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18 claimed by the city although the state al- so asserts title but the commission be- lieves that the city can make good its claim. The bay presents a water sur- face of 16.170 square miles. There is beside marsh land, sometimes overflowed, making a total of 28, 870 acies. The city's share, the commission thinks, would be 4,660 acres, while 9,000 acres should be acquired by purchase. The cost of the land is estimated to be $4,500,000, filling in at $26,781,600, and tiniber and con- crete bulkheads would bring the city's entire bill up to $36,423,120. The com- -mission holds the scheme for deep water dredging entirely feasibie, thus affording ample wharfage accommodations, CONSOL. STEAMSHIP LINES CO. The gross earnings of the Clyde Steamship Co. for the first quarter of the current fiscal year ended March 31 were $1,283,014, an increase of $46,284, or 3.7 per cent over the cor- responding period of 1906. The gross and net earnings by | months for the first quarters of 1907 and 1906 compare as follows: Month. Gross Net Gross Net Jan. ...$ 428,151 $100,157 $ 440,497 $105,111 Heb... 7 38/,959. 75,142 357,257 76,691 Mar. ... 446,903 116,819 438,975 120,240 Total .$1,283,014 $292,118 $1,236,730, $302,043 The decrease of $9,925 in the net earnings for the quarter was caused by unfavorable weather conditions, . and by the tie-up incident to the long- shoremen's strike in New York. Sev- eral of the northern rivers which the Clyde line navigates in making entry to, some of its northern ports were frozen up by the severe winter weath- er at different times, resulting in tem- porary interruptions to the regular service. The Clyde line has now been un- der the Morse management for more than a year and it is hardly to be expected that the results of 1907 will show the phenomenal increase over last year. which 1906 showed over 1905, both in gross and net business. For example, net earnings in the March quarter of 1906 increased fully 110 per cent over the same quarter of 1905. This. was the tesult both of a large gain in gross, of economy of op- eration, and of mild winter weather con- ditions, EUROPEAN-CANADIAN ROUTE. The Canadians are trying ,an inter- esting experiment at North Sydney in an .effort to expedite their European mails, thus still clinging to the no- tion that the waters off that coast are navigable. The scheme is to take 'off and put on there the mails and passengers of the steamers running to and from Quebec, thereby saving the difference of time between that THE Marine. REVIEW taken by the ships and by the rail- -way trains, the one in traversing and the other in skirting the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The attempt to put this fine idea into practice came near being fraught with disaster. The little gov- ernment steamer Montcalm left Syd- 'ney harbor with the mail bags that had left Quebec by rail seven hours after the steamer Virginian, of the Allan line, and after. a perilous at- tempt to make the transfer, which had to be abandoned owing to the heavy seas which prevail there, the two ves- sels steamed well up into the harbor where 52 passengers and 334 packages of mail were successfully transferred to the liner. Much of the time which it was expected-would be saved was lost and the smaller steamer 'received, in addition, very serious. injuries. Still, the mail steamers are to continue to make these transfers until the Belle Isle route is opened, and it is said that this will result in a quicker de- livery of the mails at Montreal, while the coast provinces will receive their. European mails from. 24 to 36 hours sooner than they would if the vessels made no stop before reaching Rimouski. NEW ZEALAND LOSES STEAM- ER CONNECTION WITH SAN FRANCISCO. The withdrawal of the Oceanic Steam- ship line from the New Zealand and Australian service has checked the trade between the United States and Australia. In 1905 the trade between Australia and the United States showed a balance of $3,611,000 in favor. of the United States. In the last ten years the trade between America and the British colonies in the South Pacific ocean had increased, ac- cording to the report of the American Consul-General at Auckland, New Zeal- and, 250 per cent, This trade had al- ready reached considerable proportions and was growing. The lack of mail ser- vice has checked it, The passenger and mail service from New Zealand by way of San Francisco gave the ,colony its quickest means of communication with London and brought many American visitors to, New Zealand. These tourists visited the springs and health resorts of New Zealand and spent money _ there. The colony, however, is partly to blame for the withdrawal of the trans-Pacific steamship line, for it is admitted. that the subsidy paid by New Zealand for the mail service was not large enough. But the real and determining cause of the abandonment of the colonial service was the refusal of congress to authorize the payment of subsidies to the American mail steamers and merchant marine, The ship owners of Canada are taking advantage of the situation and are mak- ing efforts to establish relations with Australia and New Zealand. An _ exhi- bition is being held at Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand. The United States, though it has a large and increasing trade with the colony, has erected no building and made no exhibit at the Christchurch exposition. Canada, though her trade with New Zealand is of small importance, has been wise enough to erect a handsome building and sent an attractive display of the products of the Dominion to the expcsition. AMERICAN MERCHANT MARINE. "When American merchants have to send their good to Liverpool to be re- shipped to South America, it is high: time for us to get busy." This was the keynote of a strong plea for an American merchant marine and an extension of American trade to the South American republics, made before the men who guide the nation's credit, by Frank S. Dickson, assistant adjutant-general of Illinois, who had come to Chicago to welcome 700 delegates of the National Association of Credit Men in behalf of Governor Detieen: © With a 'force. typical of .'a young man, the adjutant-general, who was the youngest member of the 59th Congress, pictured the need of "American ships, under the American flag, to carry American goods." Mr. Dickson was the first speaker at the 12th annual convention of the or- -- ganization, which held its initial meet- ing of a three days' session in the ban- quet hall of the Auditorium Hotel. The speaker told of his recent tour of inspec- tion of the Panama Canal and pointed out the apparent lack of. interest of American manufacturers in the op- portunities of the South American trade. - "With an area of 7,520,000 square miles, twice as large as the United States, American merchants. control only 12.6 per cent of the trade," said Mr. Dickson. "Of the 4,742 vessels which entered the harbor of Rio Janeiro last year, there were only. seven which carried the American flag and two of these were in distress." He urged that the members of the organization use their influence with their representatives for the establish- ment of a merchant marine. The things that were necessary to get the ; trade to which we are so close geo- graphically, the speaker said, were to send representatives who speak the native tongue of the countries, manu- facture such goods as they want and to adjust the credit system to meet their requirements, a feature studied and carried out by English and Ger- man merchants and finally the es- tablishment of American banks.