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"TAE. Marine. REVIEW ee 21 and most convenient. way to promote the evolution is to reach the master at his daily trade. The nautical school can reach them only during the winter season, and then only a small percentage. The Marine Rr- view will reach them every week in the year with a special course of self-instruction. It will be so sim- ply conducted that anyone may learn it without the aid of a teacher, but nevertheless the services of the teacher will be ever present. Under modern condi- tions on the lakes, the man who is an expert seaman but a poor navigator is of less use on a great steamer than a man whose knowledge of seamanship is limited but who has the ability to accurately direct the course of his vessel and fix by day or night tlie place of his ship. We believe that every master on the great lakes will find the Marine Revirw during the current year to be a source of inspiration and instruction to him. Every effort will be made to make it so. Mr. Long's services will be at the disposal of every ma- riner, and the question and answer department which he will conduct will be of value not only to the in- dividual master who asks the question, but to every other master on the lakes. FREIGHT SITUATION. Whether there will be a coal strike or not is problema- tical. A week ago it looked as though an amicable set- tlement might be made, but present indications are not so sanguine. Leading coal shippers still believe that a strike may be averted, but the belief is founded more upon hope than upon an actual summing up of the pres- ent evidence. Efforts are being directed towards min- imizing the effect of a strike, should one be called. There is an abundance of coal in stock and it is being daily brought to lake ports in quantities. Vessels are holding it at 15 cents storage and the entire fleet is gen- erally being employed to that end. In fact there is not a single vessel in the port of Cleveland that is not now holding coal, and the same condition obtains in part at other ports. Were the weather a little more favorable, vessels. would be shifted from Buffalo for coal cargoes. Even in the event of a strike there will be enough coal on hand to supply cargoes for a limited period, enough at any rate to relieve the shortage now existing in the northwest. Leading vessel interests, especially the ore mining companies, were hoping for an opening of navigation on April 1, but weather conditions have materially altered the prospect during the past week. While it is true that there is not much ice in the lakes proper, there is the same comparative thickness in the rivers and bays as obtained at the corresponding period last year. Zero weather has been prevailing in the Lake Superior country and ice has been steadily making, so that it is now about 17 in. thick at Sault Ste. Marie. There will be no at- tempt made to force a passage through this ice, and weather conditions will consequently govern the open- ing of navigation. Last year the freighters that attempted to break a passage through the ice in White Fish bay were seriously damaged, and spent a number of days in dry dock. No additional ore charters have been reported, but the coal rate has been definitely fixed at 30 cents from the head of the lakes, and 4o cents to Milwaukee. Some chartering has been done in the lumber trade at $2.50, which is the rate fixed by the Lumber Carriers' Association. =: toe ae BILL TO REGULATE MOTOR BOATS. | A bill has. been introduced in congress to regulate motor boats. This new bill merely contemplates that op- erators of power boats of 15 tons or under shall take out license without examination. In support of the bill Sec- retary Metcalf says: "Under the present law these boats and the navigators are wholly irresponsible, and numerous accidents have _ arisen from such facts. It is obvious also from the many letters of complaints that these boats being required to carry no special equipment and being subject to no spec- ial restrictions, enter into unfair competition with small steam vessels that are subject to all the requirements of the steamboat inspection law and a substantial premium is thus placed upon a form of traffic providing none of the usual safeguards for the lives of the passengers carried." A measure to compel motor boats to conform to the ordinary rules of navigation and to safeguard life as much as possible cannot well be opposed; but all previous meas- ures upon this subject have been designed to require these small craft to carry licensed officers, that is to say, © engineers and-pilots. Naturally, of course, such a measure if enforced would kill the motor boat industry, as the motor boat is usually operated by its owner. The average owner could not afford to hire men to run it, but of course, they should be compelled to observe the rules of the road. ICE CONDITIONS AT SAULYS STE. MARIE. Harvey's Marine Bureau, Sault Ste. Marie, writes concern- ing ice conditions as follows: I have gathered the following information in regard to the actual ice conditions in the Soo river and they are as correct as is possible to get: White- fish Point:--No ice above the point. What ice there is in the bay is loose and moving back and forward. Iroquois :-- Ice solid but not as heavy as last year. Lime island:--71 in. of blue ice with considerable snow on it. Point Au Frene:--22 in. solid ice. This is the most solid place in the river. Hay Lake:--15 in. ice in some parts but most of it about 12 in. At Sault, Mich.:--17 in. ice with considerable snow on it. The weather the past few days has been 10 above with ice making right along. It went down to 2 below zero last night and this has tightened up conditions very much, The opening is not going to be anything like as early as most vesselmen are figuring on. . CONFERENCE WITH ORE HANDLERS. The dock managers have been in conference with the representatives of the International Longshoremen's As- sociation at Cleveland for the past ten days, but have been unable to reach an agreement for unloading vessels at Lake Erie ports for the season of 1906, The ore hand- lers desire a ten-hour day, but the dock managers main- tain that with the increased volume of trade it is impos- sible to reduce the hours of labor. Last season the men worked eleven hours a day until Sept. 1, and ten hours thereafter. An increase of 7%4 per cent in wages for the ore shovelers is also included in the demand. The American Manufacturing Co., 65 Wall St., New York, has been experimenting for a long time to make a waterproof transmission rope and claim now to have accomplished it. The waterproofing adds about 2 per cent to the weight of the rope which lasts as fong as standard transmission rope, for in addition to the waterproofing it is thoroughly lubricated internally with flake graphite. oe nwa SOL 3 alee oe ees a Ee he