"SHIPPING KINGS"

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2452, 4 May 1915, Page 6

"SHIPPING KINGS"

—♦ ——' A MEASURE OF PROTECTION ' , .WANTED,. t . " 1 At the monthly meeting of (ike Weilington Chamber of Commerce held yes- > teraay a letter was received from the { Auckland Chamber asking for 00-opera- ; fcion in a movement "to prevent shippers ( being entirely at tie mercy of chipping j rings." _ _ , In referring to this matter, Mr. James i M'Lellan said that he happened to be j in Auokland when the matter arose, and' , it had started out of the difficulty that j Was experienced by consignees in get- c ting claims reoognised by the shipping j companies for goods damaged. Mr. -5 M'Lellan stated that every means was e taken by the shipping companies to ro- r sist them, ana that the law's 0 delays were , enlisted to de- , feat claims made by consignees. He e was a consignee and could not very well c help feeling in sympathy with the Auck- ( land people. It was well known that. }, £h'e. companies had a sort of guarantee s fund set apart to fight such claims, and it was always difficult to get satisfaction. _ • Mr. C. W. Jones said that it was not 1 correct to convey the idea that the ship- f ping companies refused to pay claims. As a matter of fact, the companies lost j. a very great deal during- the year j through goods damaged, lost, and pil- c laged, and for anyone to suggest, that i such claims were dealt with in an un- 1 principled way did not correspond with t tie factß. It was a heavy tax upon the <5 resources of the companies—what they 1 did pay. * Mr. M'Lellan said that ho had in his J mind a case of his own, in which he had { made a claim. He had had to submit 1 to the insolence of officials and the j law's delays, but eventually won the t case, but after he had paid all expenses t and his lawyer he was out of pocket. . t Mr. W. Bridson said ho did not think J it was time to raise such questions. It J was not a question of cost —we sliould £ be glad to get our goods at all No one \ surely in the colonies or t'lie British Em- s pire would wish to harass the companies li which had given lip their ships for r transport work in a great emergency. s Mr. M'Lellan again pointed out that lie only sought to explain how tbo matter had arisen in Auckland.

On the outbreak of tho war-the Falkland Islands votad a gift to Great Britain of £2250, which is equivalent to j£l per inhabitant.