The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 1914. SHIPPING COMPANIES AND THE FRUIT GROWERS.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 19 January 1914, Page 2

The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 1914. SHIPPING COMPANIES AND THE FRUIT GROWERS.

SoAiJi little while ago 'Lite Chronicle published a .short article on the profit ami tlie extent of the organised exploitation of Australian fruitgrowers by tlie shipping companies thai control the "coastal trade oi the Australian States, 'ihe l';Vts given then were Jjom the report of the ixoyal Commission appointed by the Tasmania n Government to inquire into mailers connected with the fruitgrowing industry in that country. .Now a few more things have, been published by the \fommission. This time tlie overseas shipping companies handling the export trade of Tasmania and Victoria ■ are concerned. (Jiving evidence I .before the Commission, liobert Hardy Topham, fruitgrower, of Woodbridge, Tasmania, said:"In the year ID 1.1. i bought two farms in Tasmania, each of IUU acres. 1 weni to London and L arranged ... to sell my Fruit . . . When i. arrived in .Melbourne 1 saw the manager of the 'Orient Com],any. . . 1 asked for space in the vessels of the company for the following season six months ahead. The manager informed me that all the space was taken up by -Tones and Company, of Hobart, and I must see theni. . . 1 then made enquiries at the offices oj; three of the shipping companies, and space was denied me on the ground that all was taken. . . jl interviewed iir Jones's ma iLager, and I said I am bound to take space through you." lie said: "Yes, that is so. 1 said: "AVhat is your charge 1'" lie said: "'Twopence a case." 1 said: "Do you mean to say that 1 have to pay you 2d a case to d;.* business that Ido not want, yon to do?'' He said: "Yes." Usury Jones and Co., the iirm relcned to, are the big jam manufacturers and culiners who started ml Hobart, and have extended > heir business through various States on the mainland, and ii!>. . with the connivance of the shipping companies, have the fruitgrowers in a hole. It shows some of the possibilities ahead ol the fruit export trade of this country, and .how little aid it is likely to get from the shipping companies. Without the assistance of these companies Henry .Jones and Company would be powerless. There are two ways in which to prevent this sort of thing. One is to j have a real opposition steamship line; the second is for the Government to own a iiae of steamers. .If the Government can carry the produce of the country by rail to Wellington, there is no reason why it cannot carry it to the London docks. The urgent need of Government steamers to restrain the rapacity of private shipping companies is shown, by the fact that the Union Company charges lis for a second class single ticket from Wellington to Picton, a distance of 00 miles, and a journey which occupies less than four hours. Water carriage is cheaper than land transport, yet (he Government railways will carry a passenger the same distance for about ss. This is only one instance, but there are plenty others which could be quoted did space permit. Mow little the Union Company, or for that matter any shipping company, cares t'or the. rights of the producer was shown when it allowed Sydney linns to monopolise space on the Pacific steamers while at the same lime the I'liion Steam Shipping Company was subsidised 1o carry IS'ew Zealand produce.