SHIPPING OUTLOOK
♦ MAIL SERVICES TO BRITAIN NEW VESSELS FOR AUSTRALIA Although it is more than a year since the war ended, tlio shipping position is still unstable, and there aro many difficulties in the way of an early return to tho regular time-tables of nre-war days. In n review of tho position the Melbourne "Argus" says this is not duo to there being a smaller number of over6oa vessels coming to Australian ports. _ The largo fleet of steamers engaged in bringing home Australian soldiers and the vessels sent here to carry back food to the hungry millions of Europe have, during the past twelve months, raised the number of oversea vessels in Australian waters above tho pre-war average; but the conditions both here and in the United Kingdom have been, and 6till are, so disturbed that shipowners aro not yet in a position to recommenco the system of olockivork voyages. _ So many factors are operating m bringing about this stato of affairs that it is difficult' to say which one the greatest influence. While the British Ministry of Shipping retains control over any of the steamers engaged in the Australian trade there will always be uncertainty; but industrial unrest, eong&stion in ports due to a general "go slow" policy in loading and unloading steamer*, the prohibition of imports, the high rate of American exchange, and the uneven balance of trade, which compels many vessels to come to Australia in ballast or but lightly laden, and the general shortage of shipping aro all factors in preventing an early return to normal conditions. Government control, however, is a gradually decreasing influence, and each month more merchant vessels are released. Mails Irregular. Serious inconvenience has been caused by tho irregular. mail service between England ami Australia. Perhaps tho greatest sufferers are the merchants to whom goods aro consigned from oversea ports. Bills of lading and documents relating to cargo cannot be completed until the merchandise is shipped, aud it was tho practice in tho past to forward these documents to the consignee bv the first mail steamer following the dispatch of the cargo. As the mailß were carried overland to Marseilles, and also came overland .from Adelaide to Melbourne and Sydney, tho bills of lading generally ; hero before the cargo, and merchants were able to tako delivery as soon as.their goods were landed. Now, however, when there is sometimes ah interval of four weeks between mails, the cargo generally arrives before tho documents It is then dumped on tho wharf, and allowed to remain there until the bills of lading aTe received, unless the consignee can induce his bank to endorse a guarantee indemnifying the steamer against any liability for delivering the goods without production of the lading documents. Tho banks will usually do this for established firms, but the email merchant often suffers severely. Banks frequently refuse to endorse the guarantee, and the merchandise remains on tho wharf for periods up to a month. During this delay the merchant loses the interest on his money, and probably the sale'of Ills shipment. Frequently his goods aro pillaged by wharf thieves, so that when ho takes delivery, cases which should contain valuable material aro found either to be empty or full of brickbats. P. and 0. and Orient. Efforts are being made by the P. and 0. and Orient companies to bring about a return to normal conditions, .but the P. and 0. steamers are not yet free of the control of the Shipping Ministry, and are often diverted from the direct route in order to relieve tho congestion in
India. Tho Plassy, of the P. and 0. line, which left Melbourne on Thursday, is under orders to call at Bombay, which will make it impossiblo for tho voyage to bo completed within schedule tune. Tho Macedonia, after leaving Jxmdon for Australia, was stopped and ordered to Bombay under instructions from tho Ministry of Shipping. Before the war the fortnightly P. and 0. service was carried on oy ten steamers. Six of those vessels—tho Maloja Medina, Mooltan, Marmora, Mongolia and Moldavia—were torpedoed during tho war. Tiieso losses are being replaced, and the fleet augmented by tho construction of a number of new 6teamors. lhe Aaldora (15,000 tons) has already been commissioned, and there is building tne Aarkundo. (16,200 tons), two vesS J s £°° tons > one of SOW tons, and thrco of 5-00 tons. Arrangements, havo also been made for the construction of four moro steamers of 16,000 tons, and tliey aie to be delivered within 21 months. The Orient Boyal Mail Steamsh'P Company which in pre-war days dispatched its vessels on alternato weeks to the P. and 0.. carried on its service with nine vessels, four of which—the Omralr, Otranto, Otway, and Orama— were lost by enemy action during the war. The only now vessel built by this company is tho Ormondo (15.000 tons), but it has three enemy steamers, aiid the A.U.S.N. coastal steamer, tho Indarra (10,000 tons) under, its control. .Tlio Orient Company proposes to build several new steamers for tho Australian service, but tho_ work has been delayed pending negotiations with tho Commonwealth Government in regard to tho mail con- , tract. Other Lines. About the 6amo number of vessels which were' engaged in the passenger service to England via tho Cape of Good Hope before tho war aro running on this routo to-day, but as many of them are transports and under Government control, they havo been nnablo to operate on a regular time-table. The Bluo Funnel, Aberdeen, White Star, P. and O. branch service, and the White Star lines each have five passenger steamers oji_ this run, aiid extra cargo-car-riers visit Australia from time to time, especially during the wool season. Neither the Blue Funnel nor the Aberdeen liners lost any of their Australian passenger steamers during tho war; the P. and 0., branch service line lost the Ballarat, and tho White Star the Afric. These vessels have been replaced, so that as soon as the steamers are freed from war work and refitted, it will not bo long before regular voyages will bo resumed. The P. and O. branch service is increasing its fleet by the construction of five steamers of about 15,000 tons oach, and it is understood that tho Blue Funnel line has a big building programme, but details havo not ret been received by the agents. A new steamer—a sister ship to the Euripides—■ is also being built for tlio Aberdeen line. _ The Commonwealth and Dominion line (not to be confused with the Commonwealth Government line), which is mainly engaged in tho transport of cargo, lost eight of-the twenty-two vessels engaged in the Australian trade dur> ing the war. but arrangements havo been made for the construction of seven new steamers of much greater tonnage, six of which have already been launched. Each of the new vessels is 500 ft. long, with a carrying capacity of 12,000 tons, and a speed of 12£ to 13 knots an hour. Moro than half the cargo space is insulated, it being estimated that each steamer will be able to carry 200,000 carcasses of mutton in its refrigerated holds. This line has still a steamer or two in the hands of the Ministry of Shipping, but the agents expect that a _ regular service will be in operation within the next 6ix months. , Government Ships, Commonwealth Government ' steamers are almost solely engaged in the transport of cargo. The fleot consists at present of 30 vessels, including 16 exenemy steamers, and arrangements are being made for the construction of 29 additional steamers, so that when ffia
programme is complete the Commonwealth lino will consist of 59 • steamers, with a dead-weight carrying capacity of approximately 456,530 tons. A njommencement has already been maxlo by tlio Cominonwelth line to inaugurate a regular fortnightly service from tho east and west coasts of Great Britain to Australia. Tho cast coast ports, at which tlio steamers will load, arc Middlcsborough, Hull, and London; and tho west const ports, Glasgow, Liverpool, Newport, and Avomnouth. Steamers will bo dispatched alternatively from the. cast and west coasts to Australia, whero there will also be alternate ports of call. Tho east coast seamcr on 0110 trip will call nt Fremantle,. Adelaide, Mclbourno, Sydney and Brisbane, whilo tho next vessol to leavo from cast coast ports will call at Adelaide, Melbourne, Ho. Bart, and Sydney. The Commonwealth steamers from west coast ports, will_ havo the camo nlternato itinerary. _ It is be* iievnd that this schcdulo will 6avo a great deal of trouble in tho tranship, moot of goods at Australian ports, particularly in view of tho fact that there is a great deal of congestion on tho wharves at the present time, owing to tho quantity of morcliandise awaiting transhipment. The service was begun with tho Commonwealth steamers Cooeo and Dongarra, which loaded at cast and west coast ports respectively, and aro now on their way to Australia. Tho regular time-table will be entered on as soon as tho vessels got into position—tlio running. being interfered with by tho recent seamen's strike.
At a meeting of tlio Christchurch Firo Board, Superintendent Warner, in his re. port, said that through tlio courtesy of px-Dcputy-Superintendcnt, Mr. W. Juries, Wie brigade had been ablo to test, with satisfactory results, one of tlie gas masks, which was used at tho front during tho war. As tho War Office in England no doubt had many of these appliances, on. hand, which could probably be purchased now at a very low cost, he suggested that tho Minister of Internal Affairs be written to with a Tequest thai the Government procure (if possible) a quantity for distribution amongst the fire brigades of the Dominion. The board decided to write'to tho Minister as suggested. _ Information as to tho ufio of the taenia ,|n schools as an auxiliaty- in imparting instruction in school subjects, and as to its valuo in giving to senior scholars a knowledge of the industries available for their future employment has been sought by. tho education authority of Glasgow from the Auckland Education Board. Tho authority are desirous of obtaining any information which may bo at lie board's disposal as to what has been done in New Zealand in this connection. In particular they are anxious to know* tho view that 'has been formed as to tho possibilities of tlio kinema in schools, tie subjects in which it might be most profitably employed as an educative medium, tho stage in school lifo at which it might be introduced as a supplementary aidj and any other particulars which might bo of service to tho authority in form, ing an opinion on the question. The inquiry was referred to the chairman of the committee handling such matter, Mr. H. King, to supply tho information required. _ Tho Chri6tahiirch branch of tho Tourist Department is busier now than it ever has been sinco it was established. The present season is unprecedented. Mr. |S. J. Collott, the Department's agent, is experiencing somo difficulty in finding resorts which are not already crowded, or in which all available room lias not been booked. At tho Mount Cook Hermitage, arrangements have been made to accommodate some of tho visitors in tents. During tho past few days, Mr. Collett and his staff have booked steamer berths for tho Christmas and Now Year seasons at tho rate of about fifty a day. Tlio American brigado for tho Lithuanian Anny _is a complete success. Enough demobilised American officers volunteered to staff a division, and tho number .of discharged men who applied has already exceeded tho quota.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19191213.2.108
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 68, 13 December 1919, Page 16
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,928SHIPPING OUTLOOK Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 68, 13 December 1919, Page 16
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Dominion. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.