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Lake Carriers' Association The Directors Meet to Consider the Recommendations of the Fleet Engineers, Industrial Committee and Committee on Aids to Navigation HE directors of the Lake Car- | riers' Association met in the Rockefeller building, Cleveland, on Thursday, April 23,to consider the recommendations of the Fleet En- gineers' Association, the Industrial Committee and the Committee on Aids to Navigation, as drafted by them on Van. ee Yast. Before proceeding to a_ considera- tion of the various items, Harry Coul- by said that one of the finest things that had been brought about in late years on the lakes was the spirit of co-operation between the management and. the men. The Lake. Carriers' Association, he said, is an organiza- tion which deals only with things of mutual interest and has never been concerned with earnings. He thought it a splendid thing that the men were evincing such great interest and had put in so much time working out recommendations and he felt that if they were adopted by the association it was incumbent upon each individ- ual owner to see that they were put in actual practice. "T was greatly impressed with our Washington experience,' said he. "That committee of captains made a great impression on the congressional committee. When I have gone there representing a moneyed interest very little attention has been paid to me, but these men who had practically climbed up through the hawse pipe onto the bridge were a mighty im- 'pressive lot. The committee knew instinctively that these men would not advocate anything that would im- peril their lives and the property entrusted to them. I have been con- nected with the Lake Carriers' Asso- ciation since it was formed, and look- ing back at things, we have certainly made wonderful progress. It showed great progress to be able to send such a committee of captains to Wash- ington. Now these men have worked hard on these recommendations; they are trying to solve our problem for us, and if we adopt them we should individually see that they are enforced. We ought to feel gratified that we have developed such a spirit of co- operation 'among our men." The first recommendation had to do with the scarcity of licensed sec- ond assistant engineers. Young men who hold a license of the grade of first assistant, even when limited to tonnage, prefer to lay ashore waiting for a position as first assistant rather than take a position as second assistant. After acting as firemen and oilers for a period of three seasons they are eligible for examinations for license, but as it is being worked out on the steamers at the present time the men do not get enough practical experi- ence in the engine room to make them competent to fill the position of first assistant engineer, whereas' after coaching by a competent instructor they are able to pass the examination before the local inspector. It was the opinion of the chief engineers that such young men should not get better than second assistant licenses on their first issue. President Livingstone was directed to take the matter up with the super- vising inspector general of the steam- boat inspection service to see if any- thing could be done along this line. Internal Inspection of Boilers It is the practice of the board of supervising inspectors to withhold all publicity of its action in regard to in- spection laws until after the subject has been submitted to the secretary of commerce. This of course works quite a hardship because obviously the only way relief can be obtained from a measure unintentionally op- pressive would be to ask that it be rescinded. It was deemed by the fleet engineers to be advisable that a competent committee be appointed to make up a set of rules for inspection of steamers on the great lakes and have them presented for consideration. No action was taken on this except to suggest that memoranda be made of individual and specific cases of hardship which could be submitted to the inspectors. Last season in Chicago the in- spectors insisted on the internal in- spection of boilers at the regular an- nual inspection. One case mentioned was that of a modern boat which had been in commission only a short time and although everything on the boat was in good condition the vessel was detained 48 hours in making the in- spection under the new rules. In ad- dition to the usual hydrostatic test of boilers the inspectors are now in- sisting upon an internal inspection as well at all ports. There is no objec- tion to the internal examination, but the fleet engineers feel that it should be made after.-the boats have laid up at the end of the season or before they go into commission in the spring. This recommendation was ap- proved and President Livingstone was instructed to take it up with the de- partment. There is some talk of compelling owners to put all the boilers down on the tank tops. In all new. con- struction they are so located and it was not believed that the contem- plated measure would be retroactive. Owing to the fact that the inspect- ors are usually extremely busy in- specting vessels in the spring, the fleet engineers felt that there was delay in examining young men for licenses, whereas there is frequently a great demand for licensed young men aboard ship. They felt that the local inspector should be in his office ready to examine applicants at all times and that enough assistant inspectors should be employed to examine the vessels. The fleet engineers will be instruct- ed to report specific instances in which young men have found it impossible to be examined. The recommendation that a_ life line be stretched from the dunnage room forward to the boiler house, about 3 ft. above the tank top on side hopper -ships and about the same height as the main stringer on the older construction of ships, was heart- ily approved with the amendment that the distance might be anything be- tween 3 and 4 ft. The recommendation that instruc- tions be given to all ships that no hatch bars or other material be stowed along the side hopper tank tops oF the main stringers, as men are liable to stumble over them, was also ap- proved. This concluded the recommenda- tions in so far as the Fleet Engineers' Association is concerned. The Industrial Committee plained that some of the recommenda- tions made at their meeting on March 10, 1913, for the prevention of acct dents on ship board had not been carried out during the past year by some of the vessels, and _ believing that they are practical, urged that they be reprinted for the information of the vessels. This was carried. com-