Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-11-01
BY C. S. ALBERT
Especial StarBulletin Corresponds

| Especial Star-Bulletin Correspondence
| WASHINGTON, D. c., October 10
1.-The Navy Department will soon be
/ gin the work of refining eroded guns
/ under an appropriation of 100000 AL
( thoriZed by the last session Of Con
I greSS.
It costs about $4,000 to complete
a tWelve-inch gun of the latest type
i exclusive of the mount, according t
Rear Admiral Twining, chief of the
! naval ordnance bureau. Every few
years these guns have to be refined
1 which makes them as good as new.
A new lining for a twelve-inch gun
! costs $4,000, and $4,000 is required fol-
! the work of placing the lining. These
guns can be refined indefinitely. The
! Navy Department relines a number OF
them annually.
I The special board. appointed by the
1 Secretary Of War, to revise the Army
! Firing Manual, after many months
1 work, has completed it's task, and will
submit it's report next week. 49,.
A new system of developing marks
men under conditions Stimulating &C
tual warfare. less importance to De
attached to slow firing, and a method
of rating riflemen on rapid and slow
firing are prominent among the
j boards recommendations. The new
manual will probably become effect
s i've for next years work.
L hn did frio oh T1f
1 Civil War fame, laid up for years In
/. Boston navy. yard, is again in com
: mission. When the scout cruiser
Salem, receiving ship at Boston, was
! ordered to New York to participate In
1 the fleet review, the Navy Depart
tment re-complfsSioned the old Wabash
to serve as Receiving ship at Boston
4 during the weeks absence of the 'Sa
lem.
! G. Harold Powell, for several years
one of the citrus fruit experts Of the
1 Department of Agriculture, and now
president of the Fruit Growers
/ League of California, has been here in
I connection with business before the
/ Interstate Commerce Commission.
The California Fruit Growers
/ League is the biggest cooperative
! marketing organization in the United
| States. 1t handles 60 per cent of the
/ citrus fruits of the Pacific Coast and
rs interested in the departments en-
forcement of the pure food law, espe
cially where it relates to brands and
markings of fruit and the problem
that many of the fruit growers have
been interested in recently of the ar
tificial celering of fruit by sweating
at high temperatures.
The league is looking forward with
Intense interest to the opening of the
Panama canal because of the effect
| 1t naturally will have on transporta-
ton charges between the Atlantic and
Pacific Coasts. The league has found
by investigation that the transports a,
ton charges ON fruit shipments from
the Mediterranean region to the At
lantic Coast points is about one-fourth
of the cost of rail transportation be.
tween the Pacific and Atlantic. When
the canal is opened there will be a
water route between the two coasts
! and the question before the fruit pro
ducers is whether this route can be
made to affect the rate on perishable
shipments.
1t is accepted as fact that it will
cut the rate of transportation on non
perishable goods, but it will require a
great deal Of special apparatus and
special experimenting to adapt the
wa'eT route to fruit shipments.
= he league has been Watching the
work of Aust ALA ami New Zealand
in making the long water haul for
peishable goods practicable from Aus
tralian points to England. It was a
matter of absolute necessity to ge5
the perishaDle products such as meat,
butter, eggs and apples out Of Aus
Italia and on the English market.
Many important improvements were
made in ship refrigeration and the
long haul is now accompanied not
only safely, but at a very low cost
More than that. the shippers and
handlers in England have developed
& system of fOrecaSting so that from
April to June, which is the height of
;he apple season in Australia, they
can keep each other advised three or
four weeks in advance as to the prob
able shipment. while the English pro,
duCe journals always carry a state,
ment Of the amount of perishabie
goods afloat SO that they know for al
least two weeks what the condition
of the local market will be as to the
supply of meat, apples and butter.
1t is believed that the same thing
can be worked out between the Peel
fic and Atlantic Coasts so that the
shippers will know just where and
when to send their produce to OBJ
tain the best price; without overload
ing the market. Therefore, all the de
cisions of the Interstate Commerce
Commission as to freight rates. re-