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MARINE REVIEW. 7 Another Virginia. The Gooderich T'ransportation Company will undoubtedly contract very Shortly for another passenger steamer, equal in every way to the magnificent Virginia, and it is very probable that the boat will be built by the: Detroit Dry Dock Company, Frank k. Kirby being given a chance to try his hand in her design. Whether the new boat will be a duplicate of the Vir- ginia or not, Has not as yet been decided, and it is not probable that she will be out before the spring of 1893, whoever the builders may be. When in Cleveland a short time ago, talking of the new boat, Mr. Gooderich had under consideretion a screw steamer built up with guards similar to a side-wheel boat, the aim in this design being to secure two rows of staterooms on eirier side... : __ Worthless Canal Schemes. Congressman Stephenson of Michigan is a willing and able representative of the mining and marine interests of the lakes, and no one can charge him with being unable to judge between practicable and visionary shemes for government aid to the com- merce of lake districts. Yet it does seem strange to see his named attached to a bill providing for asurvey for a ship-canal from Little Bay de Noc on Lake Michigan to a point on Lake 'Superior in Michigan. 'The bill is introduced, of course, to sat- | isfy a local constituency, and will be pigeon-holed in committee, though it may with other bills of the same kind tend to lessen interest in important measures for improvements. 'The question _of a canal between Lakes Michigan and Superior has been very thoroughly discussed on several occasions in the past,and it has - been clearly demonstrated that there is little to' recommend it, and its cost, admitting that the scheme is practicable, would be enormous. Ae we, oy The scheme for a canal from Take Erie to the Ohio river is also being boomed to the detriment of worthy measures. .In ad- - dition to the bill introduced in the Senate by Mr. Quay, two other bills for this Pennsylvania canal have come forward in the House. One of them, by Mr. Gillespie, makes Conneaut the ~~ Yake Erie terminus for a survey and the other would have the canal start out in the vicinity of the city of Erie. The coal pro- ducers and iron furnace owners in and around the city of Pitts- burgh who have some practical knowledge of the lake business, are silent of the subject of this scheme, notwithstanding the apparent zeal of Pennsylvania congressmen. E Congressman Castle has introduced 'another bill that will meet with the fate of the Pennsylvania and Michigan schemes. It is as follows: 'That the secretary of war is hereby directed -to cause to be made a survey or surveys from navigable waters _on the Saint Croix river, in the states of Minnesota or Wiscon- sin, to the bay of Superior at Duluth, or as near thereto as practicable, at some point on Lake Superior, for the purpose of determining the practicability of a canal between said points. 'Such survey shall determine as to the feasibilty of a canal of three, five, seven and ten feet in depth, and the secretary of war shall report to congress the result of such survey and estimate of the cost of.the construction of such canal." The modest sum of $40,000 is sought for the survey. To Meet Committees of Congress. A joint.session of the commerce committee of the Senate and the river and harbor committee of the House of Represen- tatives will be held in the committee room of the river and har- bor commiittee, in the Capitol at Washington, Saturday, the 3oth inst.,at 10:30 a. m., for the purpose of granting a hearing to the delegates from the Detroit deep waterways convention. An error of print caused it to be announced last week that the meet- ing would occur on the roth inst. 'The convening of these two important committees together is a great concession to the lakes, and the different commercial organizations that are expected to have representatives in Washihgton should take advantage of it. Ina notice sent out regarding the Washington gathering Mr. C. H. Keep, secretary. of the legislative committee, says: ."In view of the immense importance of this hearing and its far-, reaching results, the chairman of the convention requests me to. emphasize strongly the imperative necessity of a large attendance | at Washington on the 3oth inst. Every organization represented in the convention should, if possible, send a large delegation, -- and not an organization should be without representation. The delegates should all arrange to arrive in Washington by noon of the day before the hearing. The Arlington hotel will be the headquarters of the delegation, and preliminary conferences will be held there on the afternoon and evening of Friday, the 29th' InStice 2 ' Gen. Poe will be present atthe. meeting, by permission 'of the chief of engineers. The committee will, of course, according to the instructions of the convention, advocate the 20-foot chan- nel project for the lakes, seek an appropriation for a survey for an outlet to the Atlantic and urge the necessity of liberal appro- priations for aids to lake navigation. Congressmen Chipmen and Bentley have both introduced bills for the proposed canal survey. They are as follows: By Mr. Chipman.--That the secretary of war is directed to cause a survey to be made of the best route for the construction ot a Ship canal between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario; also a ship canal between Lake Ontario and the Hudson river, both of said canals to be of a capacity as to depth and lockage for the passage through them of the largest ships which can pass through the new locks at Saint Mary's Falls canal, in the state of Michigan, and the routes to be entirely within the territory . of the United States. The said secretary is directed to report to Congress the routes surveyed, the probable expense of the con- struction of said canals, and the practicability of the same. By Mr. Bentley.--That the secretary of war be,and he here- by is, authorized and directed to cause to be made accurate 'sur- veys, examinations and final estimate of cost of construction of a _ ship canal by the most practicable route wholly within the terri- tory of the United States from the great lakes to the navigable waters of the Hudson river,of sufficient capacity to transport the tonnage of the lakes to the sea; and the sum of $100,000, or so much thereof as nray be necessary therefor, be, and the same hereby is, appropriated to defray the expense of such survey and estimates. In General. James Prindville of Chicago and Joseph A. Boland of Buffalo, representatives of vessel brokerage firms, have been in Cleveland during the week. ea Columbia Nrvigation Company is the name of a corporation - organized in Chicago with a capital of $500,000, to operate a freight and passenger line between the central part of the city and the World's Fair grounds. The increasing size of modern steamships is one of the most decided tendencies of the times. At Hartlepool, England, a short time ago an order was placed for a cargo steamer to carry 7,000 tons. Orders for two more to carry 6,000 tons each have been placed on the Clyde. : An effort will again be made in Congress to direct th secretary of the treasury to repay all masters, engineers, pilots and mates the amounts paid by them for certificates of license, when dues were collected for such papers. A bill to that effect has been introduced in the house by Mr. Caruth. The Dry Dock Association of the Lakes held its annual meeting at Chicago last week. Officers for the ensuing year are: Frank Wright of Cleveland, president; William HE, Fitz- gerald of Milwaukee, vice president, and H. J. Mills of Buffalo, secretary and treasurer. No changes were made in the docking rates. # Hudson is the name given to a revenue cutter to be built for coast service, and for which an advertisement to shipbuilders appears elsewhere. The boat will be of iron or steel, 96.4 feet long, 20.6 feet wide and 10.3 deep. She will have triple expan- sion engines with cylinders 13, 20 and 31 14x24 inches stroke,, A Ward tubular boiler is specified,