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TAE MARINE. REVIEW 3 19 is all right, except that he does not own enough ocean- going merchant vessels. MARINE ENGINEERS' BENEFICIAL ASSOCIA- TION. The delegates of the lake lodges of the Marine En- gineers'. Beneficial Association held a_ general meeting with the Buffalo lodge during the last half of last week to discuss thésquestions that they desire to present at the national convention in session in Washington this week, beginning on Tuesday. The Buffalo meeting was called to order by E. J. Jenkins of Cleveland, who for some years has been the lake business manager of the associa- tion, an officer who is always selected by the lake lodges independently of the entire association. Mr. Jenkins an- nounced that he was about to go into other business and must therefore decline a re-election, so Joseph R. Blan- chett of Buffalo, who was engineer of the Nyanza last season, was chosen as his successor. The following lodges were represented. Buffalo, No. 1--Irwin Marshall, John Davidson, W. D. Blaicher. Cleveland, No. 2--E. i Jenkins, John Kirby, Arthur Hyde. Detroit, No.°3--A. L. Jones}; Edward Blanchard, . Wil- liam. Taylor. | Chicago, No. i Stewart Moore, John McCracken. Milwaukee, No. 9--William Bridges. Bay City, No. 27--N. P. Slater. Toledo, No. 37-John Bender. Erie, No. 39--James Hunter.. Port Huron, No. 43--George Bowen, James Oag. 'Manistee, No. 44---Christopher Dahl. Sandusky, No. 48--John Hegemer. Muskegon, No. 51--A. J. Riée. Marine City, No. 53--A. A. Manion. Duluth, No. 78--Louis Griggs. Ogdensburg, No. 89---Edward Lord. Ashtabula, No. 91--Theodore Meyers. Saginaw, No. 93--John Henry. Represented by proxy were Clayton, No. 46; Oswego, No. 72; Alexandria Bay, No. 75; and South Haven, No: 102. Among the measures discussed in the meetings was naturally that of wages and though the delegates were careful not to give out any details it is stated that no demands will be made on vessel owners that are different from the wages of last season, except in a few cases gov- erned by entirely special and local conditions. This mat- ter, aswell as any other to be brought up before the na- tional body, has been well thrashed over and ought to be received without much question. Tt is not expected that there will be .much difficulty with the lake carriers, though the engineers say that they cannot afford to prejudice their case now by giving out their plans to the press. What they have to say must be kept to themselves till it is necessary to bring it up when getting ready for next season. There is no intimation that there is much to be settled and it is intimated, that no particular difficulty is looked for. One of the features of the Buffalo meeting was the in- formal banquet and general rendezvous of members on Friday night at the Cafe Almendinger, where the utmost good fellowship was maintained without the aid of any very grave formalities. This dinner was a relaxation from the work of the meeting proper that was much en- joyed. From all appearance the sessions have.been well kept up. Hard work was plainly manifest on the faces of the most active members of the delegate body. The association is in fine financial condition, as the reports show and it takes care of its members well, though the original benefit clause had to be dropped or modified when the ocean service was included, on ac- count of the high death rate in the south. It is said that there are not more than half a dozen active lake engin- eers who are not in the association. The active member- ship on the lakes is perhaps 2,300 and there are outside of those who still sail a great number who are now oc- cupied on land, often running stationary engines. In order to remain eligible they are required to keep up their qualification as lake engineers. This is the 31st convention of the national body. The Buffalo lodge is No. 1, which is another way of saying that it was first formed and joined with a few other equally enterprising in forming the general association. THE STANTON'S EARLY TRIP. : While it cannot be said that the steamer John Stanton really opened navigation for the season of 1906 on the great lakes, the fact remains that she made the trip from Buffalo to Cleveland on Jan. 22 in tow of the tugs Alva B. and Fabian. Capt. Charles L. Hutchinson, managing owner of the steamer, made the trip on the steamer. The: tugs left Buffalo a little before eight o'clock on Sunday morning, having waited for some hours for a wind, which had been freshening, to die down. The trip of 187 miles was made in a little less than thirty hours. Better time would have been made had the tugs a good supply of fuel on board, but the Alva B had to get fuel from the steamer enroute. The Stanton was taken to the Ellsworth dock at Cleveland and loaded with coal on Monday morning. Vessels have been shifted from one Ohio port to an- other during the winter to take on cargoes, but never before has a boat been brought from Buffalo to Cleveland in January to load. The practice of loading steamers with coal in port has become quite general. Hard coal shippers at Buffalo have loaded vessels with I00,000 tons and it is predicted that a half million tons of coal will be afloat at Lake Erie ports before the opening of navi- gation. The work of loading has been greatly facilitated by the mild weather and no difficulty has been experienc- ed in moving the vessels about the harbors. The government records show that 236,c00 tons less of _ bituminous coal were received at the head of Lake Su- perior last season than in 1904. This decrease in con- nection with the great expansion of iron mining, railway business and general traffic, accounts for the depleted condition of stocks at the head of the lakes. The docks are almost entirely out of soft coal for other than railway purposes and for mining interests. Coal consumers in the northwest are therefore praying for an early opening of navigation. TWO STEAMERS PURCHASED. The Oceanic Steamship Co. steamer Zealandia has just been sold to C. L. Dimond, the eastern ship owner, who has also recently purchased the excursion steamer Olympia of Portland, Ore. It is Dimond's intention to have the steam- ship Zealandia tow the Olympia around to New York via the Straits of Magellan. The Zealandia will then be placed in the Atlantic coast trade. The Zealandia is the pioneer steam- ship of the Oceanic Steamship Co.'s fleet. She was built in 1875 at Glasgow, Scotland, and with the Australia plied betwen San Francisco and Australian ports. When the Mari- posa and Alameda were added to the fleet, the Zealandia was placed on the San Francisco-Honolulu run.. For years the vessel was out of commission, but recently was placed in the | Nome trade. .