PANAMA RAIL ROAD COMPANY. oh

the Hamburg-American Line nor this Company will be able to collect —
until the end of the war. :

The Board of Directors at the instance of the Chilean Line reconsidered
and decided not to reverse its action upon the claim of that Company

for a refund of wharfage and cranage charges alleged to have been illegally oe

assessed against that Sung uay and others at Balboa, Canal Zone, since
June Ist, 1911. :

Geran Engineers and Conductors previously employed by the Panama =

Rail Road Company on the Isthmus have submitted to litigation their
alleged claims for accumulated leave and longevity pay which are denied
by this Company on the ground that an Executive Order terminating that —
class of pay applied equally to Panama Canal and Rail Road employees.

This Company’s long established contract with the Earn-Line Steam- 2

ship Company of Philadelphia for the transportation of its annual require-
ments of coal to the Isthmus expired by limitation in the Fall of this year
and owing to the prevailing scarcity of tonnage and consequent high rates —
demanded, no contract with-commercial carriers has been made. ‘The
Earn-Line’s loyal performance of its contract obligations during its 10 |
years’ period of relations with this Company deserves mention.

The Company’s stock of coal on the Isthmus to meet requirements

estimated at 600,000 tons per annum, is now maintained through the _

services of the Naval Colliers ‘Achilles’? and ‘‘Ulysses,’’ constructed
under Congressional.appropriations and placed in this Company’s service

for that purpose, supplemented by an occasional diversion of 8.8. “Ancon”

r “Cristobal” to the carrying of coal to the Isthmus. The longer the
Colliers mentioned are operated the nearer the minimum per-ton cost
of transporting the coal to the Isthmus is approximated. Under the
very advantageous Harn-Line contract the price was $1.3914 per ton;
by the operation of the Colliers an average price of $1.68 per ton has been
arrived at, which figure includes an allowance of 34c. per ton to cover
3% interest on capital cost and 3% for extraordinary repairs and replace-
ments. of the Colliers.

Those Colliers, each of 12,000 tons capacity, are expected to jointly
carry to the Isthmus about 35, 000 tons per month; they have actually
transported 216,000 tons in seven months, or at the rate of 30,000. tons
per month. Better results will be accomplished with them following
their recent final test for Government acceptance, but unless contracts
can be made to advantage for commercial tonnage (the ruling figure
for which now is about $4 per ton), it will become imperative that addi-
tional Colliers be procured by purchase or construction in order to main-

tain our supply of coal at the Isthmus to meet expected demands when = a

anything like normal conditions are restored. |
~ Negotiations with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company for the pur-
chase of that Company’s pier and adjoining property in Colon were con-
cluded and title transferred to this Company upon payment of $150,000.
- Negotiations for a like purchase of the pier and property of the Royal
Mail Steam Packet Company are in progress with the prospect, the views
of the parties interested regarding the present value of the property being
so divergent, that under authority granted by the Company’s Contract
of concession expropriation measures will have to be resorted to in order
to secure a Judicial appraisement and transfer to this Company of title
to the property.
The acquisition of both of the above properties was deemed of para-