MAINTENANCE OF HIGH FREIGHTS

Dominion, 14 March 1919, Page 5

MAINTENANCE OF HIGH FREIGHTS

« . ARE NEW ZEALAND SHIPPERS FAIRLY TREATED? CflLsiderable dissatisfaction is felt by exporters regarding tlio maintenance of high freights .between New Zealand and Britain. The freights are still controlled bv the Imperial authorities, who insist that large reductions cannot be made at the present time. But Atlantic freights have been reduced very substantially, and New Zealand shippers suggest that there should be at least a corresponding reduction in freights for the Australasian trade. It is not easy for a business man in this country to get exact information regarding the conditions that govern freights. The decisions are made in London, and they are not always accompanied by explanations. But it appears from this end that American trade is beius encouraged at tho expense of New Zealand and Australian trade. There his been a hint of this process in some official pronouncements made in the United Kingdom. The Imperial Board of Trade is keenly anxious to assist British manufacturers and merchants to resume their old trade conrieotions and gain new ones. It seems to consider that the Dominion markets are relatively secure, and need not be cultivated as assiduously as tho Allied, neutral, and. foM-*:i markets, at any rate in the early stipes of the reconstruction period. Referring to this matter yesterday, a gentieninn intimately connected with the export trade said that he considered the A T ew Zwihtnd shippers were being treated quite unfairly. They wero being charged exceedingly high freights, and it looked as if some of the money was beiiiK used by the Imperial authorities to provide low freights in the Atlantic. He considered that every reduction in Atlantic freights should be accompanied by a proportionate reduction in Australasian freights.