EMPIRE TRADE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 39, 9 November 1917, Page 6

EMPIRE TRADE

THE EFFECT OF WAR

WHERE SHIPS ARE USED

MILITARY NECESSITIES

HOW COMMERCE HAS SHRUNK

The following information, which was communicated to the Press by the Imperial Uovemuient, aud which,was received from the Secretary of State lor the Colonies, is forwarded by tue Minister of Marine (the Hon. G. lv'. Kueseli):— v

The ocean-going vessels on the United Kingdom Itegister before the war represented between seventeen and eighteen million tons gross. Of this tonnage oyer fifteen .million tons were regitla'riy employed in trade with the United Kingdom, the remainder being engaged in trades between foreign countries, the various parts of the JJritish Dominions, etc., unu incidentally reudcring by their earnings important services to the ivl other Country. A large amount of this distant trading has been sacrilied to our immediate needs, and nearly 50 per cent, of the ships concerned brought home for British trade. At the present time, inclusive of prizes, the oceangoing shipping ' on the United Kingdom Kegister is u little over fifteen million tons, of which 14,000,000 tons are employed in lrtinie service. Of the 14,000,000 tons thus employed, however, only about one-half is available lor the trade of the country. About six and a half million tons have been allocated entirely- to the needs of tho Navy, the Army, the Allies, aud the Dominions overseas. A further million tons or thereabouts nro being used for these purposes on tho out-journey, and are therefore lost to our export trade, but are available for imports. . The services rendered by the mercantile tonnage which has been taken up for tho purposes of the war are very varierf. A considerable number of the speediest and most efficient vessels in our mercantile marine have been eonverted into auxiliary cruisers, and others into magnificent floating hospitals. A whole fleet is engaged in taking coal and oil to the Navy; many of our mercantile ships have been converted into transports, and are constantly carrying troops from Great Britain and the Brit-. Isfi Dominions to all fields of war; many aro occupied in taking supplies from an parts of tho world to the Navy and to the armies at the various fronts; others in mine-sweeping and patrol work in all seas; a very substantial number have been assigned to the Allies to supply their urgent needs for munitions and other imports, and a large number have been told oft' to carry wheat and other essential foodstuffs to the Allies. Some idea of the services rendered by out ships in these directions will be gained from the following quotation from a statement made in the House of Commons by the First Lord of the Admir- ■ altv (Sir Edward Catson) on February 21 'last:-"I have a return here which has been brought up only to October 30, 1916. You may, however, take it from mo that in proportion tho same amounts are being transported at the present time. In regard to personnel, the total numbers that we moved across the seas up to that date were 8,000,000. men. . . . Take supplies and fcplosives. Tip to Ocfooer 30 last year we had moved 9,420,000 tons: sick and wounded over 1,000,000; horses 'and mules over 1,000,000; with petrol alone amounting to 47,501,000 galRequisitioned Ships. The situation described above of course did not arise at once but from the beginning of the war British ships have steadily been requisitioned by tho bovcinment and run in the national instead of the private interest. The rates paid to ' shipowners soon becamo very much lower than the freights which could bo earned by freo ships, and British is'iipownere have therefore been unable to rely upon earning tho same ; freights as their competitors. Now tho situation, has reached a stage at which it has boon necessary to take complete control of all British shipping in order to ensure tho employment of every vessel in tEe manner and on the terms as to rate of- freight most consistent with tho national interest. Tho result may bo summarised as follows:— (1) With the exception of a few vessels engaged in distant waters on work which is vital to British colonies and of vessels chartered to France and Italy, the British Government have requisitioned for hire at Government rates about 97 per cent, of tho ocean-going tramps on tho United Kingdom Register. (2) All British liners havo been requisitioned, and are being run for Government aooount. The owners receive hire at Government rates, and the profits derived from private freight carried at market rates go to the Government and noti to the shipowner. ,„..., (3) Every ocean-going voyage of British steamers is now directed by tho Government, vho-have regard only to the question of how they can obtain essential imports from the nearest source, and disregard BBth the interests of the shipowner and of the exporter. (4) Many trades built up in distant waters and sustained by British industry have had to be abandoned to neutral owners, who gladly seek employment for their vessels in areas immune from war (5) The coastal traffic round the shores of the United Kingdom is being subjected to a searching review for the purposes (a) of withdrawing vessels which can bo utilised for ocean-going work, and (b) of bringing about a limitation of rates whenever possible. It is necessary to emphasise the effect of the' liner-requisitioning fchemo referred to above upon tho shipping industry. The owners are placing all their organisation and resources at the disposal of the Government for running the requisitioned liners. They have also agreed to pool their organisations, and this has of course necessitated the closest co-operation between what may have been competitive interests before the war In many instances the trades built up bv tho shipowners must suffer, severely from the depletion of shipping caused by the diversion of the steamers from their usual routes. The/Risks Run. A further point which should bo borne in mind, is the extraordinary risks which the officers and crews of merchant vessels have to run in pTder to bring the necessary commodities into this country. The areas round the British Isles have been singled out by the enemy for special attack, but, notwithstanding the risks involved, officers and crews have not made any difiiculty about taking their ships through the most dangorous routes. Distant Trades Have Suffered. Apart from the effect upon shipping interests the country generally has also had to suffer great and increasing sacrifices by the shortage of tonnage caused by war requirements, and submarine °(1) The diversion of liners from longdistance to short-distance trades has inflicted injury on many British export trades (particularly to India and tho Ear East), and also upon the interests of our own distant exporting colonies. (2) A very far-reaching programme of restriction of imports has been put into effect. Luxuries (including many commodities produced by our colonies and our Allies] have been excluded and the import even of essential articles has been reduced to the lowest level compatible with national security (3) The restriction of coasting facilities will create some inevitable hardship for coast towns which have hitherto relied on seaborne supplies of c§al and other commodities, for the railway services of the country are already overstrained and cannot wholly .fill the place of the coasting tonnage wnich will have t<rbe withdrawn. _ It is however, desirable to consulei in greater detail the effect upon tho exports and imports of this country. Restricted Imports. Necessarily our imports have been severely curtailed. Before the war we were importing at the rale of about 58,000,000 tons a year. In 1916 our imports fell to about 43,000,000 tons, and in the present year they will be considerably less. Even this largo reduction does not exhibit the full amount of tho sacrifices which we haie made

both of articles for our own consumption and of commodities for manufacture and export to our world customers. Of the 58,000,000 tons which wo imported before the war, 1 foodstuffs were rather less than a quarter. The rest was practically all employed or consumed in promoting the industries and commerce of peace. In 1916, however, two-thirds of nil our supplies from overseas consisted of foodstuffs, munitions of war, and the material for the -manufacture of munitions, leaving only one-third (of, a greatly reduced total) for productive industries. That is to say, while beforo the war we could, and did, import upwards of 40,000,000 tons a year for the purposes of industries And commerce, we obtained in 1916 only somo 14,000,000 or 15,000,000 tons for these vital purposes, and in the present year we cannot look forward to getting nearly so much as even this Teduced quantity. Shrinkage of Trade. An examination of the vnjue of our imports yields equally significant results. In 1913 our total imports were valued at 769 millions sterling, of which about 94 millions came from tho countries with which we are now at war. In 1016 our imports were valued at 949 millions sterling, the enemy countries being, of course eliminated from this figure. The groat rise in -prices accounts for a large part of the phenomenon of an increase in value with a decline m bulk, but on th'e best estimate that can be made it would appear that if in 1916 we had imported tho 43 million tons of goods which wo obtained from tho same countries and in the same proportions as we imported beforo the war, they would have cost ns rather less than 800 million pounds. We paid, therefore, in the year 1916 150 million pounds more than bur imports would have cost us if wo had continued to buy the same class of commodities and from the same sources as before.the war. We have, therefore, not onlr sacrificed, ruthlessly, the needs of industry and commerce; we have jiffaddition paid a far higher price for tho unproductive mntorial of war which circumstances have compelled us to substiTile figures as to tho exports of the produce and manufactures of tho United Kingdom are such as would be expected L from the statistics already given. In 'the year 1913 these exports were valued at 525 million pounds. In 1916 exports were valued at 606 million pounds, but if these exports had been priced on the 1913 level their valuei would have been only 3SG million pounds. We ' have therefore, reduced our export, trade by aTiout 26 per cent., 10 per cent, being exports to our present enemies, -and the remainder exports to tho other parts of {lie British Dominions, to our Allies, and to other foreign countries. Our exports to our Allies have increased to some extent, as would naturally be expected; though this increase, representing as it does a special and'transient feature of th'o present situation, affords no substitute for the loss of permanent trade. Our exports to other foreign countries and to the Dominions overseas have fallen off in value by about 100 million pounds, representing on their pre-war figure of 337' millions nearly one-third of' the whole. The foregoing figures as to imports and exports relate to our whole trade, a substantial part of which is carried in foreign ships. If it were possible fo anatvse separately the enrrying trade of British ships, the comparison between tho conditions preceding the war and tttoso obtaining at present would be still more striking. Tf has been explained in the first paragraph tlijl: about 50 per cent, of all British tonnage which formerly contributed to the national revenue by'its earnings in distant trades has row been brought home to supply our urgent needs; there are indications that the gap thus created is being filled to some extent by neutral shipping, which has been withdrawn from European trade to take advantage of the profitable opportunity of obtaining the business which the British people is, for tho time being, at any rate., compelled fo surrender.