This shows a saving equal to 13.38 per cent, in quantity of fuel consumed. Mr. Marshall then read a letter from Mr. Alfred Holt, of Liverpool, bearing on this subject, in which Mr. Holt spoke favorably of the single-crank engine, and stated his belief that the compound system would ere long be abandoned for the simple engine. He is endeavoring to feel his way to using the steam in one cylinder only, and so far the results have been encouraging, and he is now fitting a 2,200-ton vessel on that system. He is also endeavoring to do without a crank shaft, the forward end of the screw shaft carrying an ordinary crank with overhung pin. This experiment also promises satisfactorily. In his opinion the great improvement of the immediate future is to increase the steam production of our boilers. A ton weight of a locomotive boiler produces as much steam as six tons of an ordinary steamboat boiler. Mr. Holt speaks of the coal account as one of the minor disbursements of a steamer. He does not give the ratio which coals bear to the total disbursements, but from other reliable sources Mr. Marshall found that, according to the direction of the voyage, it varies from 16 to 20 percent.--or, say, an average of 18 per cent.--of the total disbursements, in a vessel carrying a cargo of 2,500 tons. This will represent to-day about £3,000 per annum, and in 1872, at equal prices, the cost would have been £3,750--showing a saving of £750, equal to a dividend of, say, 3 per cent. on the value of the ship. Again, the cost of coal per mile run for such a vessel, in 1872, would have been at least 16½d.; to-day it does not exceed 13d. EVAPORATIVE EFFICIENCY OF MARINE BOILERS. The marine boiler as now made is very efficient, but if the quantity of steam used be considered in relation to the increased pressure, it will be seen that the boiler of to-day is little if anymore efficient than that of ten years ago. The present boiler has an evaporative efficiency of about 75 per cent., and cannot be much improved so long as air is supplied to the furnace by the natural draught. To increase the efficiency from 75 to 82.5 per cent. would require about double the heating surface, the weight of boiler and water being also doubled, while the gain would be only 10 per cent. Mr. Blechynden's formula, used in Mr. Marshall's works for weights of cylindrical marine boilers of the ordinary type, and for pressures varying from 50 lb. to 150 lb., is as follows: W = (P + 15) (S + D² L) / C or W = 2S (P + 15) / C when S = D² L, which is a common proportion. Here W = weight in tons. P = working pressure as on gauge. S = heating surface, in square feet. D = diameter, in feet. L = length, in feet. C = a constant divisor, depending on the class of riveting, etc. For boilers to Lloyds' rules, and with iron shells having 75 per cent. strength of solid plate, C = 13,200.