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VOL. 38. CLEVELAND, DECEMBER 31, 1908. NEW YORK No. 27 NEW DOCK SCHEME FOR PLY- MOUTH. Notice of a huge dock scheme for Plymouth has been given to the Brit- ish parliament recently and the pro- ject is being received with great in- terest in the west of England. Wembury Bay, where it is pro- posed to provide for the accommoda- tion of the largest liners afloat or contemplated, is the sea area to the east of Plymouth outside the Mews- ton. At present there is no quay or wharf for vessels of the biggest class, although there are several docks of moderate size. The scheme provides for enclosing a large area, perhaps 1,000 acres, of Wembury Bay by the construction of three sea walls, in which the larg- est dock in the United Kingdom is to be constructed, with a depth of from 48 ft. to 35 ft. at low water and capable of accommodating at its quay and jetties eight to ten of the largest liners. It is also proposed to reserve space for two graving docks each more than 1,000 ft. in length, as well as for a large and sheltered area in which vessels might be maneuvered with _ perfect safety when entering or leaving the docks. It would be necessary to connect the docks with Plymouth by a rail- way about four miles in length. AMERICAN BRIDGE IN BURMA. Cable advices received from Ran- goon, Burma, state that the new Scherzer rolling lift bridge across the Ngawan river is completed and opened for railroad traffic. This, the largest bridge constructed in Burma, has a movable span 220 ft. long, the total length of bridge being 820 i. the bridge is constructed on the main line of the Burma _ railway's extension connecting Rangoon with Kyngin. The Ngawan river is in the fertile delta of the Irawaddy river and forms a connection between this river and the Bay of Bengal. The government authorities required the large movy- able span to expedite the railroad traf- fic and the heavy traffic on the river carried on by the Irawaddy Flotilla Co.'s_ vessels, which traverse these waterways from the coast to the in- terior of Burma, as far as Mandalay, more than 400 miles inland. This bridge was designed by The Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Co., of Chicago and New York, and manufactured in. England at the warks of Spencer & Co. Melkeham, Wilts, and erected in. Burma under the charge of the engineers of The Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Co. Though the difficulties to contend with were very great the bridge was com- pleted within a year. During the rainy season, extending from May to October, the river was subject to great floods. During the dry season several hundred natives died from an epidemic of Asiatic cholera. VARYING OPINIONS OF TOWS. Opinion in shipping circles is some- what divided as regards the recent or- der of Secretary Straus, of the de- partment of commerce and labor, regulating the towing of barges on inland waters. Neither ship owners or barge men look upon the new order as at all a settlement of the long controversy over the best method of transporta- tion by water of merchandise in bulk, although it is favored by navigators as reducing the dangers of ocean nav- igation and by ship builders and ship chandlers as likely to cause a 1fe- vival of construction of. the smaller class of vessels as well as necessi- tating the provisioning of the same, especially if there shall prove . to be a return to sailing craft. The barge line owners assert that ue limiting the number of vessels in a tow to three will necessitate addi- tional expense in building larger barges, which, being unable to enter the small bays and streams, will mean a rise in the price of fuel to the consumer. The bargemen also look upon that part of the order de- creasing the length of the tow line to 75 fathoms between barges as dangerous, especially in heavy weath- er. On the other hand, the shipping interests are strong in the opinion that the order is not sufficiently rad- ical, as it fails to deal with the long distance towing from the Chesapeake and Delaware Capes to northern wa- ters. Sailing masters complain that there' was nothing to prevent a tug leaving Newport News with six barges lashed together in. two divis- ions of three each and after getting outside the capes of the Chesapeake to string them into a tow two miles long. MR. SATTERLEE ACCEPTS. Mr. Herbert L. Satterlee, of New York, has. accepted the post of assist- ant secretary of the navy to succeed Truman H. Newberry, who has be- come head of that department. Mr. Satterlee, who is a son-in-law of J. Pierpont Morgan, is not alto- gether unacquainted with navy de- partment affairs, having been a per- sonal friend of Secretary Newberry for many years and also having been attached to the Intelligence Depart- ment of the navy during the Spanish war. . The retiring secretary, Mr. Victor H. Metcalf, has returned to his home in California. The schooner. Stanley M. Seaman was launched from the ship yard of Cobb, Butler & Co., Rockland, Me., on Tuesday last.