The capabilities of the Fairfield establishment, it may readily be believed, are of the highest order. Scarcely anything need be said in substantiation of this, as the past few years have witnessed the continuous production from its stocks of very many steamships of the highest class, whose names have already become “household words.” Of these it may be sufficient to instance the _Arizona_, the _Alaska_, the _Austral_, the _Stirling Castle_, and the _Oregon_. Apart from these, and perhaps no less worthy examples of Fairfield work, vessels of war have been turned out to a goodly extent, as well as vessels for a great variety of trades, but it is for the fast mail and passenger steamships that the establishment is chiefly famed. Its reputation in this respect bids fair to be augmented by the production of the two powerful Cunard steamers already referred to in this work, and which are now nearing completion. The following tabulated form shows the amount of tonnage built, and the horse-power of engines fitted, by Messrs Elder & Co. during the past fourteen years:— +--------+----------+----------++--------+----------+----------+ | Years. | Tonnage. | H.P. || Years. | Tonnage. | H.P. | | | Gross. |Indicated.|| | Gross. |Indicated.| +--------+----------+----------++--------+----------+----------+ | 1870 | 22,795 | 18,139 || 1877 | 7,704 | 9,550 | | 1871 | 31,889 | 29,000 || 1878 | 18,247 | 11,750 | | 1872 | 24,510 | 22,450 || 1879 | 16,895 | 15,510 | | 1873 | 24,829 | 18,300 || 1880 | 32,775 | 38,024 | | 1874 | 31,016 | 16,110 || 1881 | 26,575 | 43,728 | | 1875 | 17,818 | 12,040 || 1882 | 31,686 | 41,192 | | 1876 | 13,533 | 16,550 || 1883 | 40,115 | 56,995 | +--------+----------+----------++--------+----------+----------+ During ordinarily busy periods the number of operatives employed by Messrs Elder & Co. reaches six thousand. The united earnings of this great army of workmen amount to over £33,000 per month. As a further indication of the stupendousness of the works, it may be mentioned that on board a single vessel—the _Umbria_—as many as 1,200 workmen have been employed at one time. The supervision of affairs in this great establishment is, as may readily be understood, a matter necessitating numerous “heads,” “sub-heads,” and departments. The general manager in the shipyard is Mr J. W. Shepherd, a naval architect of well-approved ability. The second of the three Clyde establishments selected for notice, and one in many ways specially noteworthy is:— MESSRS WILLIAM DENNY & BROTHERS’ LEVEN SHIPYARD, DUMBARTON.