SHIPPING LOSSES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 206, 20 May 1918, Page 9

SHIPPING LOSSES

LORD INCHCAPE'S STATEJ^T

GRAVE W^tNINGS

Lord Ljchcsjoe stated on March 6 at the LonojM Chamber of Shipping that our tonWagn w<« being sunk at u rote ■ot whic> the people of Britain had uu concept! .on, AVheu on tho Clyde recently ho was. amazed to find that, at noon tools H/ero discorded and everybody bolted troin th e - yards. There might not from ail n Clearances bo a war on. ■in -the course of his presidential ad«rwY), his lordship said it was ckiniod <•'> it moro oargo was being brought to tf;is. country per ton of the vessels" re»istonnage than before the war, and that, despite the reduction in tonnage bv /enemy action, the imports hnd gono down only very little. That might give the impression that State control was hotter than individual management; but it was an Absolute fallacy. It had been doue at tho expense of our international trade, much of which we had for the moment lost, and much of which wo should have ■ difficulty m recovering. ■ Thoso who had Uuftered m this way made no complaint; they had ungrudgingly put their-Ships at tho service of the Government, a.nd if they never recovered their trade they could not 'help it. They recognised that . tho loss of a few hundred thousand pounds was nothing compared with the loss ot .one.young life. So far as he could gather, the ridiculous proposal for the nationalisation-of shipping had been .exploded. • The losses which shipowners wero sustaining by. the'sinking of their slu'ps were very serious, and it would ho years before. their fleets could be built v,> again lo.anythinjr like pre-war level, .jt'no outlook was by no means promising but wo must all keen a etouHheart, and face the future with equanimity. Nothing we could-possibly loso would be so bad as to loso tho war. ''Tho Asoociatiou of Chambers of Commerce, ' his lordship added, "have lately been expending a good deal of wind ana ink in .suggesting that the British .Mercantile marino should be brought under some system of State control after the war. Since they began their- agitation, however, they find, that control of their own operations is extremely incon-' vement, and they are raising an agitation against it being/continued after tho war. The-fact is tlvit any gystem of Government control fif tho husincss of the country would bo fatal, and if it is established in one industry it will have to be established ■in all. I am quite confident that no -arrangement will be made with (.lermant;, after .their , inhuman procedure of British shipowners for. generations to come,' which will penalise the consumer eitne , !' in the way of cost or freight

Clyde Workmen's Holiday. ! "There is a curious lack of reality in many parts of the country as to tho ' grave position with which we aro faced to-day. Our tonnage is being sunk at a rate of which the people have no conception. I honestly think more information might well be given to tho ipeoplo as'to what we are really losing, so that they might appreciate the gravity of tho situation. I was on the Clyde on a recent Saturday, aDd at noon the whistle m a largo building yard sounded, and the moment it wont overy soul in the vard threw down his toois and bolted &ot. a sound was heard in Clydesdale after twelvo o'clock on Saturday. It might have been that was going on, and that no new ships, no destroyers to hunt submarines wore requiroa There is, I admit, a limit to human endurance, and, as Mr. Bonar Law sviid the other day, inqn get tired, but unje=s we all put our hearts into the fight whether we are engaged in handicraft or in braincraft, we shall all suffer alike. Ihe people of this country who huvn invested their money in shivfainrr have a rough time ahead of them.. \ hope they will face the situation bnyroly, and when the day of lov dividends, or no dividends conies, as it undoubtedly vill, I hope they will not throw up the,, epongo and decline to .have anything to do with shipping. I have confidence in the guod sense of the CDiomunity, and I have no misgivingsi as % fh e future of the Empire it only-prudence is allowed to puj. ■vaU-in its councils." ■.--.■ Mr W. jSaoburn said ho believed the policy the Government was to g"o on standaru ships, and nothing but istanuni ships. If-was hard for the . lirn 'jS who had built to their own requircMl /!nts,- but a standard ship in an emergency like this wns-quito justifiable. He thought tho Government idea, as soon as the war was over, was to release as many privately-owned ships as possible and to use tho standard ships for demobilisation purposes. It would be wise for tho Government to mnke some stntemont, because uncertainty was a groat barrinr to enterprise. Referring to Sir E. Geddes's statement, SirW.'E. Eaebnrn said that he knew of no mystery of the shipping yards. Therp .were two dements—the Govornmont and labour—and •it was unfair to attack the builders. He was sure that the spirit must have been ■knocked out of many shipbuilders by tho interferences of the past two years. "If any shipbuilder is holding work back," he added, 'let us know who ho is. I do not know of any. The position is . serious, but there were a number of reasons for tha January output." Hβ also protested against the unfair criticism of thn Admiralty and of the Navy for what they had done and left undone | in regard to the U-boat menace.- They I had been ingenious and stupendously ! clever in the hunting and destruction of I that enemy. . I

Unsatisfactory Shipbuilding, Supporting a resolution thanking the Allied Navies and the mercantile marine for their work in dealing with the U-boats, Mr. A. Eitson said that no sooner did a British submarine show itself than it was fired at, for the merchant ships lost no opportunity, un<l our submarines simply took their chance. Mr. R. J. I)uulop told of a ship that had arrived within fifty miles of its destination, when it was struck by a torpedo, which mude a hole 24ft. by 22ft. The vessel was abandoned, but the captain ■ calling for volunteers to save the valuable cargo, eight men stoamed tho ship at immense risk' to safety: 'Mr. W. H. Seager said that after being at sea three days a Ijoy of 15 wae torpedoed. Forty-eight hours after his lifo had been miraculously saved tho boy presented himself for another ship. (Cheera.) Sir John Ellerman moved a resolution regretting that tho progress of commercial shipbuilding in this country was still far from satisfactory, and impressing the urgency of securing the output of tonnago foreshadowed by tho First Lord of tho Admiralty. Ho said thut the result of taking tho initiative out of the hands of private ownership had been most disappointing. Up to the end of February, or for a period , of thirteen months, the whole of tho resources of Hie country had built soventeon 6tenmers of BG.OOO tons gross. Iu tho corresponding period previously privato enterprise had built steamers aggregating ovtf a million tons gross. , Thirteen months after we were told that standard ships were to be built in six months, tho entire resources of this country only put forward five steamers of very email tonnage.

'"In addition to these losses, we hnd losses from marine casualty." added Sir John, "which owing to the conditions under which wo are carrying on tho trad* mid the war conditions, are double and treble what they uaed to be in pre-war times, with tho result that bo urgent ha» this question of tho Gnvernnreut.. using all its efforts to provide more ,tonna«e iicconie, that 1 belioro I am right in eiiying that tho whole output of this country since the commencement of the war lias not been enoujjli to roplaco tho losses by murine ciniscs alone, leaving the losses from enemy actltin jet to be made up. I unhesitatingly say that tlii) country should bo taken into the Government's confidence as to these hisses." He thought it was the question of high wages that had been responsible for the want of output. Sir "YV. 11. Eaebuni said that tho January output was nol. typical. Novr Unit Ihe wcntlior and the materia! were better the output would improve. Tho Government should say frankly what wos the tonuago of the sinkings nnd >tlio roplonishiiißS week l>y wnek. They must Keep pegging away for tho truth.