450 THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. September 8, 1916. vided, and at the rate of about 2,000 tons per hour. The Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company has two shipping piers at the north side of the harbour. One —1,000 ft. long and 60 ft. in elevation above high water—is provided with bins having a capacity of 5,000 tons, and 1,000 tons per hour can be shipped. The other pier provides an elevation of about 35 ft. above high water, and is 1,300 ft. in length. It is used more particularly for shipments to smaller vessels, as well as for bunker supplies. These piers are connected with the company’s mines by railway. Louisburg Harbour is 40 miles from Sydney by rail- way; the railway is owned by the Dominion Coal Com- pany, and is connected with their mines, the branch lines and sidings adding a further 30 miles to its length. This railway carries to Sydney and Louisburg about 500,000 tons per month of the Dominion Company’s output, the coal being mostly loaded into hopper wagons, from storage piles at the mines, by means of steam shovels, a type of plant not frequently used over here for handling coal, but chiefly for excavating. Louisburg Harbour, although not quite as extensive as that at Sydney, is well protected, and is the nearest North American port to this country. At Louisburg, Fig. 3.—One of the Coal-discharging Equipments and Storage Arrangements at Montreal. slack coal is more particularly dealt with at the Dominion Company’s pier there, which is provided with a conveyor equipment and storage bin. The pier pro- vides 32 ft. depth of water, and the harbour channel has a depth of 35 to 65 ft. The destination of the coal cargo shipments from the ports of Sydney and Louis- burg include Montreal, Quebec, St. John, and Halifax, where, during the summer season, about 100,000 tons per week are discharged by the Dominion Coal Com- pany, who also ship cargoes to Boston (U.S.A.). To provide for these extensive shipments, that com- pany accumulates a large storage during the winter months, and it is not unusual for over half a million tons to be available at their several pits for shipment when navigation on the St. Lawrence River is re-opened. As regards shipments to other than St. Lawrence ports, it should be stated that these can be effected either at Sydney or Louisburg throughout the year, and there is a great possibility of operations being developed to pro- vide for oversea markets. Sydney and Louisburg are essentially coal ports, and, owing to their favourable situation, are undoubtedly destined to become important for bunker supplies, the former to vessels en route between Europe and the St. Lawrence River ports, and the latter for the requirements of vessels between Europe and the United States or South America. Louisburg, it should be mentioned, is about midway between Europe and the southern ports of the United States, and the geographical position of Sydney and Loujsburg in relation to the east coast ports of South America, as well as to South Africa, are more favour- able, by 600 and 900 miles respectively, than are the Mexican Gulf or southern ports of the United States. This fact serves to indicate the great possibilities of development of Nova Scotia coal supplies for both cargoes and bunkers in competition with supplies from the States, it being also remembered that the latter have to be railborne over a considerable distance to the tideway, whereas the Nova Scotia supplies are almost at the port. Halifax and St. John. As regards transatlantic liner traffic, Halifax, Nova Scotia, is favoured owing to being 600 miles nearer Liverpool than is New York. The harbour is no less than 6 miles in length and 1| miles in width, with an inner harbour a further six miles in length, and four miles broad, and with a depth of water sufficient to allow of access by great vessels. Important develop- ments are in progress to improve the accommodation, which will make available 27 berths, with a minimum water depth of 45 ft., and extensive railway terminal facilities to increase the traffic to prominent centres of the United States. Thus it will be realised that Halifax is of no little importance for bunkering, and the Dominion Coal Company have three tower cranes for discharging coal cargoes, and also, elevator barges for supplying bunkers (fig. 1). St. John, New Brunswick, must also be referred to, as it shares with Halifax the benefit of being a wiriter port, open for traffic all the year round. It has an advantage over Halifax by being nearer to the central provinces of Canada, on which account it is favoured by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, of which it is the chief Atlantic terminal. It should be noted that St. John is about 200 miles further from Liverpool than is Halifax, but about 275 miles nearer Montreal, by the Canadian Pacific Railway, .and 100 miles nearer by the Intercolonial Railway. Further, it should be mentioned that St. John affords a nearer route from Liverpool than New York does to cities of the United States west and north-west of and including Chicago and Detroit. There are two extensive harbours at the port of St. John, 12 deep wafer berths at present being available, 600-700 ft. in length, with a minimum water depth of 34 ft.; but developments are also proceeding at this port, includ- ing the construction of 23 additional berths 700-1,000 ft. in length, with 35 ft. depth of water at low tide. The Dominion Coal Company has coal-discharging facilities which include a wharf with a water frontage of about 300 ft. and a depth varying from 150 to 500 ft., and a storage trestle. Vessels can be discharged there at the rate of about 200 tons per hour, by means of two tower cranes (fig. 2). This company deals with about 350,000 to 400,000 tons of coal per annum at the port; and for bunkering they have a large fleet of barges, including some elevator barges for mechanical handling. St. Lawrence River Ports. We may now consider the maritime traffic of Canada vid the St. Lawrence River, almost the whole of which is by regular ocean liners, tramp steamers being little concerned. This is attributable to the conditions, there being little business offering in the direction of chance cargoes, and the marine insurance rate is high, although during recent years great improvements have been made to reduce the navigation risks. Montreal figures largely as a coal port, the cargoes received there amounting to about 2| million tons per annum, of which over 1J million tons arrive from the Nova Scotia coal fields, vid the St. Lawrence River, whilst the balance is consigned from the United States fields vid the Lachine canal. The equipment for dis- charging the coal cargoes at Montreal consist generally of American tower type cranes, with which grabs are used. Each plant is capable of handling about 150 to 200 tons per hour, and they discharge generally into storage bins or direct into railway wagons. There are about twenty coal discharging equipments available, which are owned by different companies, including the Dominion Coal Company and the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company. The former company has equipment Fig. 4.—Special Goal-discharging1 Equipment at Fort William (Ont.) on three piers, two having storage bins, with five tower- cranes each, and the other pier has four such cranes; the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company have two tower cranes, their equipment being used not only for discharging, but also for bunker supplies to steamers coming alongside. Another equipment of interest, which is illustrated in fig. 3, includes an elevated discharging tower crane, trestles with cable tracks and storage bins. Montreal forms the centre for Canadian transport, and nearly half the imports and exports of that country pass through there. The distance from the Atlantic up the St. Lawrence river to Montreal is about a thousand miles. The Lachine canal provides a means of water- borne traffic from Montreal, a distance of about 1,400 miles inland, navigable by vessels carrying cargoes up to 2,500’tons. Railways radiate from Montreal through the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, also to Halifax and St. John, the Atlantic ports of Canada, and, in fact, to all the prominent parts of the interior, whilst there is a direct line from the eastern or Atlantic coast right across Canada to the Western or Pacific Coast. To indicate further the prominence of Montreal, it may be noted that during the year 1914 the oversea vessels which used the port numbered over 13,000, and repre- sented a tonnage of over 9 millions; and, as regards the inland traffic vid canal, about 4J million tons of cargo were dealt with during that same year. Large vessels arrive at and depart from Montreal within two to seven days, and the facilities available enable up to 10,000 or 12,000 tons of cargo to be discharged and a similar tonnage loaded. The River St. Lawrence at Montreal varies from one to two miles in width, but is only serviceable for seven months of the year—from April to November—as it commences to freeze 50 miles below Montreal, the ice drifting to Montreal itself within about ten days. During the period maritime traffic is closed to Montreal, shipping is carried on at the ports of Halifax and St. John, as already noted. Extensive developments have been made in recent years to improve the port accommodation by the con- struction of both high and low-level quays, the former being designed for vessels up to 800 ft. in length. The total quayage amounts to about 7-J miles, whijst great additions have been made to the transit sheds and wharfage arrangements, which are served by an exten- sive network of railway tracks and sidings. The improvements effected by the construction of new elevators and silos for the handling and storing of grain have made Montreal the principal American port for grain shipments—in fact, grain forms approximately one quarter of the total trade of the port. Quebec, although nearer the Atlantic than Montreal, is not such a favoured port as the latter, but, neverthe- less, has an extensive harbour and railway terminals. As regards coaling facilities, it should be mentioned that the Nova Scotia Company have a wharf equipped with three tower cranes capable of handling 300 tons per hour and of discharging on to storage piles or into lighters or railway wagons. The Dominion Coal Company also has a wharf there equipped with storage bins and two elevated tower'cranes; whilst another company’s equip- ment comprises a wharf with storage ground, and two movable gantry cranes spanning two lines of railway track. Another port on the St. Lawrence River, situated about midway between Quebec and Montreal, is Three Rivers, where the Dominion Coal Company is also in evidence, and has a coal discharging equipment. Fort William and Port Arthur (Lake Superior). As regards inland traffic, it must be remembered that the St; Lawrence River is the outlet for the Great Lakes, and that Montreal is the port of transhipment for lake and ocean vessels, the distance to the adjoining ports of Fort William and Port Arthur being about 1,215 miles. Fort William and Port Arthur are only three miles apart. They are situated at the head of Lake Superior, and are of considerable importance, as they serve for the interchange of water- and railborne traffic to Western Canada, and enormous grain elevators have been con- structed by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company at the former, and by the Canadian Northern Company at the latter. They are also large coal receiving ports. At Fort William the Canadian Pacific Company have equip- ment for discharging and storing coal, which figs. 4 and 5 will assist to indicate. One of the storage grounds comprises a wharf with 3,000 ft. frontage, having a track 1,585 ft. in length for two unloading plants. These plants are supported on a gantry structure spanning a bunker trestle, which is 2,890 ft. in length, and provides a double row of 15 storage bunkers spaced 40 ft. between centres, these bunkers being of steel construction, and having a capacity of 40 tons each. The trestle supports a double car track above the bunkers, and at ground level there is a railway wagojj track on each side of the trestle, so that, by means of hopper chutes, 30 wagons can be loaded at one time. The trestle is extended along the wharf beyond the bunkers, for supporting a single car track, thus providing additional storage. Briefly described, the unloading plants consist of a balanced swinging beam, which is mounted on a trolley, and can be moved backwards and forwards on a rail track, supported on the gantry already referred to. From the outer or waterside end of this beam is sus- pended a grab, with a capacity of eight tons, by means of a hollow pillar supported by trunnions in swivel bear- ings, so that the grab can be rotated. The operator is situated within the hollow pillar above the grab, whilst