The first New Brunswick steamer to ply between St. John and Boston was the _Royal Tar_, 256-90/94 tons, Thomas Reed, master, built at Carleton in 1835. She was burned in Penobscot Bay, October 25th, 1836, on her voyage to Portland, Maine, when thirty-two lives were lost; also a whole menagerie with elephants, horses, etc. This service is now performed daily by the International Steamship Company of Portland, Maine, who have three splendid steamers on the route—the _State of Maine_, 818 tons; the _Cumberland_, 896 tons, and the _St. Croix_, 1,064 tons. On the River St. John there are eight passenger steamers and eleven tug-boats. A large number of tugs also ply on the harbour. The number of steamers that entered the port during the year ending June 30th, 1897, was 823, aggregating 609,319 tons. Of these, 359 were ocean and 464 coasting steamers. The lines of ocean steamers plying to and from St. John during the winter of 1897-98 were: the Furness Line, to London and to the West Indies; the Beaver Line, carrying Her Majesty’s mails to Liverpool, _via_ Halifax and Moville; the Allan Line and William Thomson & Co.’s boats to London; the Donaldson Line, to Glasgow, and the Head Line, to Belfast and Dublin. Many advantages are claimed for St. John as a winter port for the Dominion. In point of distance from Liverpool it has the advantage over Portland of 80 miles, and over New York of 450 miles. Halifax is nearer England by 200 miles, but the land carriage from the West is much greater. St. John is the centre of an extensive lumber business. It is connected with Western Canada by both the Intercolonial and Canadian Pacific railways. The approach to the harbour is said to be free from fogs in the winter months, and ice is altogether unknown in the Bay of Fundy. Large sums of money have been expended during the last few years in improving the export facilities, and the lieges of St. John see no reason why this port should not become the Canadian winter terminus of the coming “Fast Line.” * * * * *