THE LARGEST SHIPS AFLOAT.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 97, 18 January 1900, Page 3

THE LARGEST SHIPS AFLOAT.

The Oceanic 18 easily first hx t\ie ll^z wij.h a gros3 register tonu .ge of 17,000, and her nearest rival is the German s.s. Deutschland, 15,500 tons, followed by the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, 14,319 tons, and the Patricia, 13,000 tons, all flying the German flag. Next come in the Lucaniaj Lncania II and the Campania, of 12,952 and 12,950 tons reflectively. The Geriiiaiis ig'in cj-ae iv with the Pennsylvania, 12,891 tons ; the Graf Walderaee, 12,830 'tons, and the Pretoria, 12,800 tong register. CJar next largest boats are the^ 'Cymric, 12,552 tons ; the Medic, 11,850 ; and the Afric, 11,816 : whilst the Germans can place against them the Grosser Kurfurst, 12.500; -the Kaiser Prederich, 12,180; and the Belgia, 11,100 tons. Under the British flag there are onlj- nine steamers over v lO,OOO tons register, adainst nineteen similar German steamers. The Americans own four steamers of over 10,000 tons (the St. Louis and St. Paul 11,029 tons each, the Paris and the Isevf York, 10,674), No other nation posseses a single ship of over 10,000 tons register. We own 47 steamers of between seven and ten thousand tons, 288 of between five and seven thousand, 273 between four an 4 five thousand, and 741 between three and four thousand ~tons, which may be taken as the second, third, fourth and fifth classes for for comparative purposes. Germany possesses 13 boats in the second class,, 46 in the third, 42 in the fourth, and 68 in tho fifth blass. France has four in the second, fifteen in the third, twenty-eight iv the fourth, and 65 in the fifth elafts,*- -

the north bank of the Tugala. It ilfl reported that the Boers havjj evaeuatedß Colanso, and their river entrencbJß inents. It is surmised that they fottu&H themselves unable to hold the extenJH i^ive lines, and feared their ret*ea|M would be cut off. It is also auppose^H that they are either recon<wntrating it« the new position, or hope 'to c ru JGrtneral Buller before Major GeneraM Warren can assist. ' '9 i Mafeking was reported safa on 3th. The bombardment has been r6>9 Mitchell, war correspondent oP tha» Stacdard died at Ladvsinith froiiM typhoid fever, while Terraud, corres.B poadcut for the Morning Post wasM killed during an assault on LadyamitlM on the 6lh. 9 A liew bridge for the Tugela is being^ built in England, to be ready in thre&M weeks, and to be shipped in sections.|H

Pketoria. Jan. 15. -j The Board of Directors of the^ Transvaal National Bank failed in a| lawsuit instituted to eject Mr Lloyd.l manager of the branch at Lorenzo^ Marques. Mr Lloyd who is the norni-* iee of the London directorate, is aaS Vustialian. j

Durban, Jan. 15. i The cargo of food stuffs by the: VI aria, which was new A by the] British at Delagoa' Bay, has been re-i lensed. ij It is reported that General "Warren| on Friday, with a strong column, Jeft* Piere in an easterly direction, probably; to attack the Boers, who are isolasoch at Inhlawe Hill. j ":

Ottawa, Jan. 15. j General Hutton, the Canadian] Commandant, is supervising the re«jj cruiting of Lord Sfcrathcona's rough-,? uders. 1

Athens, Jan. 14, 1 The sympathy of the Greek nation^ with the British cause in the present] war was manifested at a great pio-j British demonstration iv the Greek] Chamber of Deputies. ' - ]

Melbourne, Jan 16. | Victorian firms have obtained a fiuV| ther order of 235 OOOlbs of tinned beef^ and mutton from the War Office tot\ South Africa. **