSAM AND LAGAN. Fire started in a pile junk in the forcastle of the barge Uranus at Toledo on Tuesday evening, doing $1,000 damages. Hand & Johnson’s tug line of Buffalo has placed a contract with the Union Dry-dock Company for a new tug to be built this winter on the model of the Townsend Davis. This makes three tugs and a steel steamer that the yard has now under contract. Union sailors are now asking $20 for single trips from Buffalo to Toledo and Detroit. Captains on trying to get shipping masters to help them out, were told that boats which held to the Seamen’s Union all summer must now help themselves. Hon. George H. Ely is quoted as saying: “I think that inside of fifteen years we will see a canal from Lake Ontario or from Lake Erie to the Hudson river. I favor the scheme of a canal around Niagara Falls from the Niagara river to Lake Ontario at a cost of $23,000,000."" The barge Augusta with corn from Toledo, broke away from the steamer Dominion about ten miles above Long Point, Lake Ontario on Monday night. ‘The Augusta had a hard night of it, losing two of her masts and being otherwise damaged. She was picked up by a tug and towed to Kingston next day, The Canadian Schooner Glenora is certainly meeting with her full share of mishaps this summer. Twice fears were entertained for her safety, and she was all but given up for lost each time. On Thursday night she again broke away from her steamer twenty miles off Stannard Rock on Lake Superior and in company with the large new barge Mennedosa went scampering across the lake at her own sweet will, with her usual good fortune she has turned up again all Tight. Gen. James A. Dumont,of Washington, D. C., inspect- or general of steam vessels inspected a lot of boiler plate being made at Homestead for use in marine boilers at Cleveland. It was found to be lower in tensile strength then was stamped on the plates. It was thought that the trouble was due to a difference in the testing machines, but this was found incorrect, as both regis- tered the same. The only effect the test will have on that particular lot of plate will be to lower the steam pressure allowed to be carried on boats that use it in their boilers. Notwithstanding the accounts of the depressed state of trade in England we can not infer that shipbuilding is entirely defunct as we learn from foreign exchanges that. On the Tyne fifty-two vessels are building, as against sixty at this time last year, but their tonnage is about 8,000 tons more than then. On the Wear forty vessels are in hand, compared with forty-three last year, but the tonnage again is more by 25,000 tons; and on the Tees, the fifty-two vessels now on the stocks aggre- gate 20,000 tons more than the fifty-six in the yards ayear ago. This would appear to show a fair volume of work in shipyards on the north-east coast of England. The sale of the steamer Charles A, Street to Ed. EB. Ayer, of Chicago, had been nearly completed when Lot P. Smith, Mr. Ayer’s manager, died. was not consummated, and eventually the Street was sold by W. H. Loutit and others to H. M. Loud Sons, of Oscoda, for $40,000. ‘The Street will at once gointo the lumber trade. She has been engaged all this season in carrying iron ore between Escanaba and Fairport. This is in line with other recent tran: and shows that the lumber men are securing their tonnage to transport their products, so that even freights will be nominally quoted in the future, The deste i)