Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1899-10-26
MATTERS MAisINE.
Fruit Lines to IN. W.st Int1 q. The
Knight ErrAnt.

Fruit Lines to III. Y.st Int1 q. The
Knight Errant.
There has not been u iru 1T steamer
in pur, f";' six weeks ana from present
appearances i; lJ,oks as il. the business
will not be revived. The last steamer
here With fruit from the West Indies
was the 'Hostein which entered Sep
;enber 10. She was consigned to the
United Fruit Company. Of Baltimore.
which has been doing some little bust
ness here since il bought out the Wiz
sinia and Yves, India Fruit ana Trad
ing Company ana put Il dangerous
rival out Of The field. Whether Of not
any vessels are scheduled TO reach here
shortly With fruit is not known
The company Whi.h was organized
TO start fruit lin.. between the West
Indies and Norfolk has been formed
ana it is understood that operations
Will commence as soon as a vessel can
be secured To make Il start.
Several persons in this city are in
te-ested in this line and it is said that
several prominent business men Of Nor
folk have put money in the venture
Mn Alexander Bul;,ck. formerly yener-
al manager Of The Virginia and West
India Fruit and Trading Company in
''''t' FA'S' - r! llic new tllleT-
prise and the outlook for q successful
secured tor the line.
y; the present Tim. fruit steamers
are in great demand ana il is impossi-
bic TO get them on short notice
The business Of the new company viii
center at Norfolk. ana Newport News
VIII be supplied from that city. BY go
ing 10 Norfolk. the new concern can
gel quick transportation 10 a Southern
Held. which is nc; covered by any fruit
trading company al present.
KNIGHT I:lRK:ANT COMING.
The large British steamship Knign,
Errant Will ;alle the place on the Ches-
apeake 4 Ohio line between Newport
News and Liverpool Of the Steamship
liaridan. which has been chartered BY
me English government 70 transport
troops and mules u the seat Of war in
South Africa.
The Knight E.l.rant was chartered as
an extra steamship. With the Samoa
which IS also OH the G. 4 y. line but
the loss ot the 'Rapidan made it neces-
sary ~ put Il big vessel on in her place
and ii IS probable that the Chesapsake
X ohio Steamship Company will char
ter another Steamship at once to take
the place of the Knight E.rrant There
IS business enough over the Chesan.ake
y Ohio line between this port and Eng
land 70 keep nine steamships BUSY ana
that number would BE in the service if
the Rapidan had not been chartered IL
C'feat 'brita'n At present there are
elght vessels plying regularly across
the ocean for the G. & @. in addition
t-the other regular and chartered YES
;S,s.ls. N the Servire of ether companies
The. 1'h0cnix liner s.. Ennch. which
has been plying between Newport News
and ports in Germany and Holland fo,
several years, Will hereafter bring over
import carSoes for two ports instead
Of one
The chartering Of 50 many British
steamships by the English government
Tor war purposes has caused 4 scarcity
Of British bottoms and foreign ship
ptrs cannot secure enough vessels to
take out ;hcir c;lrsoes for the United
States The Phoenix Line chartered
several q its old vessels and IL brand
new ship. the British Princess, for war
purposes ARA consequently ii is now
short of ships
arrangements have been made to
SEND the st. Enoch across With import
carsoes for New York and Newport
news on the same trip The ship Will
iouth at New York first according to
me understanding here and will there
unload the cargo consigned 10 that port.
She VIII then come here and discharge
no loadlng will be done by the ST.
rHocn at New York. All of her EXPORT
cargo Will be taken on here, but she
Will continue to bring over import oar
goes Tor both ports until the Phoenix
Line gets relief
Nncn the announcement was made
ABOUT a month ago that England had
chartered number OF vessels nyjnc tha
britlsh lag and engaged in the North
Atlantic trade, for use as TRANSPORTS ~
convey troops and supplies to South
AFRICA. the prediction vas made nv
shippers and shipowners that ocean
1relghts would go s<yward. and remain
al Il ilE!! figure for some time to come
rms prediction. which was freely cir
culated. has not been fulfilled Rates
advanced temporarily about % per cent.
over the scale Of a possible lack OF ton
mage put now the market seems to be
drifting into staSnatiOn at Il number or
ports. because shippers are not clamor-
ing 1or tonnage 70 carry our large crops
of cereals abroad Usually about this
time Of the year there is an enormous
demand at all the ports for vessels to
carry grain abroad. but now the de-
mand is very light. partly because Of
a scarcity of cereals on the Atlantic
coast. This scarcity is due to the car
famine in the West
Newport News is probably less ar
1cctrd by Tie scarcity Of British bot :
toms and the car famine than any the !
lort. The shipping companies hero
have q sufficient number OF vessels 10
take out their consiGnmcnts ana the re-