THE SHIPPING DIFFICULTY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 15, 18 May 1915, Page 4

THE SHIPPING DIFFICULTY.

A Wellington correspondent writes: ( The Admiralty authorities at Home, have requisitioned so many ships ior, transport purposes, that the facilitiesj for exporting and importing have been very considerably cut down, and! Australasian business suffers accord-! ingly. The consistent way in which, the Prime Minister has looked after, the interests of the New Zealand producer has placed this country on a much better footing than Australia,! and a letter Air Massey received this week from a New Zealander who lias just returned from a visit to Austra-. lia, during which he made investigations at all the principal ports, states that New Zealand is far ahead of Australia in the excellent management and energy she has displayed in getting her produce away. In Tasmania, although the fruit harvest has been under the average, half the apples remain unshipped, and the fruitgrowers are complaining bitterly. Meat and wool, again, cannot he shipped, although the season has been] short on account of the drought, and wool is still stacked on many of stations, awaiting shipment. Thej letter adds that, in these respects, the ( Australians are cognisant of the splendid work done hy the New Zea-j land Government. Some people ap-; parently think that, war or no war,; the machinery of export should he maintained with the regularity of| clockwork; and that, if shipping not, available hy ordinary means, the. Government should “commandeer” aj sufficient number of vessels to meet; all possible demands. Hut the onlv authorities who can “commandeer”! ships, or insulated space, are admit- ( tedlv the Imperial Government acting on the advice of the Hoard of Trade. AVe have to remember that the “Kai-j para” and the “Tokomaru.” two of the largest insulated vessels that used' to carry our produce Home, were sunk, by tbe Germans, with full cargoes on board; that a fire occurred on the; “Nairnshire,” which prevented that vessel returning to New Zealand in time to lie of service during the present season; that the White Star Line has not nearly all its regular traders, the latest to he taken for Imperial uses being the “Afric,” the “Medio, and the “Ceramic,” while other Australasian traders have also been taken over for military purposes. According to Mr AVinston Churchill, the Admiralty had chartered one-fifth of the mercantile marine for transport and supply purposes up to February last, and,owing to the war, at least a third of the world’s tonnage is no longer available for ordinary carrying purposes. To expect New Zealand to maintain a full and regular cargo service under such circumstances is, therefore, not only unreasonable, but actually ridiculous.