THE SILENT MINISTRY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 154, 25 March 1919, Page 7

THE SILENT MINISTRY

AN INTERVIEW WITH SIR JOSEPH MAC-LAY THE FIGHT AGAINST HUN I PIRACY I

'Din Ministry of Shipping kas earned, the title among Government Departments of the Silent Ministry. l-'or two years under Sir Joseph Mueluy, the Controller, it has fought in quietness and in confideiice imyired by its diief the German submarine plan o'f starving Britain. The Huns declared that by their submarines they would win the. war. The LMSnistry of Shipping said nothing, but with tho liolp of t'lio Navy beat them, and now when tli* menace is removed it is possible to tell something of its gigantic task.

Sir Joseph Mac-lay, himself explained it to me. I found him in his unpretentious office among the trees in St. James's Park, for no vast hole! has had to be commandeered for his Ministry, Instead, the Office of Works drained the ornamental lake iu the park, placed on its bed a two-story wooden building, and there two years ajo Sir Joseph Jlaclay, taken by -Mr. Lloyd George from the work of running a great ileot of cargo steamers of his own, began the organisation that has saved the armies and the nations of the Allies from starvation. Great liner companies owning 70 or SO ships have been built up: only by many long years of work. Here in two years ia an improvised Department of State which semis on their appointed voyages through all the seven seas the thousands upon thousands of ?hins comprised in tho. merchant navies of the world. A big enough task for any time of peace. Yet while it was being done tho Germans at one time sank over two million tons of shipping in one month, Official figures corrected up to date ehow-that during the war the enemy sank 15,067,8G1 tons gross of shipping, of which 9,043,744 tons were British. Ruthless Efficiency. When I asked Sir Joseph Maolay the secret of the success of his Ministry he would take no credit for himself. "It is due," he said, "to tho unselfish and untiring work of the shipowners of this ■ country who have come forward to help us and to tho splendid staff of men who have been with me. Thirty-six of the leading Shipowners have given their whole timo to the work of tho Ministry. We have tackled the problems day by day as they havo arisen, and if there is any secret of our success it is tho fact that we have gone out for ruthless efficiency. No interest, great or small, was allowed to stand in the way of n decision once we had made it. We overrode them all for tho sake of the one interest wo recognised—tho safety of the nation. A good deal has been said about the services of the Army and Navy during the period of tho war. They have been truly magnificent; but if the palm of victory is to be claimed by ariv one body of men,'then, in my opinion, thoso are the men of. the merchant marine. Thev went out to sea at all times, in all weathers, with convoy or without convoy, in their frail craft—mere cockleshells compared with ships of the Navy. The merchant 6hips were tho special prey of the submarine. They were hunted ruthlessly by night and by dav, and never once has there been a case of a merchant ship held up through fear. Further, it was the merchant marine which fettled the food question—nothing else.- I, like, 100, .to think of the fearless men of the trawlers and mine-sweepers who made it possiblo for the ships of war to be comparatively safe at soa. . Thoso men risked their lives everyhour of the day. The nation also owes its gratitude in a very special way to the dockers and workers in the harbours of the country. During the whole period of the war thoy worked with practically never a strike imdor the auspices of committees of employers and employed. To the members of the Port and Transit Committee for their splendid efforts in connection with port labour the country owes much." Our Supremacy in Future, Before going into details of the work that has been accomplished I asked Sir Joseph about a matter that is uppermost in our thoughts to-day—the future of British shipping. Ho was a radiant, optimist. "I have no fear for that,' ho said. "We shall -undoubtedly keep our old supremacy, and it is even poscible," ho added, with a rare smile in his deep-«et grey Scots eyes, "that in a few years some of our competitors will be glad to sell us the ehips that thev are iiow building to beat us. We have bought our position by a centurv of experience. "We have, of course, a great leeway to make up by shipbuilding. Of the total loss of 9,000,000 tons of British shipping about i\ million tons , have beenmade good by new construction and 750,000 tons captured from the enemy. At present about half a million new tons of British shipping is being built in three months. One hundred and fortyseven standard ships are already at eea, and 185 have been launched. But greater and ever greater efforts are required in the shipyards. I am not in favour of a continuance of State control of 6luppin" in its present form, and we hope soon to be able to end it. But in spite of the rumours of my resignation. I am ready to carry on the work as long as the Prime Minister desires. Already tho shipping situation is.much easier. Immediately after the signing of the armis. tice large numbers of merchant slnns employed by the Navy were released for other purposes and' a quarter ot a million tons hitherto locked up in tho Baltic has become available. Cessation of the supply of munitions has also freed many more. As a result wo hav,e been able' to send ships on trade routes necessarily neglected during the war. A large fleet'has gone to Australia to fetch trom there the wheat and other food products with which the stores of that laud are literally packed." ' ' "Do you think," I asked, "that with the release* of control, and in view of the world's shortage of shipping, there will be a rise in freights which will increase the cost of food and lead to charges of profiteering?" "We have a plan to meet that, said Sir Joseph. "Although we release direct control we shall still require shipowners to come to us for licences for voyages, and shall thereby direct shipping to the routes which need it most. Moreover, we propose for as long as may be necessary to control freight rates for vital commodities Those controls will only be taken off one by one as more shipping becomes available'and market conditions become normal. At. a. very early date we shall release from their present contracts the neutral ships that are working for us. 1 They are at present encaged at rates J hHier than would probably; be obtained iu the competitive market. .... ' The way in which the Ministry obtained control of neutral shipping during the war is an interesting study It was due to their need of coal, winch Great Britnin and H>« United States alone could Ftrpnlv When -he Germans announced their'unrestricted submarine campaign most neutral countries Tcfused to send their ships within the danger zone, and ■ ceased to carry for the Allies. In return ■ we declared Hint no neutral ship should 1 leave n British port unless another ar--0 rived to replace it. Thus no coal could ■■ bo taken to tho neutral countries, and ships' bunkers even could not be filled, until fresh ships arrived, and naturally thev did not come empty. Since then . nCTPcments under which we hire most ' of tlie neutral shipping have been entered ) into with foreign countries.