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Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 482, 11 October 1928, Page 2

WAIRUNA DELAYED.-The local office or Che T T nion Company has been advised that the Wairuna has been delayed at New Plymouth by rain and now leaves there on Saturday for Auckland, where she is due next Monday to load for Apia, Samoa, Fanning- Island and Vancouver. PORT DARWIN DUE.—The Commonwealth and Dominion Line steamer Port Darwin is due from Liverpool on Saturday evening and has been allotted a berth at Queen’s Wharf. The vessel will complete discharge at Wellington, Lyttelton and Dunedin and is scheduled to commence loading for her homeward voyage at Timaru on November 1. The other loading ports have not been announced. but she is to be dispatched from New Zealand for London. via Panama, toward the end of November. WORLD FLEET STILL GROWING.— Every year Shipowners look to the carefully compiled figures of Lloyd’s Register to ascertain the position of the world’s tonnage, and it will be seen from the summary of these statistics that the tonnage continues to increase out of all proportion to the trade available. After deducting the tonnage broken up, all of which was, of course, obsolete, and the vessels lost, the steamers and motorships of the world show an increase during the past 12 months of no less than 1,892,111 tons gross, which means an enormous addition to the world’s carrying capacity. Since 1914 the tonnage of steamers and motor-ships has grown by 19,755,000 tons, namely, from 45,404,000 to 65,159,000 tons, equal to an increase of 43£ per cent., whereas the increase in the 14 years from 1900 to 1914 was 23.934,510 tons, equal to 103 per cent. It is interesting to note that, during the five years 1909 to 1914. the world increase (8.931.000 tons) amounted to 24i per cent, of the tonnage owned in 1909, during the five 3'ears 1923 to 1928 the increase (2,824,000 tons) was only equal to just over 41 per cent of the world tonnage at'June, 1923. the average yearly increase being less than 1 per cent.