The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-07
IcE-BREAKERs IN ARCTIC RE-
 GIONS.
"A Great Russian Commercial Scheme

A Great Russian Commercial Scheme
 A Possible Route to the Pole.
 Very prompt attention is being given by the Russian Admiralty to Admiral Makaroff's scheme of ice-breakers for the Gulf of Finland and the frozen ocean, which has already been men, toned in "The Times in connection with the sea-trading route to Siberia. It Is seldom that the Russian govern ment goes to work so quickly on pro- Jects of this nature, and feel bound to say that many very practical persons are inclined to regard Admiral Maka- roff's ideas on pelagic ice-breaking as fantastical. The failure of Admiral Popoff'se circular ironclads and turbot- shaped yachts and the waste of money which they entailed are facts still re- membered to the detriment of other Russian. innovators.
 Vice-Admiral Mararoff, however, Is no inexperienced dreamer. He has held high command in the Mediterranean and Pacific, and is recognized as one of the ablest officers in the Russian service. A few years ago a number of foreign experts present at trial of ar mor plates in one of the suburbs of St. Petersburg were much impressed by the superior penetrating power of a new capped, or so-called magnetic, she'll which was attributed to the in- vention of Admiral Makaroff, who su- perintended the tests.
 His startling idea of cutting through Polar ice in order to reach the Pole surpasses in audacity the aeronautical flights of Herr Andree. For the imme-' diate future, therefore, he wisely in- tends to conffne the application of his theories to the Gulf of Finland and the Kara sea. Tn the latter region 1t seems almost impossible to provide for pay ment of the enormous cost of construc- tion and working, but this difficulty is not an insuperable obstacle at the mouth of the icezbound Neva, where the authorities intend to deal with the problem first. Apart from commercial advantages, the government might be enabled to get its warships in and out of Cronstadt harbor during winter.
 Captain Sverdrup, of Dr. Nansen's ship, the Fran, has arrived here at the invitation of Admiral Makaroff to take part in consultation on the sub- ject at the Department of the Imperial Admiralty, and this looks like serious business. It is also stated that a cred it of 100000 rubles is to be forthwith opened for the construction of a large ice-breaker, and a number of drawings of such vessels submitted by various firms are already under examination. It Is proposed to be ready to make the first experiment in the winter of 1899. Practically, this means increased fa- cilitfes and an increase of English trade with Cronstadt and St Petersburg, and perhaps with Siberia, at times of the year when British ships are now kept back or frozen in by the ice; be. sides which the building af these pow erful ice-breakers is likely to be under taken only in England, unless the en- gineering dispute continues to ruin the chances of properly executing foreign orders. *3M
 Tn an address delivered in the Marble Palace before the Grand-duke Constan- tine and few selected guests, Admiral Makaroff explained that the construc- tion of couple of tce-breakers of six thousand tons and ten thousand horse- | power each would require more money than could be found for the pursuit of science alone; but there were two more practical aims requiring the use of such vessels. Sea communication with the Yenisei was now carried on in casu- al, desultory kind of way only once year, whereas by means of e-breakers a regular service of boats might be maintained and a voyage made every fortnight, beginning in the first week of June or earlier, when the mouth of the river is free from ice. Siberia is so rich, and it's population increases so fast by natural growth and coloniza- tion,4 that plenty of cargo would be found to support a more regular course of sea traffic between Siberia and the rest of the world. The idea has been first suggested by the Grand-duke AL exander Mikhailovitch at a lecture some years ago by Captain Wiggins, and it's realization was only question of time. Another and more pressing want, which could only be satisfied by means of ice breakers, was felt nearer home. Odes- sa Nikolaieff, Reval, Vladivostock and other Russian ports were all cleared of ice in this way, while St. Petersburg, the capital of the empire and the empire and the nearest port of access to the great manufacturing districts of Moscow, still remained closed to ships throughout the winter. This could only be remedied by an ice-breaker of ten thousand horsepower, which would be able to cut through ice of the Finnish Gulf at rate of five to seven l1nots.--St, Petersburg Dispatch to the London Times.
 MISFIT HYMNS AND ANTHEMS.