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Intercoastal Conference — Agreement Is Approved An agreement among four steam- ship companies operating in the in- tercoastal trade of the United States was approved by the shipping board on April 15. These lines are the American-Hawaiian Steamship Co., the Dollar Steamship Lines Inc., the Luckenbach Steamship Co., Inc., and the Panama Pacific line. Each of the parties to this agree- ment is engaged as a common Car- rier in the operation of vessels in the intercoastal trade between At- lantic and Pacific coast ports. Un- der the arrangement the representa tives of the parties are to meet occa- sionally at New York to consider in- formally conditions in the trade and the rates to be charged from time to time. Each of the lines retains the right of individual action except in respect to those instances in which, as a result of such informal consid- eration, the parties reach an agree- ment to charge the same rates on any particular commodity or charac- ter of traffic. Any other carrier de- siring to do so may participate in this arrangement upon application and signature to the memorandum, while any signatory party may with- draw upon 48 hours’ notice to the other parties. This arrangement is independent of and apart from any other agreement or arrangement of the parties and is not designed to continue any of the functions of the United States Intercoastal Confer. ence, of which the parties hereto were previously but are not now members. To Handle Lakes Surveys The Great Lakes Underwriting Syn- dicate will be represented by the United States Salvage association in all damage and loss surveys on the Gerat Lakes from the beginning of the 1931 Lakes season. This supervi- sion by the Salvage association will be exercised from its Cleveland office without setting up further exclusive offices at this time, by utilizing to a considerable extent the services of the American Bureau of Shipping’s rep- resentatitves elsewhere on the Lakes, as has been done in the past. Annual Prizes Offered Announcement has been made by the Royal Society of Arts, John street, Adelphi, London, W. C. 2, of the Thomas Gray memorial trust prizes offered in 1931 for the improvement and encouragement of navigation, as follows: 1—Prize for an invention: A prize of 100 pounds to any person who may bring to its notice a valuable im- provement in the science or practice of navigation proposed or invented by 60 himself in the years 1930 and. 1931. Competitors must forward proofs of claim on or before Dec. 31, 1931 to the secretary of the Society. 2—Prize for an essay: A prize of 100 pounds for an essay on the fol- lowing subject: “The Stability of Ships, with special reference to the particulars which should be supplied by shipbuilders, and also the value of any mechanical devices for ascer- taining the M. G., with which you are acquainted.” Essays must be for- warded not later than Dec. 31, 1931 to the secretary of the Society. Complete particulars governing the contest may be obtained from the sec- retary of the Society. Historical Data Gathered By Veteran River Pilots N LINE with the interest which has been manifested during the past few years in the early history of the Northwest, the Veteran Steamboat Men’s association was organized at Portland, Oreg., with offices at 581 Main street. Captain Arthur Riggs, president of the association, has been con- nected with marine __ activ- ity in the Pa- cific northwest for over 40 years. During this period he has served on more than 200 vessels and has accumulated a vast amount of historical data through the preservation of exact copies of various log books. He be- gan his river career as a deck-hand on the steamer ISABEL on the Willamette river in 1887 and was advanced by easy stages until he was appointed master pilot. As master pilot he has commanded many of the best steam- ers on the western rivers, bays and lakes from the mouth of the Colum- bia to the innermost headwaters of this stream’s tributaries and also those of the Yukon river in Alaska. For the past few years he has been engaged in piloting offshore ships be- tween Astoria and Portland, Oreg. Captain Riggs has been president of the Veteran Steamboat Men’s agso- ciation since its formation. The sixth annual reunion of the associa- tion will be held on June 28 at Cham- poeg park on the Willamette river to commemorate the beginning of trans- portation and commerce in the Ore- gon territory. Over 7000 attended the annual reunion in 1930. Member- ship in the association is not limited to those who have pioneered as em- Ployes but is open to all who wish to aid in perpetuating these records. Capt. Arthur Riggs MARINE REVIEW——M ay, 1931 Shipping Board Abolishes : Fuel Conservation Unit The fuel conservation committee of the United States shipping board, which has saved the government many millions of dollars since it pe. gan to function in 1923, was abolished on April 15. Its continuance has been found unnecessary because the majority of the board’s fleet has been sold to private interests while the re. maining vessels are now being op- erated on a lump sum basis. In its eight years of existence the fuel section not only rendered val- uable service in effecting fuel econ- omies with the government’s mer- chant fleet, but it aided the American merchant marine as a whole by es- tablishing certain standards for the engineers to follow. When the section began to function it was found that many millions had been wasted by inexperienced engi- neers in the then young American merchant marine. Engineering ex- perts in the section, after a careful study of the problem, worked out a program to be followed and it was not long after that big savings became noticeable. As a further incentive, it was decided to award a bonus to the engineers of the first fifty vessels in the big government fleet which showed the best records every six months. Every succeeding semi-an- nual report showed remarkable sav- ings over the preceding period. It is doubtful if much further im- provement can be made in fuel econ- omies on American vessels as the en- gineers, through the _ experience gained by working with the fuel con- servation section, have almost reached the maximum of efficiency. The im- portance of fuel, economies can be realized by the fact that fuel repre- sents about 25 per cent of the total cost of ship operation. In addition to its important work in fuel conservation the section also worked on marine engineering devel- opment and played a big part in bringing forward pulverized coal as marine fuel. It also worked with naval experts at the test plant in the Philadelphia navy yard. The section was guided by a com- mittee of private American engineer- ing experts who are interested in the development of the American mer- chant marine. This committee has been head by Capt. C. A. McAllister, presi- dent of the American Bureau of Ship- ping. Other members include Prof. H. L. Seward, prof. L. B. Chapman, Col. G. Bartlett, of the Cosmopolitan line; William H. Hayes, and others. F. D. Foster has been made district manager for the France Packing Co. Inc. at Cleveland with offices at 1251 West Third street. The France Pack- ing Co., Philadelphia, recently took over the Martell Packing Co.