The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-30
RECORD PRICES FOR SECOND HAND BOATS New Ones Not to Be Had
 for Money ENORMOUS PROFIT $ Boats of All Descriptions Eagerly Snapped Up on Account of the
 Scarcity of British
 Tonnage
ENORMOUS PROFITS $

l London, April Correspondence of i the Associated Press. 1.-The great scarcity l of British tonnage is reflected in the abnormally high prices paid for second | hand steamers. Today no firm of ship builders can guarantee delivery of any boat, and. in consequence, shipowners
 desirous of increasing their fleets, or re- ! placing vessels sunk by war risk, and I ordinary marine risks, are compelled to purchase secondhand boats at record prices.
 Quite recently, the Cunard Steamship company bought three secondhand steam CTS having failed to find builders able to quote for new tonnage, and for these three boats, it is stated the Cunard com pany paid higher rate per ton than they would have paid for new vessels before the war Naturally, with such a ready market for tonnage, owners are wedding out their fleets and in several in stances recently boats which have proved too costly to work on a profitable basis have been sold for prices far in excess of their original cost.
 HAD THREE TO SELL One firm possessing three such steam CTS sold the boats to French buyers, un- der license of the British government, for f117,000, and the chairman of the company congratulated the shareholders upon the successful sale. '"The boats have never paid for themselves" he de- clared, and we have no objection to receiving e10 per ton for them" A good many English owners are not slow to take advantage of the needs of the French.
 In France, as in England, there is a famine in tonnage. Under certain con- ditions, French owners are now permitted to purchase steamers from English own CTS.
 At one sale held recently, German steamer which had been captured by British warship and condemned in the prize court was offered. It was admitted by the auctioneer that certain overhaul
 ing would have to be done before she
 would be allowed to proceed to sea. The
 boat was originally purchased in the
 prize court for under 93000 and for nearly
 IA months had been running under char ter of the British admiralty, proving a
 remunerative craft to her owners. The
 government, probably in view of the re-
 pairs needed, had no further use for the
 vessel nor apparently had the owners. The sale was duly advertised, and it
 was whispered that French buyers were
 likely to bid. The first offer was one Of E50oO for the steamer and the bidding
 rose rapidly in thousands, when it was discovered that French buyers were actu-
 ally in the market. At s20.00O the boat
 F EIGHTEEN POUNDS PER TON Prices averaging 918 to a23 per ton
 has been the rule of the sales which
 have been negotiated privately this year, although E25 and 10 shillings per ton was paid for the steamer Tello, built in 1907,
 and with dead weight capacity of 1900 tons. The purchase price for this boat
 was s4S,000. yet only a few months previ- ously she was sold for G29, TOO. Q sit al nf tons dead weight capacity, ana which was built at Sunderland in 1912 at a cost of 9100,000 has recently changed hands for e215,0OO while another boat the Habos, sold last year for s47,0O0, which was then considered a big price, has now been re- sold for G114,00O0.
 Costing e4O,o0O to build in 1909, the Har- lesden, steamer of 1850 tons, has just been bought for a1sO,0O0. Sold in 1914 for G9000, the Olavarria has again changed hands, as much as e49500 be- ing paid for her last month. She is a boat of 3670 tons dead weight built at Sunderland in 1889.
 Several steamers owned by Japanese have also come into the English market, and have received big figures The Teikoku Maru, a boat of 73OO tons built at Glasgow in 1894 has been purchased for 965,OO0, while two years ago she was sold by her original owners for the sum Of G25,U00 The SatSuki Maru, however, was not so fortunate, and she holds the record for being the boat to realize the lowest price this year, only E7.10 per ton being paid for her. She is an old boat, having been built in 1887 at Sunderland, and is of 3250 tons dead weight capacity. The sum paid for her last month was 923, ,000
 Boats which have been engaged in the home and coasting trades have realized particularly high prices recently, the Wig just been sold for 217,500 This boat has been particularly lucky at sales. In 1911 she was sold for e3350 and then in 1915 her owners receive check for f1O,o00 by hehr sale. Now, after owning the boat year, net profit of s75O0 is made on her sale.