Morning journal and courier., 1880-09-08
All the Way From Norway.
Ice Brought Across the AtIantic-A Specu- Iatfon Which the HIiIdness of Last Win ter and Present High Prices Contributed Uo Make Successful.
 From he New York Herald

Ice Brought Across the AtIantfc-A Specu-
 Iation Which the HIIIdness of Last Win
 ter and Present High Prices Contributed
 UO Make Successful.
 From the New York Herald
 Another cargo of Norway ice has just rived in this port from Christiansen on the ship CarIa, which now lies at pier 52 East river. The old saying of carrying coals to Newcastle might seem to be illustrated in the importation of such an article as ice, while we have one State near us which is wholly given to the production of that article and of granite and other New England States than New Hampshire are not behind it in the large natural manufacture of the article. It may be said at once, however, that the importa- tion of ice is not likely to be steady indus try. In fact, the bringing of the present cargo and of others, which are now on the
 way here, was suggested as a speculation purely by the fact that ice has been selling this summer at unprecedentedly high prices. The last winter extraordinarily mild and the ice housed along the Hudson was but small proportion of the amount usually gath cred. The people of Maine improved the opportunity to cut all the ice they could very well get at, and 80 thoroughly was this done that by the 10th of February the Kennebec river was completely cleaned of it; but after that date the weather was so mild that second crop was gathered. The consequence was that, whereas last summer ice was sold here at eight and nine cents the 100 pounds, this summer it has been selling for forty and forty-6ve cents.
 Such a state of things suggested to certain shrewd men the idea that a profitable job might be done in the way of bringing ice from Norway. They looked around for offers, but at first these were so low, that nothing could be done. After little more search, however, men were found willing to take the ice on arrival at what looked like remunerative rates. At Christiansen in Nor I. supplying the London market with ice. To him it was cabled to send cargo to New York. According to the statement of Captain Tonneson, of the Car1a, there was some difficulty experienced in finding shipowner who would carry such cargo the general impression being that it could not be carried across the Atlantic in the summer. Captain Tonneson thought it could be done and offered to do 1t. His vessel was loaded with 1 700 tons. The ice was carefully packed, the | sides of the vessel having thick packing of sawdust behind boards.
 The voyage was singularly unfavorable in one respect, for the winds were light, with 1 long calms between, nearly the whole way. From this cause Captain Tonneson was forty l eight days making the passage from Norway, while his usual average is about thirty. Not ' withstanding this, the ice arrived in the best \ possible condition, and the captain estimates ! the shrinkage at no more than ten per cent. 1 which is no more than the shrinkage which
 takes place in cargo from Maine to this port. He says that there was more, loss in
 the eleven days he was on his way from the banks of Newfoundland to New York than ia1
 all the time before it. It is thought l by some that the captain has underestimated 1 the loss, but he is positive he is right.
 | A reporter of the HerGId visited the ship | yesterday afternoon, and found the work of l getting out the novel cargo in active progress,
 while the crew were at the pump getting out
 water from the melted ice. The ice was in 1 blocks, very evenly cut "A by 2S inches. It
 was amazingly clear, transparent as blocks of ! fine glass, and free from impurities of any l kind. The ice men say that it is superior to l any but the very choicest qualities of ice
 gathered here Captain Tonneson explained ! this by the statement that at the mountain lazelets and ponds where 1t is cut the neigh
 boring farmers are employed all winter to | keep the surface of the ice free by constant scraping and sweeping so that there is never l an opportunity for it to be protected from ! the cold by deep covering of snow. When 1 the ice is thick enough to cut, it is, by this | constant care, pure and hard from top to bottom. In addition to the Carla there is an | other cargo of similar ice, which has been ! contracted for here, and the ship carrying it l is now on the ocean, and may possibly arrive l within fortnight. So far the importation l has proved a successful speculation for all concerned in it, and the gentleman who has bought the ice delivered to him at the scales, [ is able to sell 1t at handsome profit for one
 dollar less per ton than the principal compa- l ny in the city is selling it's ice. But this is due solely to the present extraordinary high | prices, and it may be years before it would again be profitable to bring ice from Norway. | This will appear when it is stated that the Norway seller of the ice gets about $2. 50 per ton for it, and the freight is about $4.3 per ! ton, while the freight on ice from Maine is l $1.25 per ton. In fact, the purchaser of this
 cargo says that in ordinary years domestic ice
 can be delivered in this city at less than the
 cost of the freight on a cargo of imported
 ice. The present experiment. therefore, is
 interesting example of the shrewd dar- | ing of the Yankee speculator rather than as
 the beginning of new industry.