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of the Clyde Trust,. reviewing the work of the Glasgow harbor for last year said it was the worst year commerce had yet had, and the worst for shipping in his 50 years ex- perience. December, however, showed some improvement, and as ship owners they were beginning the new year with rather better hopes. S: W. H. RAEBURN, chairman * co % ROM the shipbuilding point of view there is a general expectation that this year will show an improvement on last. During 1925, 19 British firms had an output of over 20,000 gross tons. Of these 13 had increases and 6 decreases. Harland and Wolff -with 113,300 gross tons heads the list for the fourth year in _ succession, Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson take second place with a total of 82,- 640 gross tons, the battleships NELSON and RODNEY are chiefly responsible for the increased output of Armstrong SIMIAN What s Doing Around The Lakes HITT HNIUUUU UU A ill ORE than 500,000 persons were carried in 1925 on the 12 .steamers of the Goodrich Transit Co., Chicago, according to H. W. Thorp, president. Both vaca- tion trips and one-day excursions showed big gains. Demand for fast over-night package-freight service has accompanied the development of Wis- consin and western Michigan into a popular resort country. Cross-lake au- tomobile transportation, as low as $5 per car, has grown in favor as auto- ists seek to avoid the crowded high- ways in the Chicago district. = a * Ges Mr. Thorp: “Boat line officials look forward to the 1926 season with confidence that it will be by far the greatest in the history of lake navigation.” This is echoed by B, J. Kennedy, general passenger agent, Michigan Transit Co., Chicago: “Most of the lake steamers are now in win- ter quarters where they are being re- paired and remodeled for the 1926 What the British Are Doing Short Surveys of Important Activities in Maritime ‘Centers of Island Empire Whitworth and Co. and Cammell Laird & Co., their respective totals being 64,424 gross and 54,938 gross tons. The fifth on the list, William Gray & Co. with 54,525 gross tons shows a decrease; but Alexander Stephen & Sons have an output approaching six times that of the previous year with 52,828 tons. ee IR GEORGE HUNTER, speaking at the launch of the motor ship ATHOLKING, 14,000 tons, at Wallsend- on-Tyne described 1925 as the worst in a long continued depression of ship- building. More than half the ship- yard workers were idle. Four of his firm’s nine yards were closed, and others only partially employed. For the first and only time since 1872 he had not a single ship on the stocks in his two large Wallsend yards. The chief causes of depression and unem- ployment were high costs and low production, and especially the high season of navigation, which promises to be the greatest ever known on the Great Lakes.” * ok * N ENFORCED stay of 27 days on Green island without mail or communication with the mainland came to an end, Dec. 27, for Frank Drew, lightkeeper, and Alfred Cornell, his assistant, when they arrived at Marinette, Wis. ee. oer 4 AJ. RUFUS PUTNAM, federal engineer at Chicago, is recom- mending the construction of fixed bridges across the Chicago river and the abandonment of the river as a navigable stream, in a report to the war department at Washington. He SR Oe T WICE in the early part of Janu- ary the ILLINOIS of the Good- rich Transit Co. was locked in the ice at the entrance to the Benton 28 considered the reason to be that they were not work- cost of coal. He ing hard enough. Old England was not done yet, but unless everybody worked hard he could not say what would happen. & J. INGLIS have launched the | twin screw motor vessel ROMA, of about 1450 tons gross, which they have built for the cargo trade in the Argentine of the Argentine Naviga- tion Co. (Nicholas Mihanovich) Lon- don. The vessel is equipped with eight electric winches and steel der- ricks for handling cargo at four large hatchways. The windlass, steering gear, and warping capstan aft are all driven electrically. The propelling machinery will consist of two sets of single-acting Diesel engines having six cylinders. The machinery is being sup- plied by Messrs Harland and Wolff’s Diesel engine works, Glasgow. The RoMA is a duplicate of the MAnprID. je TULL Harbor-St. Joseph harbor. Once she was held fast six days. HE UNITED STATES, of.the Pen- insula & Northern Navigation Co., Milwaukee, which was taken to south- ern waters in November, is now in service between Miami and Tampa, Fla., leaving Miami every Tuesday and Saturday. Bg * * ERMISSION for the Nickel Plate railroad to proceed with the dredg- ing of the Calumet harbor, in the South Chicago district, has been de- nied by William F. Mulvihill, super- intendent of the Illinois department of purchases and construction. The chief objection is that the railroad is obligated to spend $600,000 only, and that the city would be called upon to pay the excess cost of dredging. The cost of dredging has been estimated at 25 cents a cubic yard and the state places the cost nearer 45 cents. Chicago officials defend the 25 cent estimate.