Mr. J. G. B. Dewar, naval architect, in the employ of the Kiangnan Dock, said his firm quoted Tls. 273,000 for a vessel to replace the Hsin Dah Ming or Tis.. 271,000 for a single screw eS: price would be roughly Tis. vessel. Without engine and dollers,
000. There would be a iurtine reduction of 3 or 4 per cent. for a lesser quality of steel.
Asked the average life of a river steamer, witness said he knew boats still working that were 40 years old, should last 30 years. A deteriorate much in ten years. He would not write off anything in the first year.
Capt. R. 3, Wallace, 2 Yangtze] pilot for 20 years, marked on the chart up and down courses in the vicinity of where the collision occurred.
Cross-examined.—The whole of the]
Yangtze was a narrow channel. Hef" admitted variations between the courses he had plotted and others shown to him by Mr. Harris, but there might be differences in the dates of the charts; also, the one he had marked was a small scale.
Answering the Court—In a crossing, a ship which had another on her starboard hand must give way. At the scene of collision the chan-
-nel was from bank to bank.
An employee of the Chinese Revenue service, gave some technical evidence on winds and tides and also) plotted up and down courses, He, emphasized the constantly changing nature of the Yangtze and said it was essential for ships always keep to their own right side.
'Witness said that a chart issued in 1025, the first from the Chinese Hydrographic Department, was the first: really good one they' had evoe: had. There had been earlier charts, but' more reliance was placed on local knowledge. Pilots passed on! information from one to another and, though ships sometimes stu: in the mud, navigation was managed quite well.
The hearing was adjourned.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.