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E 14: / property acquired without reference to its value for the uses for which it is taken under the provisions of this act. The appraisers shall each receive for their services five dollars for each day's actual ser- vice in making the said appraisements. Any person or corporation having any estate or interest in the premises, who shall for any reason not have been tendered payment therefor as above provided, or who shall decline to accept the amount tendered therefor, may, at any time within one year from the publication of notice by the attorney-general, as above provided, file a petition in the court of claims of the United States, setting forth his right or title, and the amount claimed by him as damages for the property taken; and the court shall hear and 'adjudicate such claims in the same manner as other claims against the United States are now by law directed to be heard and adjudicated therein: Provided, That the court shall make such special rules in respect to' such cases as 'shall secure their hearing and adjudication with the least possible delay. Judgments in favor of such claimants shall - be paid as other judgments of said court are now directed to be paid; and any claimant to whom a tender shall have been made, as herein- before authorized, and who shall de- cline to accept the same, shall, un- less he recover an amount' greater than so tendered, be taxed with the entire cost of the proceeding. All claims on account of ownership of any interest in said premises shall, unless petition for the recovery thereof, be filed within one year from the date of the first pub- lication. of notice by the attorney-general as above directed, be forever barred: Provided, That owners or claimants laboring under any of the disabilities defined in the _ statute of limitations of the State of Michigan may file a petition at any time within one year from the removal of the disability. Upon the publi- cation of the notice as above direeted, the sec- / 'retary of war. may take possession of the prem- ises embraced in said plan numbered three, and proceed with the construction herein author- ized; and upon payment being made therefor, or without payment, upon the expiration of: the time as above limited, without filing the peti- tion, absolute title to the premises shall vest in the United States, and no permits shall be granted by the secretary of war or other official of the United States granting the right to occupy 'any portion of the land or waters of St. Marys river in the locality for said ship canal herein provided for, or between the same and the international boundary line except: upon the express condition, accepted by the grantee there- in, to the effect that the erection of structures or the utilization of water power shall create no tights against the United States in case the whole or any part of the said river or the lands therein is required for the purposes of naviga- . tion, and further, that such structures or rights so granted shall be surrendered to the United - States without cost when so required for pur- poses of navigation aforesaid, and any and all rights under any permits or licenses heretofore granted shall be deemed to be revoked unless such permits or licenses are reissued upon the terms that further improvements and expendi- tures shall entitle the licensee to no greater consideration than such licensees are now en- titled to, if any; but nothing herein contained shall be held to imply that any right now exists to compensation on account of expenditures made or alleged claims under licenses heretofore granted. : The secretary of- war may acquire lands for the location of remedial or compensating works to the extent required to enable the Michigan- ~ Lake Superior Power Co. to comply with the 'provisions of the river and harbor act of 1902, but such lands, if so acquired, shall be obtained without expense to the United States. MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL. The report of the Manchester Ship Canal Co. for the half year ending Dec. 31, 1906, has been issued. The result of the half year's working of the ship canal department was an increase of £24,959 in the receipts, of £4,007 in the expendi- ture and £20,962 in the profit, as com- pared with the corresponding half of the previous year. It should be noted that the increase of £4,007 in the expenditure is in comparison with a half year during which the sum of £2,377 was expended on the official opening of the new dock. The following- is a comparison of the TRAE Marine REVIEW { traffic for the 13 years during which the ship canal has been open: Sedborne traffic. Seaborne traffic. Year-- . Tons. Year-- Tons. IBOt Soa s OS6;10S 1901. ee. ess) 2,084,833 Te0F ee ae: T,0374443>> 190240005505 3,137,343 T6963 as hs 1,509,698: 71903... 0. cs 3,554,636 TRO care «15/004 790 2 190A occ ca 3,618,004 W898 es ee 425218,005:. 1905; 52. rene Oy99OsL LO TROO oes, 25429168 * 1906... ss. 0 3 4,441,241 T9003 ae cus 2,734,843 The receipts for the year showed an increase of £40,401, and the expenditure of £17,439, including a provision of £8,000 for the Irlam accident. The net result was an increase of £31,962 in the working profit. GERMAN COMBINE. Under the title of Central Verein Deutscher Rheder (Central Union of German Shipowners), the German ship- ping interests effected an organization at Berlin recently. -- The effect of the general well being | of the empire has been such as to en- courage the ship owners to combine, and while each member of the combine is free to develop his own resources to the ut- most extent, the great aim of the new association will be to deter any of the parties from injuring any of the others, through excessive or ruinous competition. The most significant fact, perhaps, in regard to this latest combine is the abso- lute harmony, which has. been induced between interests hitherto conflicting al- most to the point of war. Difficulties there, of course, always will be, but the fundamental principle has found accept- ance that in many respects the competi- tors are on common ground, and they have resolved that nothing shall be done on that common ground that may in any way prejudice even the smallest members of the association. BRITISH SHIP OWNERS' PARLIAMENT. The Chamber of Shipping of the Uni- ted Kingdom meets once a year in Lon- don to discuss those questions which are of interest to the trade, more especially the matters to which parliament is giving attention, or to' which it is likely to do so. At the recent gathering there was a speech by Sir John Ellerman laying stress upon the gloomy prospects for British shipping owing to the recent leg- islation in parliament. The compensa- tion act came in for much criticism, Sir John predicting the extinguishment of British sailing vessels by its means. The Thames dock question was also discussed, and altogether the prospects seemed to be none too alluring. As an antidote to the undue optimism of Mr. Lloyd George, the figures quoted by Sir John Ellerman with regard to the profits of the steamship companies of the country. will do . excellent service. An average dividend in three years of four and one-third per cent by concerns owning two-thirds of the capital of these companies, whilst as regards the remain- ing third an actual absence of dividend altogether for one or more of the three years is anything but promising to the investor, and the government which in the face of such a result insists upon in- creasing the cost of working by fresh legislation is certainly going the way of frightening capitalists from the business. OPERATIONS OF CHARLES W, MORSE. Charles W. Morse is credited with having acquired almost complete control of Atlantic and Gulf, shipping, only about seven lines remaining outside his com- bine. The position of Mr. Morse is ° strategical in view of the recent railroad rate enactments and he is now in a way to compete actively with the haulers of slow freight on land. Included in the combine are eight steamship companies, viz.: Hudson Navi- gation Co., three vessels operating on the Hudson river; the Clyde line with a fleet of 21 ships; the Ward line, 20 ships and Mallory line, 11 ships, all in the 'southern coastwise trade; the Metropoli- tan Steamship Co., four ships trading from New York to Boston; the Maine Steamship Co, and the Eastern Steam- ship Co. with 22 ships, and Mr. Morse's latest purchase, the New York and Porto Rico Steamship Co., with nine vessels. Negotiations are said to be under way for the purchase of the Red "D" line, operating mail and passenger steamers to Porto Rico and Venezuela, and also for the acquisition of the Tietjen & Lang Dry Dock Co., of Hoboken, N. J. These ventures, however, have not been con- cluded. It is also quite generally believed that although Mr. Morse failed in his first attempt to acquire the Sound lines of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway, he will not so easily accept de- feat and will probably make further ne- gotiations before inaugurating a rate war. There has been some conjecture as to who might be Mr. Morse's associates in his $60,000,000 'Consolidated 'Steamship Co. of Maine and the various lines now under his control, the capitalization of which aggregate more than $80,000,000. It has been reported that Chas. M. Schwab, former president of the steel trust, and John W. Gates and his asso- ciates are among Mr, Morse's active sup- porters, and the "copper king," F. Augus- tus Heinze, as well as Charles F. Mur- phy and other Tammany hall leaders are mentioned in this connection. It is reported that the Southern Pa- cific is to rearrange its Morgan line ser- vice so as to compete directly with the Morse West India lines, the probable