The Freight Question.

Feilding Star, Volume XIX, Issue 89, 12 October 1897, Page 2

The Freight Question.

In the- House of Representatives Mr Charles Lewis, one of the Christchurch City members, in the course of his speech ; on the Address-in Reply, referred at | length to the freights question. Mr Lewis ', quoted a supposititious east; of a man j who aeq lired 201) paid-up £i> shares in a i shipping company in 14HK. The company ! went into steam in January, 18HH, arid its financial year ending in June. 18853, he received a dividend of 10 per cent for the , half-year, or £50. In 1884 he received a further dividend of 10 per cent, or £100. It subsequently transpired that this latter dividend had been improperly paid, because sufficient allowance had not been made for depreciation. Then in 1885 he got a dividend of f> per cent, so that out of his capital of £2000 he got .£2OO. In 1886, 1887, 1888 and 1889 he got no dividend at all. Then the uncalled capital of the company was called up and he had to pay up £5 a share, so that at the end of 1889 — r-.tthe termination of 4 years — he received nothing, but paid ap £1000. That made the capital which be bad iv the company £2000. Before he got a dividend the capital was written down 20 per cent., reducing the value of his shares from £10 to £8, on tbeir face, though in reality they were not marketably worth 20s. Tbe hon member for Wairarapa during this time was under the impression that this particular shareholder was living on the life juices of himself and bin friends. In 1890, the company paid 6 per cent ; in 1891, 6 per cent ; 1892, nil ; 1893, 3 per cent ; and for the next three years, 4 per cent, each year. The shareholder had thus received 27 per cent, on £1600 for bis £2000 worth of capital in seven years, and at the end of that time his shares were worth £800 to £900. Where, then, did tbe honest producer who bad been groaning under this rule, for be didn't know how many years, come in ? They found him in tbe person of the hon member for Wairarapa going about and saying that it was time for somebody to i step ia and put a scop to this avaricious shareholder's conduct. They found him going about the country uttering most hollow groins, and saying they would have to take steps to prevent this shareholder from fattening npon the life* juicen of himself and his friends, otherwise be would have no resource in the course of years but to let everything co and throw himself upon the Old Age Pensions scheme. He went down to Christchurch and told the people that the shareholders' losses bad been occasioned by mismanagement, and gave them a lecture on business management. If they would glance at the balance-sheets of certain freezing companies with which the hon. gentleman was connected, and which were public property, they would find that they were charging 50 per cent, more for freezing than the firms down South, and returned 25 per cent, less to their clients for skins and fat. ("Oh I") This company paid the same dividend (8 per cent) as the freezing campanies in the South, on higher charges, and then the hon. member went down and delivered long and characteristic lectures on business management, taking as his text the simple beauty of a policy of cheapness. Four per cent was robbery on the part of the shipping companies, while 8 per cent on the part of the companies with which the boo. gentleman w»s concerned was -r oh i "). The Premier : They want aay Usury Bill (Laughter.) Mr Lewis : He would quote a few figures to show tbe difference between the charges of steamers trading between Australia and England and between this colony and tbe Old Country. A steamer could go to the wharf in Australia and get a full cargo without moving from that wharf. In this colony those conditions did not obtain. Thus the Rakaia in August, 1897, in order to get a cargo, had to pay two visits to Port Chalmers, one to Lyttelton, one to Wellington, one to Waitara, and one to the Bluff. She burned 170 tons of coal and paid £692 in port charges; total expenditure, LBSO. The Ruahine last time she came here visited Waitara (for a few legs of beef and mutton), Wellington once, Port Chalmers twice, and the Bluff (to get a few rabbits), and she burned 245 tons of coal, paid port charges L 77 8; gross total, L 1032. The Tokomaru during her last visit to tb« colony, within four or five months, called at Auckland, Gisborne, Wellington, Port Chalmers, Lyttelton, and Wellington again at a cost of about LIQOO before she could get freight. The Premier : Too much, too much. Mr Lewis ; The Tokomaru had to do the dirty work, bat when she had tbe opportunity of coming to Wellington and getting a load and overtaking these port and sailing charges, the hon. gentleman stepped in and said, " Ob, no, you don't do that, You shall have no opportunity of doing that nice juicy piece of buniness." He could inform his hon. friend and friends that if they continued In this determination the dirty work would not be done. He would have some further remarks to make wben he found out what kind of legislation the Government was going to introduce.— N.Z. Times.