IMPORTANT TO CONSIGNEES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2269, 1 October 1914, Page 6

IMPORTANT TO CONSIGNEES

COST OF SHIFTING PRIZESTEAMERS.

Tho Wellington Chamber of Commerce has recoived advice that the North German-Lloyd Sydney agent has intimated that tho steamers Pl'alz, Jiesoen, Griefewa-ld, Iliuiingen; and Lothringen, which have been detained in Melbourne, aro' being . sont on to , Sydney with-prize crews, and that the cost of running tho'steamers under prize crews and all expenses m connection therewith, including the freight from Sydney to port of destination in New Zealand, will have to, bo by the consignees. Furtherj that unless the consignees undertake to pay all such charges, it is likely that the goods will bo. bonded in Sydney at the consignees' risk and expense. rho' above statement is from tho Sydney agent of the German line. It is.thought, however, that it is by no moans certain that the expenses of working the vessels with the prizo crew wili'havo to bo bprrie by consignees. Ap-parently-the prize crews aro being put on board by the Prize Court, and whether that Court .will insist on all consignees. bearing tho expenses has yet to ho shown.

In view of tho cabled reports that the Germans bay© elsewhere confiscated British steamers detained under similar circumstances, it does not seem impossible or unfair, it is stated, that similar measures will be taken in Australia. If this is so, the cost of riming tho ships under prize crews, and tho further expenses incurred by forwarding cargo' to its destination, might in fairness, become a diargo upon tho ships. The matter of New Zealand oonsignees being represented at the Prir.e "Courts at Melbourne, Sydney, Capo Town, and elsewhere, is being considered, at tho council meeting of the Wellington Chamber on Monday, Ootober S. In the meantime tho secretary of tho Chamber will bo glad to hear tho . views of consignees who are interested, and to learn whether they are prepared to bear a proportion of tho expenses. . . ' Tho estimated cost of sending these vessels from Melbourne to Sydney and Brisbano is (says the "Mercantile and Banking Record" ,of Sydnoy) as follows:—Lothringen, £486; Hobart, £552; Pfalz," £642; Scharzfels (in Adelaide), £891; Gricfswald (in Fromantlo), £1191, all exclusiv< of pilotage and port charges and discharging cartjo. If the cargo is transhipped into intercolonial steamers on the coast of Australia tho charges would bo much heavier, it is pointed out, than if the cargo were carricd from port to port, ill the original German bottom with a prizo crew on board. The carriage of cargo' in Gorman ships intended for New Zealand was inclusive of transhipping charges in Australia before the war. Now such cargo lias to be.carried (if obtained from the holds) at the expense of the consignee from the port of the ship's detention. That is to say, tho consigneos in New Zealand are now liable for the cost of the carriage of tho cargo which ,in normal times would have been transhipped from Australia at tho Gorman ships' expense.