SHIPPING SPACE AND EXPORT PRODUCE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2269, 1 October 1914, Page 4

SHIPPING SPACE AND EXPORT PRODUCE

The possibility that difficulty might be experienced in obtaining a sullicicncy of refrigerated shipping space to take away the Dominion's • output-of meat and dairy produce for the season now opening, has given rise to a certain amount of natural uneasiness. The announcement which the Prime Minister was able to make on the subject, in the House or Representatives yesterday, is on that account all the more highly gratifying, alike to primary producers and to the people of. the Dominion in general who have an indirect but important interest in the matter. It is. of course, inevitable that the withdrawal of the troopships from their ordinary running, and the disturbance of trade in other ways as a result of the war, should to some extent complicate the position, but the state of affairs disclosed by Mr. Massdy is by no means so. bad as many people expected it to be and there appear' to be good grounds for hoping that the whole of the season's output will be got away in good' time. This, indeed, is. takinga conservative view of the possibilities, for although two ships less were available in the month of September just ended- than were available in 1 the corresponding month last year, one ship more will bo at command this month, two more in November, and one more in December than took frozen produce away from the Dominion in these months last year.. The critical months' in the export year are January and February. The outlook for these months in 1915, though not absolutely assured, is distinctly hopeful. In January and February l , 1914, 18 ships loaded refrigerated-produce in the Dominion, and already 16 or 17 ships are in sight to take away the produce offering in the first two months of. next year. This is leaving the troopships out of account,, and the Prime Minister, though he is unable to give a definite assurance on the point, declares himself confident that these' vessels will bo back in New Zealand before the end of February next. . He has already communicated with the Imperial authorities and asked them to permit the troopships to return to the Dominion at the earliest possible moment. In addition, there is a. possibility that other ships may take up the running from New Zealand, and further than this Mr. Massey indicated that if necessary ships that in ordinary course would be proceeding to Amcrica be diverted for the time being to the Hornfi' trade. Broadly speaking, the position appears to be that adequate provision for the smooth running of the export trade has been made up to the end of the year, and that there is every prospect of equally, .satisfactory arrangements being made to satisfy demands for shipping space in the busy opening months of next year. It is true that some allowance' must bo made for the chances of war, but the shipping programme wh\ch the Government has under review appears to provide a reasonable margin for unexpected contingencies. In these circumstances, the deter-, mined pessimism of the Leader of the Opposition can only be accounted for'" by his inability to .view dispassionately anything that emanates from the Government Unhappily for his own peace of mind, Sir Joseph Ward is extremely sensitive to correction and contradiction, and appears to imagine that it is a personal affront to question his opinion. Yet there arc few -men in Parliament less able to support their opinions with clear and logical argument than Sir Joseph.Ward himself. For one who has been so long m responsible positions, he is singularly lackin" in helpful ideas,-and seldom supports his views with anything more substantial than a confused now of words. The contentions advanced by him yesterday are reported in another column, and.if. they are examined in detail it will be. found that ho presented nothing in the shape of solid evidence to justify his apparent, conviction that things are bound to go wrong.somehow. Everyone of course, realises that at a time like' the present thero must be some degree of uncertainty regarding shipping movements; and the most that can be done is to ensure that, every available vessel will be seciired to convey our produce to London. The manner in which the Prime Minister discussed the question yesterday showed clearly enough that the Government have gone fully into the possibilities of the situation, and are determined to use every means at their disposal to meet the emergency that has arisen.. Probably farmers and the public will pay less attention to the gloomy. forebodings of tho Leader of the Opposition than to the opinion expressed by biR Walter Buchanan, chairman of the Shipping Freights Committee, which has rendered signal service to Dominion producers for some years past While Sir Walter admitted that the situation presented certain difficulties, and that the strike of last year to some extent affected the comparison with the shipping figures for that year, his verdict upon the facts was that the Prime Minister had disclosed a very satisfactory position. Probably -no ono is better : qualified to express such an opinion than the member for Wairarapa, and his hopeful estimate of the outlook is therefore all the more to be welcomed. Sir Joseph Ward's suggestion that a number of'■the troopships should be dismantled, in order to make them availablo for the carriage of produce, and replaced by other ships, was the only definite proposifciQu he could advance, and plainly this was made without duo cousidcration to the whole circumstances of tho position. Apart from the very heavy cost of such a step, tho troopships may be required to depart at any moment. The Prime Minister evidently had already weighed the possibility of the idea, and as a last resort had made arrangements to make a change with one boat should the occasion dem,ind it, but it is manifestly undesirable that any alteration should be .made at this late when Mn. Massey showed there iiro" tithev UMltuw of mcctiug tho situation-