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440 increase necessitated is so large that the lines complain that “competition” between them and all-rail or rail-and- water carriers not using the canal has become a myth. . Within the past three months the struggle between the all-rail, and rail- and-water lines and the all-water Pan- ama ship lines for the coast to coast traffic became so. acute that’ the fail carriers filed and are now awaiting decision by the interstate commerce commission on a petition to lower their rates to a competitive basis with the water lines. There were about 375,000 tons of cargo in the vessels awaiting transit THE MARINE REVIEW Fix Navigation Lanes At a final conference at the chamber of commerce in Boston, Oct. 19, re- garding proposed anchorage limits and clear navigation lanes in Nantucket and Vineyard sounds, Mass., it was decided to recommend that anchorage limits be laid out, under the special provision in the river and harbor act of March 4, 1915, so as to define navi- gation lanes through the sounds sub- stantially as indicated on the sketch map presented herewith. This will provide for a clear course for vessels passing through the sounds and also for the vessels running between New MAP OF TRAFFIC LANES AS ADOPTED through the canal, before any of them left to go by longer routes. At the height of its activity, the Panama railroad hauled a total of 643,178 tons of through freight between the sea- boards in 12 months. Furness, Withy & Co., Ltd., have purchased three large cargo steamers for use in their new service between Philadelphia and Glasgow. All of the steamers are vessels which have been built within the last few years and are ll-knot boats. They are Dern oF Ketty, which is 4,662 tons gross and 2,999 tons net; Den or Grants, which is 5,191 tons gross and 3,318 tons net, and Den or RutHveN, which is 4,937 tons gross and 3,116 tons net. Bedford and the harbors of Marthas Vineyard and Nantucket islands. Rec- ommendation is to be made that the locality be patrolled by a vessel of the coast guard, as the law contem- plates, to see that the anchorage limits are observed as far as prac- ticable, and to observe the conditions when it may be found impracticable for a vessel to, conform to the pre- Scribed anchorages. It is proposed to give the lay-out of anchorages and navigation lanes a practical test for one year, when the subject will be considered as reopened for revision. Full consideration was given to the protest submitted by the Boston, Cape Cod & New York Canal Co. against establishing the proposed an- December, 1915 chorages and clear navigation lanes. The protest was based on the con- tention that the proposed anchorages, etc., would soon be rendered unneces- sary by the availability of the Cape Cod canal for vessels now using the sounds, and that to lay out the navi- gation lanes and patrol them would involve useless expense. It was the unanimous view of those present that the Cape Cod canal does not warrant deferring action to define anchorages and safe lanes for navigation through Nantucket and Vineyard sounds. Rate War to Stop. By F. K. Haskell Taking the initiative for the first time, in the rate war which has been going on between four companies and individuals operating freight and pas- senger vessels between Seattle, Bel- lingham and the San Juan islands, the Washington state public service commission has filed a formal com- plaint against the companies involved in the rate-cutting controversy. Those named as defendants include’ the Puget Sound Navigation Co.,_ suc- cessor to the Island Navigation Co., which operates vessels between Seat- tle, Anacortes, Bellingham and the San Juan islands, making the “loop” of the sound; the Kingston. Naviga- tion Co., operating between Seattle, Port Townsend and the islands; the Inter-island Navigation Co., running between Bellingham, the San Juan islands and Anacortes, and W. H. Kasch, an individual, operating a vessel on the same route. The ‘public service commission, in its complaint assumes jurisdiction to name a time and place for hearing. According to the complaint, tariffs and supplemental schedules filed with the commission show that the four companies are en- gaged in a “demoralizing rate war”, which will ultimately result in poorer service. Both freight and passenger rates have been slashed, for the pur- pose of driving out competitors, says the complaint. Quote Rates in Dollars “Most of the shipping agents in quot- ing freight rates to the orient now use dollars and cents instead of pounds, shilling and pence,” said a New York exporter recently. “I have been ac- customed to getting rates in sterling, so that when I asked and got from six steamship lines, rates to oriental ports the other day, and found that all their answers were expressed in terms of American money, I was rather startled. But this is evidence that the dollar has come into its own, and is probably going to be the world’s standard of exchange.”