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believe is termed the Luether system by the German
firm of Adolf Breichert and Company, Mr. Yamagata
having himself gone to Germany to order them. Unfortunately this gentleman seemed unable to remember in what town they were made but I gather that it was one of the big industrial towns on or near the Rhine, near Manne sheim I think. Mr. Yamagata was most kind in giving me information but I do not think he altogether welcomed my enquiries
and he did not tell me more than he could avoid.
However, this may be, it seems that these cranes have given the greatest satisfaction and Mr. Yamagata told me frankly that he thought no other country could produce anything so good. I have so little technical knowledge that I hesitate to describe these cranes now but if possible I propose to secure blue-prints of them and send them later. They are twin electric cranes fitted with a sliding switch
and circular rails so that the distance of the
crane from the edge of the quay is immaterial and they can thus be placed behind the railway running along the quay, The important point in this con-
nection is that more cranes are needed at Takow and
would indeed have been purchased before this in Germany had it not been for the war. With the gradual progress of the harbour works the necessity for more cranes becomes more pressing and the "Luether" cranes now in use have apparently proved
so successful that I fear there is a strong probability that new orders will go the way of the
earlier ones. I propose to wam Messrs. Samuel,
Samuel