Following is the statement of Italian construction, by years, on which the totals above are based:

It will be noted: First, that there has been a slight decrease in the number of Italian shipyards in operation for the period since January 1, 1886, compared with the previous seven years. Second, that while the increase in number of vessels built (481) is considerable the increase in tonnage (2,634 tons) is slight, thus showing that new construction under the act of 1886 has been chiefly of very small vessels, of iron and steel, presumably for the coasting trade. The construction of several large iron and steel ships is the exception to this statement. Third, in return for its contribution of 8,029,580 lire for seven years to encourage construction, the Italian Government has received only 6,472,954 lire in the increased value of vessels built during the septennate of the operation of the law compared with the previous septeńnate. Of the navigation bounties, 6,177,690 lire were paid to steam vessels and 12,938,856 lire to sailing vessels. The following gives the totals of the Italian merchant marine for the years named and indicates the increase or decrease in the number and gross tonnage for the seven years before and the seven years after the navigation bounties were established:

The following table gives the total Italian merchant net tonnage, annually from 1879 to 1892, on which the figures above are based:

During 1892, navigation bounties were paid to 31 steamers of 54,328 tons and to 197 sailing vessels of 132,412 tons. About 80,000 tous of steam tonnage are understood to be under postal contract, but the official figures have not been obtained.

Dur

It will be noted: First, that the grant of 12,938.856 lire from the Italian treasury to sailing vessels has not increased the number and tonnage of those vessels. ing the seven years covered by the bounties the Italian sailing tonnage decreased 142,155 tons, while the decrease for the previous seven years was 52,553 tons. Second: Nor is the increase in steamers wholly, if at all, due to navigation bounties. The 316 steam vessels of 201,443 net tons, which on December 31, 1892, comprised the merchant steam fleet of Italy, were built as follows:

The details of additions to the Italian fleet, classified by place of build, are given only for 1892 in the report. For 1892, 273 sailing vessels of 15,362 tons were built in Italy and 20 of 7,426 tons were bought of foreigners, 9 steam vessels of 2,762 tons were constructed in Italian yards, 2 of 2,487 tons were built abroad for Italians, and 7 of 1,617 tons were purchased of foreigners. The increment in the Italian steam flotilla for the one year given in the report came more from foreign yards and purchase than from domestic yards.

Recent operations.

The operations of the law for 1892, compared with 1891, may be thus summarized:

It may be added that this Bureau learns through the usual official channels that the total subsidies, etc., for 1893 were 2,362,140 lire, details not being furnished. The decline in the amounts required annually to carry out the purposes of the act of 1885 may be accepted as evidence that it does not meet the requirements of Italan navigation.

The Navigazione Generale Italiana, a limited-liability steamship company, owns and operates 111 vessels of 172,359 tons, nearly all steamers, and thus controls a Ivery large percentage of the Italian merchant marine. Its annual report is transated in another appendix. Most of the vessels of the company were built in Great Britain. The navigation bounties paid to the company in 1892 were 335,502 lire, and the various taxes it paid the Government 379,620 lire. The corporation apparently finds it more profitable to buy its vessels where it prefers, rather than avail itself of construction and navigation bounties, and to seek its profits in carrying freight, passengers, and mails. Appended is the statement in lire of its business under these heads, with number of leagues traversed on postal routes:

Its average mail subsidies are thus 19 lire per league, or $1.25 per mile.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

Following are the provisions of the new subsidy law of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, enacted December 27, 1893, which went into effect January 1, 1894. Its effects remain to be determined. A very large percentage of the Austro-Hungarian steam tonnage already receives compensation for carrying the mails. Many details of the relations of the Austro-Hungarian Government to its steamship lines are set forth in the report of the Austrian Lloyd Steamship Company for 1893, given in another appendix. Thus, its receipts in 1893 for Government contract voyages, 1,600,000 miles, including refund of 476,000 florins, Suez Canal taxes on subsidized voyages, were 3,350,000 florins, an average of $1 a mile. The Austrian Lloyd Company controls nearly the entire steam navigation of the Empire in foreign trade. The new subsidy act does not apply to vessels already performing Government contract services, but the new act and those contracts together will give Government compensation in some form to nearly the entire Austro-Hungarian tonnage. Following are the provisions of the new law:

ARTICLE 1. Steam and sailing vessels, which were entered on the Austrian vessel register for extended trips or long coastwise trips during the time the present law is in effect, are entitled, according to the regulations contained in the following articles, to (a) a trade bounty; (b) a navigation bounty from the Government.

ART. 2. Steam or sailing vessels, referred to in article 1, are entitled to the trade bounty as follows:

1. When at least two-thirds of the same is owned by Austrian subjects.

2. When not more than fifteen years have elapsed since the vessel was launched. 3. When it is classed in Class A, I, or II, in the register of the Austro-Hungarian Veritas or any other domestic institution of equal standing.

ART. 3. The trade bounty is computed from the day of launching the vessel to the end of the fifteen years, and in the first year after the launching amounts to the following, for each ton of net capacity (florin equals 48 cents): Six florins for steamers of iron and steel ($2.90); 4 florins 50 kreutzers for sailing vessels of iron and steel ($2.18); 3 florins for sailing vessels of wood or mixed construction ($1.45). This subsidy is reduced 5 per cent each year after the commencement of the second year.

ART. 4. The trade bounty is increased 10 per cent for vessels of iron or steel constructed after January 1, 1894, in domestic yards, and when at least one-half of the material used is domestic the subsidy shall be raised 25 per cent.

ART. 5. Vessels which later than the first year after launching acquire the right to the trade bounty will have such sum deducted the first year they are entitled to such subsidy as they would have received at the rate per cent fixed in article 3 for the time from date of launching to date when they are entitled to the subsidy.

These deductions will continue until the end of the fifteenth year after launching, when the subsidy ceases.

ART. 6. All vessels entered July 1, 1893, on the register for foreign trade or long coastwise trips, 15 years old, shall receive for five years from January 1, 1894, a depreciation support of one gulden (48 cents) per annum per net ton capacity, if rated at least Class B, I, I, by the Austro-Hungarian Veritas, or any other domestic institution of equal importance.

ART. 7. Vessels entitled to the navigation bounty are those designated in article 1, which make short coastwise voyages outside the boundaries (law of May 7, 1879 (R. G Bl., No. 65), for the registration of ocean merchant vessels) to or from Austrian harbors, when these voyages are in the interests of domestic trade and intercourse, and carried on with steamers not subvened by the Government for regular lines.

For every 100 sea miles covered the navigation bounty amounts to 5 kreutzers (2 cents +) per net ton capacity.

The distance will be measured from the shortest maritime point.

ART. 8. A vessel which has been on the ways for six months, or is idle, loses for this period the right to the trade bounty, especially the premium (art. 4) or the depreciation subsidy.

ART. 9. All seagoing vessels will, from January 1, 1894, be released from the payment of the production and income tax for a period of five years. While this

law is in effect every newly-constructed seagoing vessel, built in domestic yards, will be released from the payment of the production and income tax for five years from the day its register-letter is issued.

ART. 10. The regulations of this law do not affect the following vessels: (a) Those subvened for Government enterprises.

(b) Those used for regular scheduled voyages on special contract with Imperial mail anthorities.

(c) Those belonging to an industrial establishment and used by the latter exclusively for material for their own consumption.

ART. 11. The money from the trade subsidy will become available at the close of each year, computed from the day of launching. That from the navigation bounty will become available after the completion of each voyage, after proof has been furnished showing that the vessel is entitled to the same.

ART. 12. Vessels which were built in foreign countries but are entitled to the trade subsidy under article 1 or article 5, and are transferred to a foreign flag after having had the benefit of the subsidy for three years, are obliged to repay the entire amount drawn from the subsidy to the Imperial Government authorities. Vessels built in domestic yards receiving the trade subsidy must return the entire amount to the Imperial Government authorities if they change to a foreign flag two years after launching.

ART. 13. Shipowners who enjoy the benefits of this law for their vessels, except those who are only released from the payment of the income tax (article 9), are obliged, in case of war and mobilization, to place their vessels at the disposal of the Imperial authorities.

ART. 14. The details for carrying out this law will be published in the regular official way.

ART. 15. The law of June 19, 1890 (R. G. Bl. No. 130), in regard to the release from the payment of the production and income tax for carrying on shipping trade at sea with steamers or iron or steel sailing vessels which were built in Austria-Hungary, is canceled by the present law, without affecting the rights acquired thereunder.

ART. 16. The present law goes into effect January 1, 1894, and will remain in force ten years.

Following is a statement of the (net) tonnage of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, including Danube vessels, but excluding small fishing and coasting vessels:

DOMINION OF CANADA.

The matter of granting subsidies to steamship lines has from time to time attracted the notice of the Dominion of Canada, and last year the Dominion Parliament voted £150,000 for a transatlantic service. A few years ago it voted £15,000 to the steamships of the Canadian Pacific Railway, running from Vancouver to China and Japan. The Allan Line receives a small sum for mail compensation. No annual reports are issued by the two companies already receiving compensation. The proposed transatlantic line and the l'acific line have been referred to in what has been said concerning Great Britain.

Subsidies, in the case of Canada, are not to encourage domestic shipbuilding, as her large steamships are built in Great Britain, and her entire annual construction last year was only 28,000 tons.

They command favor as a means of bringing immigration, increased imports and exports, and apparently rest for support chiefly on the belief that the Canadian Pacific Railway to an extent will supplant the Suez Canal as a chief link in the chain of connections between Great Britain, China, Japan, and Australia.

Directly Canadian subsidies have no bearing on the development of a local marine, and in the last analysis the success of such projects involves the substitution of a railroad for a canal, and thus does not look to the increase of the British merchant marine.

The following shows the number and gross tonnage of Canadian steam vessels, number of sailing vessels, and total number and net tonnage of all vessels in the Canadian merchant marine, for the calendar year ended December 31, 1893, compiled from the report of the Canadian department of marine for 1893:

The following shows the total net tonnage of the provinces of the Dominion of Canada for a period of years, compiled from the report of the Canadian department of marine for 1893: