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402 142 ($153,000). Last year's profits reached £130,000 ($500,000) and from orders in hand the present year's prof- its are estimated to reach £109,500 ($415,000). ne PROMINENT shipbuilder of Southwick, Sunderland, England, John Priestman, states his belief that when present contracts are completed, which will probably be in the course of the next two years or so, it will be difficult to get new orders owing to high prices. The present tendency of the freight market is decidedly on the downward grade and if freights continue to fall it will be impossible = Canadian HE war put the Canadian steel shipbuilding industry on _ its feet. At the outbreak of hostil- ities Canada had several yards that turned out steel vessels, but only two of these were thoroughly modern. To- day, 14 such plants are in operation in various portions of the dominion. The most important of these are lo- cated on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and on the St. Lawrence river. On the Atlantic, the largest plant is inat of 'the Halitax Shipyards, Ltd., which in 1918 began operations through acquiring the plant of the Halifax Graving Dock. Additional land has been acquired which will increase the property to 46 acres. Heavy expendi- tures have been made on the plant, everything having been done with an eve to permanency. Two thousand workmen are employed and the com- pany is directed by men whose position, both in the industria! and the shipping world, is a guarantee that its opera- tions will not be confined to the present scale, but will be extended to the limit warranted by the conditions of the in- dustry. Qn the St. Lawrence, the most im- portant plant is that of the Canadian Vickers, Ltd., Montreal, which, during the war period, turned out 280 vessels of all kinds for the allied governments. It has also built nine vessels for the Canadian mercantile marine and has con- tracts for four or five more. Other yards on the St. Lawrence are those of the Davie Co. Levis, and the Tide- water Co., Three Rivers. On the Great Lakes, steel shipbuild- ing plants are located at Toronto, Kingston, Collingwood, Welland, Mid- land, Port Arthur and Bridgeburg. When completed, the plant of the Dominion Shipbuilding Co., Toronto, will have cost $2,500,000. On the Pacific coast, the leading THE MARINE REVIEW for shipowners to carry on their business at a profit, since owing to the excessive costs of production the price of ships is today four times as much as before the war. © * * * IME second ship of the Cunard company's postwar fleet, the AL- BANIA, has been launched at Greenock, Scotland. This vessel is 12,000 tons gross, oil-fired, with two sets of Brown- Curtis triple-expansion double reduction- geared turbines, giving her a speed of 16 knots. The Cunard company has also definitely decided to resume the call at Queenstown by its steamers sail- ing between New York and Liverpool. July, 1929 The first call since the war was made by the ex-German liner Katsertn Av- GusTE VicTorIA on the homeward Das- sage on April 24. The White Star liners will also resume the Queenstown call at an early date. The new Peninsular & Oriental line steamer Narxunpa left London recently on her maiden voyage to Bombay. She is 15,400 tons gTOss and is equipped with the latest con- trivances contributing to safety in nayj- gation. Narkunpa has a cruiser stern and three funnels. The deckhouses are enameled white, this being quite a de- parture from the familiar buff paint of the P..& ©. liners. Shipbuilding Revives yards are Coughlan, Vancouver; Wal- lace, North Vancouver; Yarrow, Esqui- mault; the Machinery Depot Co., Vic- toria, and: Mullen, at. Prince - Rupert. These British Columbia yards have done splendid work, having completed a very busy year, the tonnage turned out during 1919 being equal to 170,000 deadweight. The entrance of the government as a factor in the building of ships has been largely instrumental in developing the shipyards. Indeed, had such action not been taken, the dominion probably would not have anything like the building or shipping record it has to its credit. Soon after the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, the Canadian yards began to experience the benefits resulting from an increased demand for tonnage, but even though the marine department exerted its utmost influence to secure orders for Canadian yards, still the results were disappointing. It was not until the im- perial munitions board, acting as the agent of the British government and sustained by ample credits from the dominion government, began to place orders for ships that the industry got on its feet. The value- of the orders placed by the board aggregated $70,- 000,000. The industry received another strong impetus through the action of the dominion government in launching its shipbuilding program, which has re- sulted in the creation of a federally owned Canadian mercantile marine. To date, 60 cargo vessels, with a tonnage of approximately 360,000 deadweight, have been contracted for, involving an- other expenditure of approximately $70,000,000. The fact that several steel shipbuild- ing yards had come into existence be- fore the war is good evidence that the men behind them believed that there was a future for the industry. The comprehensive scale on which the Hali- fax yards have been planned and are being laid out at this date, by some of the prominent Canadian industrial leaders, is further proof of this. Qn the Atlantic coast the prospects for the industry look brightest, it being near- est the center of the world's shipping activities. The cost of production in that district is most likely to permit of competition with British yards. The future of the St. Lawrence yards as 4% factor in the shipbuilding industry would seem to be reasonably assured. On the Great Lakes, the yards have mani- fest limitations, but there will always be a certain amount of work offering for vessels of canal size. Of the fu- ture of the industry on the Pacific coast, it is impossible to speak with any degree of certainty; for there are too many unknown factors in the situation. In the matter of prices, the British Columbia yards have done as well as any in the dominion, having bid as low as $167.50 per ton on several ves- sels for the mercantile marine. Before the signing of the armistice, the aver- age price paid on these contracts was $199.63 per ton. Since that time the average price has been $173.17. C. C. Ballantyne, minister of marine and fisheries, is confident of the future of the industry, if assistance is granted to it. Recently he said: "There is no reason whatever why Canada's ship- building policy should not be permanent, with the necessary assistance that the government may offer. It always was my intention that it should be." He thinks that Canadian yards can, in the matter of price, compete at present with those of Britain, but that when the present rush of work slackens, come petition will be keener and Canadian yards will need protection. On this point he says: "In my opinion the bonus system will meet the situation best." Short of an official announcement, this Z Si