SHIPPING TELEGRAMS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume L, Issue 12439, 17 December 1903, Page 4

SHIPPING TELEGRAMS.

Sydney, Dec 16— W/aikarc^ ss, from Wellington.. •" ' ♦- >> " ' ' - Gisborne, Dec. IT-^Waimate, ss, from Wellington, at 4 a m -xStar,of- Australians., from ISapier, at &:30 sjn. "* "' v OxLohvLugn, Dec. 17 — JRarawa, s.s., from New Plymouth, air E2O a m. Wellfe^ton; Dec. 17— Kaikoura, ss.. from Napier, at 9 a.m. „ Auckland, Dec 17— Everton Grange, s s , from Sydney, at. 0,30 am./ - ' SAIIiED Sydney, Dec 16— Zealandia, ss , for New Zealand. ' -\- . Mr, T.-WwHuniei?, chief officer of tbe Botoiti f has been transferred to the R.M.S. Aoraogi. and Mr McDonald has been promoted f to chief officer Oc the Botoiti. Mr Williams f -purserof'the Botoi i, has joined the Haupiiri. and (Br L. George is now purser of the Sotoiti. _ JJr b. Buchanan, from tbe Mararoa, has taken Mr Lisley's place as chief steward of the Xakapuna. Mr Insley has left the service to take up a busine-s in New Plymouth. ■ Mr fenau^, who, as second officer of the ill-fated EliDgamite, behaved so bmvely at the time of the wreck of that vessel, recently figured prominently^ rescuing a man from drowning in Port Phiiip. The harbour steamer ! Courier was tcaveilfng'afc sixteen knots an, hoar trlien a passenger leaped overboard. Mr Benaut, who" as chief -officer was bu the bridge at the time, promptly stopped the steamer, manned a boat, and had the man on board again wifchin three minutes Durinj^SeptSmlbev ieotch shipbuilders launched 30 vessels, of 31,913 tons, as c mpared, with 34 vessels, of 67,862 tons, in August. To the total the Clyde contributed 18 vessels, of 27,223 tons; the Forth 3, of 1900 tons; the lay A t ot 1850 tans: and the Dee 5, of 980 tons. The White fctar steamer Germanic, which has just completed her last voyage as an Atlantic mail steamer, is . in many respects one of the most remarkable mail steimers in the world. She was launched ia July, 1874, and made her first voyage with' the mails 4 from Liverpool toNew York before the end of that year. When she was new. she and her sister ship, the Britanoic, which has had a history almost as her own, were the two-largest ocean steamers in the world, excepting the Great Eatera. An'l the Great -Eastern really did not count, for long before, jn the year 1831. sh^had^run her last voyage. as a passenger steamer, aha I was employed solely as a cable-laying vessel. The Germanic has survived ia* active service as a mail steamer to see two .vessels of her own line the Celtic and the Cedric, each more *than four times her own tonnage: Tym months hence still another sUamer, the Baltic, will be launched for the White Star lipe, with a teenage almost five fme.s than that o£ the Germanic. Such ;6ithe increase' of the tonnage of the largest ocean steamers in a littlejes^th^n.ihiriy.yeara,- ~ - - -

- GREAT CANAL SCHEME.

A great canal scheme is being initiated in ttfe Mulands, by which' ifris intended to link Manchester and Liverpool with the Potteries, vvolverhampton,ancl Birmingham. A surveying party are uisldngan exhaustive exaaiination of-thelerels with a view t6 the launchitu of the scheme in the couree of a few months" It ia believed that the. promoters have the sapport of the Mersey Weaver Navigation Trustees, and that the canal will ,be an extensfcnof the Weaver Navigation. Ihe latter system runs from VJTeaton Point, at the junction of the Manchester Ship Canal and the Mersey Eituary.to Winsf. id (Cheshire), and at present carries a large proportion of ihe salt, chemical, and earthenware traffic of ihe country. 'J he project ia to extend tbi3 canal co as to admit of the passage of Bteamerß of 300 tons to the Potteries, Wolverhampton, and Birmingham. 1 here is a small canal already existing, which only carries barge* of 25 to 50 tuns, and china and earthenware manufacturers hail with ihe utmost satisfaction a project which will enable them to "secure their china claya in larger balk and export ware without transhipment and with a conseqnent all-round cheapening.