The conversion of wood from the absolutely rough state into finished and finely-surfaced material, ready for immediate use in the interior of vessels, forms at the present time not an uncommon portion of the daily work in shipyards well equipped with modern machinery. This is not only concerned with the commoner woods employed in large quantities for structural purposes, but also to a considerable extent with those various ornamental hardwoods entering into the decorative features. The change of which this is indicative is one of increased self-dependence and economy formerly not dreamed of in shipyards, and of improvements at every stage in the machinery for wood conversion, which are simply wonderful. In circular and straight saws, planing, moulding, and shaping machines, band and fret-saw machines, mortising, tenoning, and dove-tailing machines, and in machines for scraping, sand-papering, and miscellaneous purposes, not a few modern shipyards reflect the fullest engineering progress as concerned with wood-working machinery. In planing machines especially are the labour-saving advantages made apparent. As illustrating this it may be explained that machines of this kind in daily use are able to plane a greatly increased breadth of surface, to work several sides of the wood at one operation, and at a marvellously accelerated speed as compared with hand work. Similarly, as regards the formation of mouldings, it may be stated that a moulding which would take a competent workman some hours to produce can be completed on a good machine in less than _one minute_. Many patterns of mouldings and other decorative items now largely used are thus only possible—commercially if not otherwise—through the extended employment of machinery. The degree of “finish” now put upon the plainest features—rendered pecuniarly possible by the use of machinery—is nowhere so striking as in the scraping of panels and the sand-papering of large surfaces. In one shipyard the author has witnessed the scraping of hardwood panels as broad as 30-ins., the shaving taken off being of marvellous thinness and perfectly uniform and entire throughout the length and breadth of panel. The surface left on the panel is beautifully smooth, rendering any after-dressing with sand paper superfluous, and the shavings have all the appearance and much of the flexibility of fine paper. In many other ways that might be instanced, the improvement in machinery is not less striking, but what has already been given may sufficiently illustrate the general advance.