Without entering upon debatable economic questions it may be asserted as a fact that German shipbuilding is a State-developed industry. Little was done until von Stosch, Minister of the Navy, in introducing a Bill for the establishment of a German Navy defined once for all the relations between the German Navy and the German industries. Not only did the State give assistance by the placing of orders, but further assistance was afforded in 1879 by the exemption from import duty of mercantile shipbuilding materials, a concession the importance of which was recognised when the Norddeutscher Lloyd placed an order with the Vulcan yard in 1886 for six imperial mail steamers for the East Asiatic and Australian lines. These were the first large iron passenger steamers built in Germany. Being Government mail steamers, German material was to be used in their construction as far as possible. Before this, the Vulcan and the Reiherstieg yards had each shown what they could do by building an ocean steamer of about 3500 tons. Several English-built steamers were bought for the N.D.L. in 1881 and the following years, but in 1888-90 the company had three steamers of 6963 tons gross built by the Vulcan Company; these vessels had engines of 11,500 indicated horse-power and a speed of 18¹⁄₂ miles an hour. In these steamers were adopted central saloons and a long central deck-house with a promenade deck above, while on the main deck a dining-room, extending from one side of the ship to the other, was built. In these ships also German decorators and furnishers were given the opportunity to distinguish themselves and rival the British, and they did so. Steam-ship after steam-ship was produced, each one excelling its predecessor, until the N.D.L. decided upon the construction of the _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_ under the onerous condition that if she did not come up to the very strict requirements they imposed, the Vulcan Company should take her back. One condition was that the ship should be exhibited in a trial trip across the ocean to New York. The _Barbarossa_ type, corresponding to the White Star intermediate vessels, appeared in the ’nineties, carrying a large number of passengers and having great cargo capacity. In 1894 the twin-screw vessels _Prinz Regent Luitpold_ and _Prinz Heinrich_ were added with special equipment for the tropics. Since then steamers have been added to the fleet with almost startling rapidity to cope with the company’s many services, all the important German yards being favoured with orders. The largest steamer the company has is the _George Washington_, launched in November 1908 by the Vulcan Company, which is the greatest steamer yet constructed in Germany. She is 725¹⁄₂ feet in length with a displacement of 36,000 tons, while her gross registered tonnage is 26,000 tons. She is a first-class twin-screw steamer with five steel decks extending from end to end; she has also thirteen water-tight bulkheads, all of which reach to the upper