checked the shipments of raw silk; but, as this product is still in the country, its transportation will eventually enter into the earnings of this company.

The increase in miscellaneous collections at agencies resulted from crediting to this account, during the last seven months of the year, all collections at the several agencies for facilities or services rendered to other parties. These collections were formerly deducted directly from the expenses of the agencies. The earnings from charter of steamers is the amount received from the Panama Railroad Company for charter of steamers City of Para, Colombia, and Newport, which were chartered to said company for the moderate rental of $9,000 per month for the three steamers. The increase in the remaining items is explained by the title of the account.

The decrease in the expenses of the Atlantic line resulted from the discontinuance of this service on June 15, 1893, as above referred to. The decrease on the Panama line resulted partly from transferring to agency expenses the lighterage paid to the Panama Railroad Company during the last seven months of the year, amounting to $71,156.80, which expense was formerly charged to steamer expenses. The remaining $316,485.13 resulted from a general reduction of expenses. The increase in the expenses of the Transpacific line resulted in the main from the increased business of the line. The decrease in general and extraordinary repairs of steamers resulted from the payment in the previous year of more than an annual average amount for this character of repairs. There is charged to this year's expenses the sum of $150,000 for this character of repairs. As this is about the amount these repairs have averaged for a series of years, it was deemed best to include this amount in the annual expenses, and so provide a fund for these repairs in the years when the payments exceed the yearly average. Of the $150,000 charged to this year's expenses $95,088.99 remains unexpended and is carried to the credit of the fund for these general and extraordinary repairs. The increase in agency expenses resulted in the main from transferring to this account the payments for lighterage in Panama Bay, already referred to, and charging, during the last seven months of the year, to each agency the full amount of expenses incurred by it, crediting to a separate account (miscellaneous collections by agencies) all collections made by them for services rendered a change which was desirable in order to obtain more thorough supervision over the total expenditures of the several agencies. The decrease in general expenses results from a general reduction of expenses in the items formerly charged to general and home expenses.

There is included in this year's earnings one additional month's business of the agencies at San Francisco, Yokohama, and Hongkong over those reported in the previous year, which increases only comparatively the earnings over expenses this year by the sum of $36,864.30.

ASSETS AND LIABILITIES.

The following statement will show, comparatively, the assets and liabilities of the company at the close of the years 1893 and 1894, and the changes which have taken place therein during the year just closed:

93, 368.19

64, 269.01

St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway Co., 5 per cent gen. con. rwy, and land grant bonds (face value $57,000).

Due from agencies

Due from pursers....

Due from connecting lines..

Due from Mexican Government

Due from Central American governments.

Due from sundry persons

The principal decrease is in the amount at which the company's steamers were carried on the books. To the prices originally paid for the steamers were added, from time to time, expenditures for renewals and additions, amounting to $1,745,782.75, making a total cost on April 30, 1893, of $11,490,028.54. As there had never been any deduction from said cost, for depreciation due to age and design, it was deemed advisable to readjust this cost and to carry the steamers on the books at prices which the company would now have to pay for steamers of about the same tonnage and design. The difference between the estimated present value and the total cost on April 30, 1893, has been charged to profit and loss, and amounted to $2,737,197.11.

The decrease in the value of real estate and other property resulted entirely from charging to profit and loss the expenditures charged on the books to San Francisco wharf, amounting to $465,079.79. Under the provisions of the company's lease for said wharf privileges, made in June, 1866, all improvements, wharves, and structures on the leased premises reverted to the Board of State Harbor Commissioners of said city on the expiration of said lease. As the lease terminated January 1, 1893, the improvements represented by said expenditures have reverted to the lessor. The company now occupies said wharf, paying a rental of $1,800 per month, subject to the conditions under which the use of all wharf property in San Francisco is now occupied, and in this way enjoys the benefits from the expenditures made in former

years.

The 57 St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway Company's general construction and land grant 5 per cent bonds have been valued at 80 per cent of their face value, the price at which they were quoted about April 30, 1894. This will explain the decrease in this item of the assets. The changes in the remaining assets are explained by the titles of the accounts.

Fund for general and extraordinary repairs of steamers unexpended..
Unadjusted accounts

Total

Total capital stock and liabilities.

Assets

Capital stock and liabilities in excess of assets.

9, 860.00

It will be seen from the above statement that the current liabilities of the company at the close of the year amounted to $895,273.79. Against this the company has available assets amounting to $501,439.78. Estimating a shrinkage of one-half in the amount due from the Mexican and Central American governments, which is payable in silver, there remains an excess of liabilities over available assets of $445,436.87, which will in all probability be liquidated by the net earnings of the coming year. Summarizing the financial results for the year, the company has increased its current assets $258,026.76, and decreased its current liabilities by the sum of $366,860.63.

PROFIT AND LOSS.

The readjustment in values already referred to, and in some other items, made the charges to this account for the past year exceptionally large. This was, however, necessary, so as to present a statement of the company's assets and liabilities more consistent with present values. The credits and charges to this account have been as follows:

As mentioned in the annual report for the year ending April 30, 1890, the steamer Barracouta was purchased at quite a low price. This, in connection with the alterations made in her, brings her present estimated value up to the amount reported. The steamer Clyde, built in 1870, is unfit for further service; and it is estimated that after paying the expense of towing her to a market, where her hull and machinery can be sold, she will not net more than $5,000.

The cost standing against the improvements erected on Pier 34, North River, New York, is reduced by a monthly charge to expenses, which will liquidate this expendisture by the time the lease terminates, when the improvements made thereon revert to the lessor. The decrease in the value of the property at San Francisco, $465,079.79, has already been explained; the remaining $21,456.27 is in readjusting to present values the amount charged to the cost of the tug Millen Griffith. The value of the four islands (Isla de Naos, Flamenco, Perico, and Culebra) lying in Panama Bay, and the extensive improvements on Isla de Naos for repairs of the company's fleet, have been carried on the books at an arbitrary value of $25,000 for the entire investment. This sum was considerably below the actual value of the property and improvements thereon; and an inventory of the buildings, floating equipment, machinery, tools, and supplies was taken and a moderate value affixed thereto, and one believed to be considerably within the cost at which the property could now be replaced.

GENERAL REMARKS.

None of the $5,000,000 first mortgage 6 per cent eighteen-year bonds authorized under deed of trust, dated August 1, 1890, to the Central Trust Company of New York, have been sold. The repairs, reconstruction, and addition to the company's fleet, which were contemplated to be made from the proceeds from the sale of said bonds, were, as far as practicable, made from the assets and earnings of the company. Excluding the extraordinary repairs made to the City of Peking and the new boilers and triple-expansion engines for the City of Para and the City of Rio de Janeiro, the cost of which was included in the expenses for the year ending April 30, 1893, there was expended for extraordinary renewals, new boilers, and machinery, in the years ending April 30, 1891, 1892, and 1893, the sum of $1,055,475.58, which was charged to the capital account. There was also added to the company's fleet during the same period the new steamers Colombia and Peru and the Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the four steamers costing $1,782,692.73. Unfortunately the Nicaragua was lost on the coast of Central America on her second voyage, on December 3, 1891. These expenditures, amounting to $2,838,163.31, incurred to maintain the company's steamers in thoroughly good condition and to meet partly the growing demands of the company's business, occasioned the present floating debt of the company. This debt will, in all probability, be liquidated by the net earnings of the ensuing year. The company's inability to sell these bonds at satisfactory prices deferred the purchase of ships of greater speed, and this necessitated the abrogation of the company's engagements with the U. S. Government in respect to mail service between New York and Colon, and to China and Japan. The mail requirements of said Government between San Francisco and Panama also conflicted with the company's contracts in respect to mail service with the Mexican and Central American governments, and said contract with the U. S. Government was, therefore, terminated.

We regret to report the loss of the steamer City of New York on the rocks off Bonita Point, the northern head to the entrance of San Francisco Harbor, on the afternoon of October 26, 1893.

Arrangements have been made to recover her boilers, without cost to the company; and her hull, as it lay in the water, was sold for a fair sum. The loss of the ship was investigated by the State board of pilot commissioners and the United States local inspector, and resulted in the dismissal of the pilot and the exoneration of the company's officers from all blame in this loss.

A change was made in the company's system of accounting, beginning with October 1, 1893, by which the methods in respect thereto were considerably simplitied and cheapened. The expenses are now shown under details, which permit a close supervision of them; the accounts are brought up one month nearer than before; and the company's proportion of earnings on freight delivered to connecting lines, which was formerly booked only as collected, is now shown in the company's accounts. With but few exceptions, every account on the company's books has been revised and adjusted to present values, as far as these are ascertainable. Full statements are presented in this report in respect to the character of the company's assets and liabilities.

The year closes with the company's property in excellent physical condition. In addition to the $150,000 charged to general and extraordinary repairs of steamers, there has been expended in current repairs, i. e., while the steamers were in service, about $145,000 during the year for maintaining their first-class efficiency.

The relations with the Panama Railroad Company, referred to in the last annual report, remain unchanged. Since the close of the year they have signified their desire to terminate the agreement of June 15, 1893, returning the three steamers chartered to them, but it is hoped that the pleasant business relations, which for so many years existed between the two companies, will be restored in the near future.

BRITISH STEAMSHIP COMPANIES.

[Money equivalent: £, pound sterling (20 shillings)=$4.86.]

The following reports have been selected as best and most fully illustrating the modes and extent of British steam navigation considered from the economic point of view. The operations of the Cunard Line are on the Atlantic and Mediterranean; of the Peninsular and Oriental, on the Atlantic Mediterranean and via the Suez Canal, the Indian and Pacific; of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, the Atlantic and Pacific. The various lines operated by these corporations connect Great Britain with North and South America, Asia, Australia, and Upper Africa. The Oceanic [White Star] Line issues no annual report, as its shares are of large denominations, held by a small body of shareholders, to whom a verbal statement is made annually. The Cunard Company began operations in 1840. The report is for the calendar year ended December 31, 1893, when the fleet of the company consisted of 24 steamers, 3 tenders, and 4 barges of 112,124 gross tons and 145,723 horse power, including the Campania and Lucania, each 12,950 gross tons and 30,000 horse power, the largest and most powerful steamships afloat. The Bureau of Navigation is indebted for the copy of the report to the courtesy of Mr. Thomas Boumphrey, Liverpool, general manager.

The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company was incorporated in 1840. The report is for the year ended September 30, 1893, when the fleet of the company consisted of 51 steamships of 213,784 tous and 208,400 horse power, and 22 steam tugs and launches of 1,902 tons, 634 horse power, the most powerful steamships of the company being the Australia and Himalaya, each of 6,900 tons and 10,000 horse power. The Bureau of Navigation is indebted for the copy of the report to the courtesy of Mr. Alexander Mackenzie Bethune, London, secretary.

The Pacific Steam Navigation Company was incorporated in 1840. The report is for the calendar year ended December 31, 1893, when the fleet of the company consisted of 38 steamers of 111,937 gross tons and 17,810 horse power, the most powerful steamships being the Orizaba and Oroya, each of 6,075 tons and 1,200 horse power. The Bureau of Navigation is indebted for the copy of the report to the courtesy of Mr. Frederick Alcock, Liverpool, secretary.

CUNARD STEAMSHIP COMPANY.

Following is the report for the calendar year 1893, dated March 17, 1894:

The profits for the year, including £4,296 11d., brought forward from 1892, amount to £200,090 188. 5d., and after debiting income tax and providing £154,419 38. 9d. for depreciation of ships and wharf properties, and £36,965 148. 1d. for the company's insurance fund, there remains to the credit of profit and loss account £5,867 158. 3d.

This credit has been increased, by a transfer of £30,000 from the insurance fund, to £35,867 158. 3d., and out of this amount the directors recommend the payment of £32,000 as dividend, being at the rate of 2 per cent per annum, free of income tax (payable on and after April 2), carrying forward the balance, £3,867 158. 3d., to the credit of profit and loss account for the year 1894. The balance at the credit of insurance fund, after making the above-mentioned transfer, has been increased by £4,500, and now stands at £322,000.

Trade during 1893 continued unprofitable and disappointing. Owing to various causes the first-class passenger business between the United States and Europe was smaller than it has been for a number of years, the second-class business alone showing an increase. Freights generally were very unremunerative.

The coal strike increased for a time the company's working expenses, but the regular sailings were maintained without a break, though at some inconvenience.

The new ships Campania and Lucania were delivered in April and August, respectively, and made several voyages between Liverpool and New York. Their reputation for speed and comfort is already established, and the directors anticipate that they. will prove popular and profitable ships.

To increase the efficacy of the fleet for freight purposes, the company have ordered 2 twin-screw steel steamships of about 6,000 tons each, from the London and Glasgow Engineering and Iron Shipbuilding Company, Limited, Glasgow, which are to be delivered at the end of 1894 and the beginning of 1895, respectively.

As the Mersey dock board require the site of the company's works at the Huskisson dock for dock extension purposes, the company are erecting new works in a convenient position, which will probably be completed early next year.

The various services of the company have been carried on with efficiency, and the vessels and machinery maintained in excellent order.