GERMAN SHIPPING.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15047, 15 August 1914, Page 16

GERMAN SHIPPING.

FIRST VESSEL FOX NEW ZEALAND. THE WISMAK (FB.OM OtJ-i OWN OORRESTO?rDKNT.^ LONDON, July 10. Top. Dc-utche Auctraiisulio Ueaecuschaft, omi of the two Ocrniun lines w<jica wiu ior the first low months at any rato ii&rticii)aie in tho new service front the UonUnem to >cw Zealand, ie dvHpatciiing ita first slcamcr Uiia weok. The Wjjihat, as eho called, began loading it Hamburg, then proceeded to AiustcrdiUD, acd if> now at Aatwcry coiu--I>i -J-'g. iu<i in oJ a general natuie, but it ia uiideratood to include a good deal of superphosphate, tho carnage of which cannot bo rcgar<ted as any lose to Bntish bottoms, ainco they never got much of it in suo paat.

Hopes are st:H cxpreeecd that an agreement may be reached which wJI obviate tho necessity of rate-cutting. The teinia on which the greater part of Uio trade is conducted are t.o.b. (free on bo.ird) or i.a.c. (Irvco iUongfidc). -Hie Tirocß ,, says the buyer ie iißiiaiJy a London middleman, acting on bohalf o. a Nov; Zealand merchant, "and no country ii more loyal to the British Empire than .New Zealand." The British coiapanke, it sayß, would ace that their torma were qu:to ac good on tlioso cfiered by GcrmaD Jinca, and could depend on tho eupport of Uieir ehippora. Tho "Financia , Times," on t!w other hand, is not so enrc that the British companies havo done all they might havo done, it si.ys: ' Jt. is urged by a good many responsible stoppers at the Antipodce that niuhorto their convenience hae not bcon eiud:ed as much es it might havo bee-n, part.cuJarly ac regards the ixjrts at which tbe fcngliia vessels touch, while there are other pointo conoorning conditiona on board to r7.,V cri }' ci " n ia bein 5 directed. Tho probability a that if tho English companies wi i study their customers' interests they will not B uffer to any great extent from the fresh competition now threatened, for, unloes precedent is to be altogether falrified additional transport facilities will stimulate fresh business thereby bringing tbe New Zealand market more closely into touch with the workl'e principal consuming centres." Thj "Mail ,, records a despondency in some iinglieh circles m view of the Rcichstae's action in increaeing tho eubeidy to fl'ae German lino* from j£3s,ff)o to £197,000. "What can we do?" one En-rlish authority is alJeged ( to have said. "Tho German Govcrninont c heavy cubeidy givte the German Ehipping wmpaniea a great pull over u». Tho 'liKtisJi Government will not b;lp ue—it ia no good appealing to them. What is the uso of reducing rutw; in ,tbe face of ooaipe«:tion enbsidised like this?"