STOP PRESS NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 30, 5 February 1927, Page 28

STOP PRESS NEWS

CRICKET. Auckland v. Melbourne.

Melbourne's- score at the luncheon adjournment was four wickets for 111 runs. Additional details:— Ebeling, b Matheson 18 Onyons, not out 40 Sandford, not out 26 Extras 6 GISBORNE MEETING. Taruheru Hack Handicap, of 120 soys. —1 Gold Dot, 0.9, 1; a Crislina, 5.2, 2; 2 Sunlike, 8.5, 3. Scratched: Cohesion. Won by two lengths. Time, lmin 43 2-ssec. TE KUITI RACES. Te Kuiti Cup, of 310 soys; one mile and a quarter.—2 Day Guard, 8.5, 1; 1 Miss Yera, 7.6, 2; 4 Royal Form, 7.1, 3. Scratched: Spoony, Ring the Bell, Macroom. Won by a long neck, with' half a length between second and third. limgj_JLmin 2see. Since then a new section with a lifting power of 8000 tons has been constructed. By attaching this section to the first made dock two docks are obtained each suitable for ships up 1o 9000 tons. The four sections can also be placed together so as to obtain a lifting capacity for a ship of 14,000 tons. The arrival of £he Gripsholm at Gothenburg'rendered it necessary to have a still larger dock. The section just launched, has a lifting capacity of , 8000 tons, and when added to the other sections will provide a total capacity of 18,000 tons. It has a length of nearly 600 feet. The "Gothic." When the Gothic came out from Harland and Wolff's in 1893 she attracted a good deal of attention, for she was at that time the largest vessel running into London River, her tonnage being round about 8000. She went into the New Zealand service, and her first outward passage was a record one. She was an object of great interest in New Zoalaud also. • Homeward bound in 1906, with a wool cargo, the Gothic, caught fire, but contrived to reach port safely. Her commander then was Captain C. A. Bartlott, now Commodore C. A. Bartlett, C.8.,- C.8.E., marine superintendent'of the White Star Line. After refit the Gothic became the Red Star Gothland for a time, and in 1911 returned to the White Star service under her original name, reverting later to the Red Star Line. It is announced that this vessel has now been broken up in Italy.

Tow of 800 Miles.

The United States . Shipping Board sgteamer Suwarinco, 3253 gross tonnage, arrived at Queenstown recently in tow of the Dutch tug Zwarte Zee, having been forced back to the port owing to damages sustained during the recent heavy gales in the Atlantic. Tho Suwarinco was 1675 miles east of Cape Race when she encountered very bad weather. .Huge seas washed over the ship, smashing the lifeboats and deck fittings, ana rendering the ship helpless by breaking her rudderhead. Wireless calls for assistance were immediately answered by the Dutch tug Zwarte Zee, which left Queenstown on 20th November, and after steaming at full speed fell in with the disabled vessel' and towed her for 800 miles without accident.

Russia's Motor-ships. A few months ago the Soviet Government placed orders with Trance for two motor tankers of 11,000 tons deadweight, while it is known that several other oil-engined vessels are on. tho stocks in Kussia, where quite a large shipbuilding programme has been decided upon. Two particularly interesting motor-ships have been on hand for pome time; they are intended for service to London, and have passenger accommodation, besides a substantial amount of refrigerated cargo space.

Inter-Island Service.

The Government of Fiji has decided to subsidise a steamer for inter-island service in the Fiji group with a grant of £7500 per annum, and the tender of the Burns Philp South Sea Company has been accepted, reports "The Harbour." The term is five years. The s.s. Makatea is to T>e placed in the service early in the new year. She will make two trips per month. The new service will be warmly welcomed by planters and tourists as the only means hitherto of going from one island to another was by a small steamer or by sailing craft.

Shipbuilding in Russia.

Russia has again become a motorship building country—some of the earliest oil-engined vessels, as the "Motor Ship" points out, were built there and two tankers have just been completed. Before the new regime two cruisers were laid down, and the hulls have been finished off as motor' tankers by the Soviet Government. The vessels thus built are of 6700 tons deadweight, and the machinery is twinscrew, each engine developing 750 b.h.p. in six cylinders. The motors are of the two-stroke design, running' at 180 r.p.m., and no doubt follow the general lines of the construction of pre-war Russian Diesel motors.

New Passenger Steamers,

The new ships which are to be placed on the Queensland-run by the A.V.S IST Company, replacing ■ the Wyroema arid the Levuka, are the Fezara and Famaka. Hitherto they have been running in the Mediterranean for the Khedival Mail Company, nominally an Egyptian concern, but one in which powerful British interests play a strong hand. The important point about the Fezara and Fainaka .is that they are equipped to burn either oil fuel or coal, and that it ia intended to use them as oil-burners. Both steamers were built at Glasgow by A. Stephens and Son, who were also the builders of the Wyreeina and the Lcvuka. The Fezara and Famaka are sister ships, their dimensions being: Length 390 ft, beam 05ft, det>th 28ft and draught when loaded 24ft Sin, Electric lighting is installed throughout and the ships are equipped with the latest appliances for handling cargo. The captain, engineer, superintcni d«ft* and othej 'AJ&BJiU pffiieis whi

are to bring back the new ships from Alexandria, left Sydney early in Decomber by the Maungamii for Auck-. land, where they joined the Union Company's steamers Atua and Navua lately sold to the Khedival Mail Lino for delivery in Egypt.

Old. Steamer's End.

One of the most widely known steamers in New Zealand waters—the Stella—has finished her long period of useful service says the "Otago Daily Times." The. vessel which has been laid up iv Otago Harbour since April 1921, has been sold by the Otago Iron Rolling Mills Company (Ltd.) to Mr W. Borlace. The old vessel has thus been placed in the hands of the shipbreakers. It is understood that the Stella will shortly be brought from her moorings off Carey's Bay to a berth at the Port. Chalmers wharves, where the -hull will be stripped. Fittings, machinery, shaft,. and propeller will be salved, and the purchaser will no doubt make a profit on hia bargain.

Imports and Exports. According to the Bureau Research of the United States Shipping Board, reports "The Syren and Shipping," the water-borne foreign commerce of the United States aggregated for the second .quarter of this year 24,280,000 cargo tons, an increase of 3,300,000 tons over the previous quarter. The import movement was 10,725,000 tons and the export total 13,550,000 tons. The Atlantic Coast foreign freight trade shows a decrease during this period of 233,700 tons, the figures being: Imports 6,800,000 tons, and exports 5,546,----000 tons. The figures for the Gulf of Mexico ' show imports 2,138,000 tons and exports 2,868,000 tons. The Pacific Coast has made a wonderful advance of 1,000,000 tons in export cargo tonnage, which is only slightly set off by a decrease of 10,000 tons in import cargoes.

Kiel Canal Traffic.

Traffic in the Kiel Canal was rather brisk in the third quarter of 1926. The canal" was used in that period by 14,423 vessels, of 5,937,000 tons net as compared with 12,089 vessels, of 4,160,021 tons net, in the corresponding quarter of the preceding year. The German flag accounted for G7.6 per cent, of the number of vessels but for only 37.8 per cent, of the tonnnpe The increase in traffic is mainly due to coal shipments, chiefly by British vessels, from Danzig to Stettin

German Progress.

According to the'current edition of Lloyd's Register, Germany is credited with a total ownery of 1986 merchant vessels aggregating 3,111,000 tons This is an increase, but not a very lar»e one, over the total for the previous year. The pre-war German tonnage was over 2} million tons more. During the trade depression it is hardly to" bo expected that any maritime country will show a big increase in its mercantile marine. Still, the. fact remains that during recent years Germany has made very tangible progress towards taking up that place in international shipping which she occupied before the

Ships' Libraries,

Qt^t m?J lx years aS° a seWe was staited for providing ships' crews with reading matter during voyages. li was supported by shipowners and seamen's unions, and it was decided to supply books for ships' libraries from a central library established in London. On ooard. the ships some member of the crew was appointed librarian and the books were lent out in the same manner as at public libraries ashore. After six years' experience the scheme has «fl r£ rOn-OUnCed a thoroug'i success, and libraries are now to bo found in a good many ships, both liners and tramps, where they are welcomed by the crews. y

Distribution of Trade,

by the Board of Trade relative to the distribution of England's overseas trade during the twelve months S with September l as t. This shows that 2^4onno mp,° l- Were valued at £1><W1,300,000, of which foreign countries cntributed £870,703,000, the bSahco coming from the British Empire S regard to exports, the total value ship pecLwas £654,737,000, the value S NewXTi^ bGing £2S0 '53S>°™

It will not be long now before the Gerr^T^f Ule TOarhle will be strengthened by the addition of a new liner on the North Atlantic route. This vessel ls the New York, which, building to the account of the Hamburg-Amer-ican Line, was recently launched from n»A S ambur? of Messrs. Blohin the Albert Balhn, of 21,000 tons gross, her length being 633 feet, her beam 78 feet 9 inches, and her depth 55 feet 9 inches. Accommodation is being provided for 250 first, 420 second, and 460 third-class passengers, and all the public rooms will be decorated and furnished very much on the lines of those in her sister-ships, Albert Ballin and Hamburg. The propelling machinery, which w being supplied by the builders, will consist of two sets of steam turbines designed to develop 13,000 s.h.p. and to give the vessel a service speed of 16 knots.

Fewer Ships Laid Up.

_ On Ist July, 1926, the ships laid up m the United Kingdom and Ireland numbered 518 of 859,739 net tons. On Ist October the total was 313 ships of 371,057 tons, the actual decrease being 485,682 tons, or 56.8 per cent. The return shows that at Cardiff there are only 10 vessels of 6517 tons lying idle, whereas at the beginning of the present quarter the figure was d.OOO tons more. Substantial decrensoi-v. are shown—in the case of Liverpool, 90,000; Newcastle, 58,000; Manchester, 50,000; London, river and docks, 68,000; and in the Gareloch, 27.000 tons. , . ,

Increase in Foreign Shipping. It is stated that official returns show the number of steamships of over 1000 tons gross registered in Japan at the end of April, 1926, to bn 867, with :i gross tonnage of 3,135,988. There has been a noticeable increase in the import of foreign ships during the present year, more than 20 "vessels with a deadweight tonnage of nearly 140,000 having been purchased- from abroad between January and the end of May.

Republican Opinions,

Ihe United States liner Republic recently received an unexpected addition to her passenger list in &id-Atlantic, when a huge fish, somewhat resembling a sun-fish but longer and more globular and weighing about 8001b, leapt on uoai'd. The leap was not quite so skiiiui an acrobatic feat as might luivc been desired, for the rails of the Eepubhc wero broken by the impact before the fish reached tho deck, reports •'The Shipping World." There appears to be somo mystery as to the reason of this occurrence, but Neptune begs to announce officially that in consequence of the expression of republican opinions by the said fish, which he considered to be detrimental to his sovereignty, he named the honourable member and ordered him to withdraw from the ocean. The honourable member then withdrew, and apparently found his. spiritual home on tocrd the -Bsjpublrft, .""" ■■■• -