Difficulty has been experienced with regard to the survey of steel boilers owing to the fact that some makers were not aware, at the time the boilers were commenced, that a Board of Trade certificate would be necessary, and the makers have therefore omitted to submit tracings until the boilers have been nearly completed. Tracings of boilers may therefore be received for examination upon payment of the usual fee of 27., and the Surveyors may proceed as far as witnessing the hydraulic test before any further instalment of the survey fee is paid. Engineer's and boiler makers should be advised of this arrangement.

67. Donkey boilers that are in any way attached to, or connected with the main boilers, or with the machinery used for propelling the vessel, must be surveyed and be fitted the same way as the main boilers, and have a water and steam guage, and all other fittings complete, and, as regards safety valves, must comply with the same regulations as the main boilers.

68. No boiler or steam chamber is to be so constructed, fitted, or arranged so that the escape of steam from it through the safety valve required by the Act of Parliament can be wholly, or partially, intercepted by the action of any other valve.

A stop valve must always be fitted between the boiler and the steam pipe, and, where two or more boilers are connected with a steam receiver or superheater, between each boiler and the superheater or steam receiver. The object of this is obvious, viz., to avoid the failure of all the boilers through the failure of one. The necks of stop valves should be as short as practicable.

69. Each boiler must be fitted with a glass water-guage, at least two test cocks, and steam-guage; that is to say, each boiler must be fitted with all fittings as complete as if there were only one boiler. Boilers that fire both ends, and those of unusual width, must have water-guages and test cocks at each end or side, as the case may be. When a steamer has more than one boiler, and these boilers are fitted

with stop-valves,

each boiler must be treated as a separate one, and have all the requisite fittings.

70. Surveyors are to be most careful not to give any official sanction to any new arrangement or construction of marine steam boilers, including boilers with curved ends, without first obtaining the permission of the Board in writing, nor are they allowed to give any written approval of any invention or arrangement, unless by direction of the Board of Trade; and whenever they know that any invention or new arrangement is to be fitted to a vessel that is intended to have a passenger certificate, they should, as soon as possible, with a view to preventing subsequent delays and questions, obtain plans and submit the same for the consideration of the Board of Trade.

When any deviation from an approval plan is made it should be submitted for the Board's consideration, and when any deviation is sanctioned it is only for that particular case, unless otherwise stated. Surveyors should in all cases record on their declarations whether the boilers are made of iron or steel, and if made partly of steel and partly of iron, they should specify for what parts either metal is used.

71. On every survey of a passenger steam ship the Board of Trade expect and desire the Surveyor to go inside the boilers, and make a thorough examination of them.

Declarations must not be granted for boilers when the manhole doors are not large enough, or are so placed that the Surveyor cannot get into the boilers. When the boilers are not large enough for the Surveyors to get into, they should see them tested by hydraulic pressure at every annual survey at least. The hydraulic test should also be applied at every six monthly survey if the Surveyors consider it necessary. In the case of old boilers the Surveyors must use their own judgment as to the necessary pressure to be applied. This is in no way to interfere with the instructions to test all new boilers to double their working pressure, nor with the proper internal examination of all boilers that are large enough for the Surveyors to get into.

Whenever it is only stays that prevent getting in, he must order their removal, and he must see them properly replaced before granting his declaration.

If any part of a main boiler near the uptake, fireboxes, or furnaces is so constructed that the Surveyor cannot examine it, he is not to give a

declaration, but should report the case to the Senior Engineer Surveyor who will, if necessary, refer it for instructions.

If for special reasons, and for special reasons only, the Surveyor can not go inside a donkey boiler or other small boiler, he must distinctly state on the face of his declaration his reasons for not being able to do

So.

72. If the boiler is too hot for the Surveyor to examine the inside efficiently, and with safety and convenience, he should decline to examine the boiler, and absolutely refuse to grant a declaration, until he can make an efficient internal examination.

73. BEFORE testing a boiler the Surveyor should examine it, take the necessary measurements, and calculate what the working pressure should be in accordance with the Board of Trade regulations, and only test to double the working pressure; if the test is not satisfactory the defects must be made good, and the boiler re-tested.

This instruction applies to superheaters and steam-chests, as well as to boilers.

This course will enable any necessary alterations to be made by the makers before the boilers are finally surveyed, and prevent delay or disappointment. The Surveyor who grants the declaration should not give a greater or less pressure without first consulting the Surveyor in whose presence the boilers were tested, and if any difference of opinion then exist the matter should be at once referred to the Board of Trade.

The Surveyor who grants the declaration must examine the boilers thoroughly, and will be held responsible for the pressure allowed, in the absence of special instructions from the Board.

74. Surveyors should see all new boilers, and boilers that have been taken out of the ship for a thorough repair, tested by hydraulic pressure, up to at least double the working pressure that will be allowed previous to the boilers being placed in the vessel, and before they are lagged, to test the workmanship, etc.; but the working pressure is to be determined by the strength of stays, thickness of plates, and strength of riveting, etc., and not by the hydraulic test.

The hydraulic test should in no case exceed twice the calculated working pressure of the boiler, and it is never to be applied until the boiler

has been examined in accordance with paragraph 73, and until the strength has been calculated from the necessary measurements taken from the boiler itself.

When the boilers are in the vessel the Surveyor may, at any time he thinks it necessary, before he gives a declaration, have them tested by hydraulic pressure to satisfy himself as to any doubtful part, or of places not easy of access, care being taken in the case of old boilers not to overstrain them; but the test must always exceed the working pressure.

The hydraulic test should be applied to the boilers of all steamers that have not previously had a passenger certificate, before a declaration is granted for them.

When a vessel is partially surveyed by one Surveyor, and the survey is completed and a declaration granted by another, if the Surveyor who witnesses the test of the boilers by hydraulic pressure has an opportunity of examining them inside and outside after the test, such Surveyor should determine the pressure to be allowed on the boilers in question, taking care to inform the makers, owners, or agents, and the Surveyor who is ultimately to grant a declaration, what pressure should in his opinion be allowed on them.

The amount of the hydraulic pressure test. and the date on which it was last applied to the boilers should be inserted in the Surveyor's declaration, and recorded in the office boiler book.

Surveyors should pay particular attention to the examination and testing of steam pipes.

In all cases in which a socket expansion joint is fitted to a bent steam pipe, the Surveyor should require a fixed gland and bolts to be fitted, in order to prevent the end of the pipe being forced out of the socket. This regulation should be complied with in all cases of bent pipes fitted with socket expansion joints. It is also desirable that fixed glands and bolts should be fitted to the expansion joints of straight steam pipes, as cases have occured, particularly with small straight pipes, in which the ends of the pipes have been forced out of the sockets.

75. In all boilers in which the Surveyors find that cast iron is employed in such a manner as to be subject to the pressure of steam or water, they are directed to report the circumstances to the Board of Trade,

in order that they may receive instructions how to act. Cast iron must not be used for stays, and Surveyors should also discourage the use of cast iron for chocks and saddles for boilers. Particular attention should be paid to the chocking of boilers, more especially when they are fired ath wartships.

76. A pressure once allowed on the boiler of a passenger steam ship is not, under any circumstances whatever, to be increased unless the Surveyor has previously written for and obtained the sanction of the Board. In cases where a Surveyor is of opinion that an increased pressure may with safety be allowed, he should communicate with the Surveyor who last surveyed the vessel; and if, on learning the reasons why the existing pressure was formerly allowed, the Surveyor is still of opinion that it may be increased, he should communicate all the facts of the case to the Board of Trade; but, as above stated, the pressure should not in any case be increased until the question has been decided by them.

SAFETY-VALVES.

77. The provisions of the Act relating to safety-valves are in substance as follows: Every steam ship of which a survey is required by the Act shall be provided with a safety-valve upon each boiler; so constructed as to be out of the control of the engineer when the steam is up, and if such valve is in addition to the ordinary valve, it shall be so constructed as to have an area not less, and a pressure not greater, than the area of and pressure on that valve.

Cases have come under the notice of the Board of Trade in which steam ships have been surveyed, and passed by the Surveyors with pipes between the boilers and the safety-valve chests. Such arrangement is not in accordance with the Act, which distinctly provides that the safetyvalves shall be upon the boilers.

The Surveyors are instructed that in all new boilers, and whenever alterations can be easily made, the valve chest should be placed directly on the boiler; and the neck, or part between the chest and the flange which is bolted on to the boiler, should be as short as possible and be cast in one with the chest.

The Surveyor should note that it is not intended by this instruction