British Whig (Kingston, ON), 25 Aug 1897

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MARINE INTELLIGENCE.

Corn to Kingston has been chartered at Chicago at 2 5/8 c. per bushel.

The schooner Fleetwing brought a cargo of coal from Oswego to Swift's last evening.

The schooner Fabiola arrived at Swift's wharf last night with a cargo of coal from Oswego.

The steamer Reliance, Deseronto, has been laid up. The Resolute is making one trip a week to Oswego with lumber.

The tug Thomson arrived at the M.T. company's wharf, last evening, with two coal-laden barges. She left later on with both barges for Montreal.

Capt. Augustus piloted the yacht Alcoyne to Cornwall today. The owner is the contractor for the new bridge across the St. Lawrence at that point.

The steamer Algerian called at Swift's wharf this morning on her way from Toronto to Montreal, and the Bohemian called on her trip in the opposite direction. The steamer James Swift arrived in from Ottawa last night.

Welland Canal Report.

Port Dalhousie, Aug. 24th - Up: steamer Sequin, Prescott to Sarnia, light. Down: steamer Tecumseh, Ashland to Collins Bay, timber; barge J.I. Case, Ashland to Collins Bay, timber; barge Marengo, Ashland to Collins Bay, timber; steamer Pickands, Detroit to Prescott, rye.

Port Colborne, Aug. 24th - Down: steamer H.S. Pickands, Detroit to Prescott, rye; Niagara, Pelee Island to Prescott, wheat. Up: barge Melbourne, Watson, Ogdensburg to Marquette, light; steamer Glengarry and barges, Kingston to Fort William, light.

Home From The Meeting.

James Swift, of the R. & O. navigation company, returned to the city last evening after several days absence, attending a meeting of the directors of the company, in Montreal, and on other business in connection with the affairs of the company. After their meeting, the directors boarded one of the vessels running on the Saguenay line, and took a very enjoyable trip down the famous river. They were delighted with the manner in which the line is run and with the arrangements of the vessels. Another of the company's vessels was used on the return trip, and everything was found quite as satisfactory as on the first boat.

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GRAIN ELEVATOR SCHEME.

"Onlooker" Is Replied To In Stirring Fashion.

Kingston, Aug. 25th - To the Editor:

I notice a letter in your issue of the 24th inst. signed "Onlooker," attacking the second elevator project and claiming that the M.T. Co.'s intention is to give opposition to the Mooers' elevator. This is very far from the fact, as the M.T Co. is an established company with an established business, and it is to take care of that business and not to give opposition to any one else that it intends erecting the proposed elevator.

"Onlooker" asks if it is because the city would not give it a free site and build the elevator for it that the concern did not build this elevator some years ago. "Onlooker" must be either very badly informed or else very much prejudiced or he would not put this question. It is a well known fact that some five years ago when a deputation from this city interviewed the president of the company in Montreal he offered to expend $100,000 in the erection of an elevator here, provided the city would furnish the site and nothing more. If the city had followed up this proposition and brought it to a conclusion it would not have had to grant the bonuses now necessary to secure the trade to this port, but unfortunately it let the matter drop, and before any further action was taken by this city the town of Prescott had an elevator built and had secured a large portion of Kingston's trade.

"Onlooker" talks foolishly when he says the M.T. Co. is doing business at Prescott it could do here. Does it seem reasonable that it would give work to other people to do which it could do at a good profit? Not at all, the only reason that it sends grain to Prescott is that it cannot always have barges here to meet the lake vessels and is forced to take advantage of the storage facilities which Prescott offers. There is certainly more money, I should think, in freighting grain from Prescott to Montreal than from Kingston to Montreal at the same rate of freight, but if the company could get the elevating charges at this end it would more than counterbalance the difference in the length of the haul.

"Onlooker's" argument only goes to show that Prescott is the best and most profitable place for the M.T. Co. to do its business from, and convinces me more thoroughly that this city should do all it can to have the concern build an elevator here and bind it to do all its business here. Then, I think, in all probability, that instead of Prescott getting the overflow of its business, it will go to Mr. Mooers, as under this new agreement all the grain, the destination of which is controlled by the company, must be transhipped here.

"Onlooker," if he were a stock holder in the company, would know that the report that the M.T. Co. paid a dividend last year of thirty per cent is far from the truth and he should confine himself to something he knows to be true.

With regard to what Capt. Gaskin said at the council meeting I did not understand him to say that the Mooers company need not expect any business from the M.T. company. What he did say was that the building of the Mooers elevator would not prevent grain going to Prescott. And I fancy he might have gone further and said that even after the M.T. company's elevator was built there would still be grain go to Prescott, but not any grain controlled by the M.T. company, as under its new agreement with the city this must all be transhipped at this port.

"Onlooker" infers that the men who are supporting the M.T. company by-law were not favorable to the Mooers' elevator. This is not true, as the majority of the men who are supporting the second elevator are those who assisted very largely in carrying Mr. Mooers' by-law.

Mr. Mooers, in speaking to the council and in canvassing votes for his by-law, said repeatedly that he was in favor of having a number of elevators in Kingston; that he wished to bring new trade here and did not intend interfering in the present trade in any way. How is it he is not now keeping to his word and is opposing by every effort the progress of the city in this direction? ANOTHER ONLOOKER.

They Are Hustlers.

There are no more obliging or accommodating newsboys in the region of the St. Lawrence than the Nash brothers, of Kingston. Phil, Joe and Tom compose the firm, and they are represented by their agents on all the steamers of the White Squadron and at the British American hotel, of Kingston, and the Thousand Island house at the Bay. They are hustlers, and their honest efforts are well rewarded by a heavy patronage. Besides the newstands they run the candy stores and the souvenir cases on the boats. They handle an up-to-date line of trinkets and novelties in the shape of Thousand Island souvenirs, and nearly everyone that visits the river carries away a remembrance of some kind from their stock. [Watertown, N.Y. Standard]

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Towed To Port And Sunk.

Detroit, Aug. 25th - A despatch from Port Huron says the passenger steamer Cambria, of the Windsor-Soo line, which went ashore above Sarnia, has been towed into Sarnia bay and allowed to sink. Her bed plate and gallows frame are broken and the hull is said to be in bad condition. A new steamer may be built for the line.

Will Be A Fine Elevator - Chairman T. Donnelly says the plans are satisfactory and will make an elevator better than the ones at Prescott and Ogdensburg.