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26: MARINE REVIEW. [August 29, STRENGTHENING THE NORTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON. Newport News, Va., Aug. 28.--The battleship Indiana, temporarily in service as a training ship for the Annapolis naval cadets, has gone to Annapolis after being at anchor in the harbor nearly a week, during which time the cadets paid a number of visits to the ship yard for observation and instruction. Com/'dr Collahan was in charge of the cadets and every day during their stay they came ashore and spent hours in the workshops and aboard the several warships in different stages of advancement. The Indiana will return to Hampton Roads in a few days and after fitting out at the navy yard will again go into commission to join the North Atlantic" squadron, which is now at anchor off Old Point. The squadron will soon be strengthened by the addition, also, of the battleship Illinois, which earned the distinction of queen of the navy. Rear Admiral Higginson will have under him, then, one of the most powerful squadrons ever organized under the: stars and stripes, consisting entirely of battleships, as follows: Kearsarge (flagship), Alabama, Illinois, Massachusetts and Indiana. Three distinct types of first-class battleships are represented in this group--the Kearsarge carrying her main battery in superposed turrets and in broadside, the Illinois and Alabama carrying their 13-in. guns in single turrets and their other guns in broadside, and the Indiana and Massachusetts carrying all of their main battery guns in forward, aft and midship turrets. Gen. Supt. Post, of the ship yard. has notified Secretary Long that the battleship [Illinois will be ready to commission about Sept: 10. The department has not set the date yet. It is stated that the Clark Steamship & Excursion Co. has been after the Pacific Mail liner Korea, now nearing completion, for an: around-the- world excursion, but the Pacific Mail will need the new leviathan as soon as completed and will not charter it for excursion purposes. The battleship Missouri is being delayed by the non-arrival of needed material. The Holland-American Steamship Co. has opened offices here and will hereafter run a regular line of ships hetween Newport News and Holland. Newport News is becoming an important factor in the shipment of coal abroad. For some years it has rivaled the largest of American ports in the coastwise coal trade, over 2,900,000 tons being handled on an aver- age annually. The proposed establishment of a direct line of coal steamers between Newport News and Marseilles makes some figures of the coal business between this and foreign ports apropos and interesting. Since ae 1 this port has sent to Marseilles 63,915 tons of New River coal. "rieste, Austria, has received 34,747 tons from Newport News and Rio de Janeiro 27,846 tons. making a total of 126,508 tons for these three ports, which is more than the combined shipments to all other ports from New- port News. The total shipment from this port abroad for the eight months amounted to 242,819 tons, valued at nearly $1,000,000, the balance (116,311 tons) being divided among the following ports: Malta, Monte- video, Port Castries, Halifax, N. S., Dakar, Tampico, St. Lucia, Kings- ton, Pireaus, St. Johns, Genoa, Barcelona, St. George's, Para, LaPlata, Gohenburg, Havana, Buenos Ayres, Vera Cruz, Cardenas, Barbadoes, Port Columbia and La Guayra. IMPROVEMENT IN IRON TRADE ABROAD. As an evidence of the improved condition which obtains in the iron trade abroad the following from the Engineer is submitted. It is in line with what other technical journals record: Things are going better both for masters and men in the iron trade of the kingdom. There is abundant evidence of this, and both parties are to be congratulated on the event. It is true that the accountants to' the wages boards, alike in the north of England and the Midlands, have had to testify to a further reduction in the average selling price of iron during the months of May and June, but most of that business, it must be borne'in mind, was booked at the low rates prevailing in the spring, and later contracts, it will be found, are on a rather more satisfactory basis. Business also is more abundant now in anticipation of the autumn requirements of consumers, and prices are trending upwards all over the country. In the west of Scotland a material change for the better has come over the industrial position, and today there are not many of the Scotch ironmasters who do not believe that if we are not assured of. another lengthened period of activity, we are at least safe for months against that depression which seemed at our door so recently. Steel ship plates are up to £6, less 5 per cent., and it is said will go higher, and ship building on the Clyde is just now as prosperous as it ever has been, there being no fewer than 450,000 tons of work in hand--part of it well advanced, but the greater part in the initial stage. In the last few days orders for iron bars have beet placed in the Coatbridge districts for markets which have not been customers for years. The wages ascertainment in Cleveland shows a drop of 3s. 6d. per ton for May and June, leaving the net average at £6 18s., while the production--of the associated firms only, however-- dropped to 15,500 tons. But in the past six months there has been a big improvement. Ship building on the northeast coast is simply booming, and iron and steel plates and angles have advanced 5s. per ton, plates being now 10s. per ton above the late minimum. Impressed with the improved situation which has appeared, buyers are hurrying up orders, and forward buying is more apparent than for a long time past. The official wages declaration in the Midlands registers a decrease in the average selling price for May and June of no less than 8s. 6d. per ton, an item which seems at first a very large reduction, and the net average selling price has fallen to £6 19s. 2d.; but the ironmasters are already experiencing some recovery from the depression of the first half of the year, and unmarked bars and tube-making strip have both been advanced. The make for May and June exceeded 28,000 tons, an increase of 2,500 tons compared with the last statement,and the mills continue active. The Midland ironmasters are well advised in foregoing any drop in wages, and in the north previous wages are also confirmed. BELLEVILLE GENERATORS Grand Prix 1889 Originated 1849 Hors Concours 1900 Latest Improvements 1896 Number of Nautical Miles made each year by Steamships of the Messageries Maritimes Co., Provided with Belleville Generators--Since their Adoption in the Service. > Year: 'Australien | Polynésien sae ae oe eee Chili Cordillére Laos Indus Tonkin Annam Atlantique (S90 a... 67,728 2,460 FBO Neos 005. 505 68,247 68,331 204 FO92. 00.22. 68,247 68,403 69,822 23,259 [Bos 68,379 68,343 68,286 68,247 1O94:..:....,,--) 68,439 68,367 68,574 68,439 37,701 [890s 68,673 68,766 68,739 68,808 40,887 28,713 1896.. pe seaaneees 5 69,534 92,718 69,696 69,549 62,205 63,153 40,716 T8897. 5u.:.. 68,250 69,606 92,736 69,555 62,235 76,110 63,357 43,146 1896605, . 232. 70,938 69,534 69,552 69,597 62,526 63,240 63,240 62,553 63,954 22,707 POO re rss es. 69,534 69,615 67,431 90,405 60,246 62,778 62,868 52,344 54,855 44,007 22,884 £900... 04.0.2... 69,534 67,494 69,744 69,564 61,719 62,382 62,502 51,471 53,373 62,016 63,066 52,140 Totalas..:.- 3 757,503 | 713,637 | 644,784 | 597,423 | 387,519 | 356,376 | 292,683 | 209,514] 172,182 128,730 85,950 52,140 ATELIERS ET CHANTIERS DE L'ERMITAGE, A ST. DENIS (SEINE), FRANCE. WORKS AND YARDS OF L'ERMITAGE AT ST. DENIS (SEINE), FRANCE. TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS' BELLEVILLE, SAINT-DENIS-SUR-SEINE.