coal-ships, and their prevention. Naturally, in view of the inquiries made by so many able men, I hope it will be believed that I have approached the subject with great diffidence, and very much in the spirit of the mouse when it released the lion from the net—that is, of doing my little best to remove a very serious danger. The grave importance of the subject will be further seen from the circumstances—(1.) That from the Port of Newcastle, New South Wales, alone, of twelve coal-laden ships which left that port from the 7th September, 1895, to the 18th February, 1896, nine ships were reported with their coal-cargoes on fire or heated. Nor is this heating of coal-cargoes confined to Newcastle coal, for Captain Andrew, of the ship “Crondale,” reports that “on his recent voyage to San Francisco the temperature of his cargo rose to 103°, the cargo being from a southern New South Wales coal-mine.” (2.) That in a letter from the Shipmasters' Society to the Board of Trade, dated the 10th February, 1896, it is stated “that twelve coal-laden vessels, representing about 20,000 tons, were abandoned at sea; seven vessels, of about 12,000 register tons, put into port in distress with cargoes shifted; and forty-six vessels, of about 70,000 register tons, were missing—unheard of—seven of the missing being steamers (period not named). The coal-cargoes of these missing and abandoned vessels are estimated at 130,000 to 140,000 tons, and the crews of the missing ships may be taken at about one thousand lost” (the latter drowned or burnt). It must be understood that only a portion of these missing vessels were burnt, many of them having probably foundered at sea from the shifting of their cargoes, which is put down to imperfect trimming whilst being loaded. Further on I shall treat of this question of bad stowage of coal-cargoes from imperfect trimming, but for the present I direct attention to the main subject of this inquiry—namely, causes of fires on coal-ships. At this point it is necessary to describe the chief mode of putting coal on board ships at the great coal port of New-castle, New South Wales, which may be taken as similar to the practice in most of the great coal ports in the United Kingdom. The coal is brought by rail alongside the ships in trucks containing from 5 to 10 tons. The box portion of the truck is then lifted by a powerful steam-crane, swung over the hatchway, and the truck-load of coal is dropped bodily into the hold. As each truck-load follows the coal is very much broken and pulverised into small coal, slack, and dust. As this dumping down of the coal proceeds, a great cone of small coal and slack is formed, and pounded into a more or less hard