The courier-index., 1921-06-03
uoyd's Register Reports Total of 7,0s6,766 Ship Tons
 in Yards of World.
BIG DROP IN U. s. IN YEAR
Total Building Here, 1,1o2,ooo Tonss Is Only About 70 Per Cent of Record Year Aoo-Japan
 Shows Small Gain.


 ported as being in the shipyards of the world, says a statement by Lloyds Register. Compared with the total on January l. the 7,0S6,766 tons, to be exact, represents decline of less than 100000 tons, nearly IF per cent.
 The actual decline in shipbuiiding activity has been much sharper in the past three months than appears on the surface says the statement The total reported for Great Britain, 3,7sS,ogo gross tons. is gain of S9,000 tons over the January ] record, but there has been marked reduction in the vol ume of tonnage on which work IS actually proceeding, LIoyds Register finds.
 Work Suspended.
 Included in the total in the hanos of British shipyards are 497OOo gross tons of vessels on which work has been suspended, and an additional 35o,- 900 tons, the completion of which has been postponed chiefly owing to the strike of the shipjoiners, which has interfered with the fitting out of number of large liners and other yes sells" the report continues. Taking this total of s47, 900 tons into consid- eration, therefore, the total of new ships on which work is proceeding in British shipyards is 2,951 1893 tons, or about 20 per cent less than the total at the beginning of the year.
 additional indications of the condi- tions in the British shipbuilding are furnished by the returns of launch ings and new work begun during the first quarter of this year. New keels represented only 391, ,00O gross tons, in comparison with 5O3 900 for the last quarter of 1920, and 701,000 for the quarter ended April l, 1920. Launch ings during the quarter just ended represented 431 900 tons, as against 576.OO0 tons for the last three months of 1920 Even with the delays due to strikes and other causes, therefore, work is being completed more rapidly than new work is coming on."
 Decline in America.
 Returns from American shipyards show that the decline which has been in effect more than a year continues, Lloyd's says. The total construction reported under way on April l is l, ,102, 900 tons, only slightly more than 40 per cent of the American total a year ago. The aggregate for all other countries except the United States, Great Britain and Germany (for the lsst-named no official returns are avail sble) shows & gain of about 26,OOO tons over the January total, Lloyd's sstl- mates.
 'Srhe apparent world decrease ln shipbuilding activity during the last quarter. therefore, has been not far from a million tons, decline of about 1212 per cent" the statement says.
 ''In some directions, however, gains are shown in the volume of coDstruc- tion under way. These are most marked in the case of Franco, which now stands next to the United King NoLl dnO OhltC0 otuACo hb building nation, having displaced Hol- land during the last quarter. A year ago France, with only 240,O0O tons un- der way, was led by Japan, Italy and Holland, and was constructing only 5000 tons more than the British do miniOns. Today, with 427 900 tons building, she has nearly two and half times the total for the British domin- ions, and leads Japan and Italy by 133000 tons and 75,0O0 tons, respect lively.
 Japan shows small gain in the total under construction, as compared with the previous quarter, and Italy Holland and the British dominions slight decreases"