The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE MONDAY, JUNE 4, 1917. SHIPPING COMBINATION

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 4 June 1917, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

MONDAY, JUNE 4, 1917. SHIPPING COMBINATION

(With which is incorporated The Taihape Post and Waiinarino News).

It is amy quite understandable why"; shipping is carrying to the British mar.l 'Jsct Trust's buyers in preference "to"' that required for the army and navy. We now know that the shareholders in thj.\i Union Shipping Company are selling this country's proudest achievement,and turning its sea traffic over to the shipping monoply. The Union, Gpnipany; was purely a New Zealand company, having its birth in Dunedin, nurtured and supported by New Zealandors until it reached its present importance and dimensions; but greed again'has resulted in thi scountry being sold to k* monopoly which cares no more for'New 1 Zealand than it docs for any- other 1 ' corner of .the world to where its sels, ply. There was £Ood 'caifsii T for* alarm and criticism on a realisation by meat circles that only our owe : fcutton and lamb, which trust buyers were 1 payjs ing .so much above Government'- pi ice-.' for, were finding a place on-Chip's to Britain, and that wether feifittdh Wat*--" being left to congest'storage.* UvMeaVl producing circles now realise tlie»-dan-ger ahead and they a're alarmed;- they* see and know what i& 'tiy result ■-MonTi playing with the trust who like*#Ce or cant sharpers, allowed their victims to | win just enough to lure them on at the commencement. The Meat Trust and the Shipping Tnust will very soon disclose that they have very more important interests to serve and that : New Zealand is only to be used in the service of those interests. Watin the aid!; of the' shipping monopoly .-the Meat Trust is now free to start upon crushing out everything" thatJtfpposcs their operations; this is only avoidable in two ways/eif Ken the State. the shipping business, or producers and importers -WBP havo : their" own shipping line. The State shipping idea is distinctly the best course now open for staving off"-the-trust,intentions, as the State cloud by the powers possessed in War Regulations retrieve the position ' at "once, immediately relieve-th* tension and enable our," producers to again breathe fredy. Whereas to,establish a Farmer^'Shipping Company would take considerable time. With the obstacles W;tke monopoly would put in our farmers"' Wily* it fright bo a matter o£ years"Trcforo. an adequate number "of were'- got" together, that could' render" that effective and efficient service such as the country's export need's, were gdfr together. We may at once realise that New Zealand is wholly dependent on foreign shipping; that-the lfc'st support our .producer had is sold to the shipping monopoly and they and their produce are virtually .old with it At least that is the true position unless immediate ac"i„n is taken by our Government. It is, 0 f course, too late in the day to form a farmers' or any other company to .vert the corning disaster, therefore the very utmbet effort should at once be made towards making the Union Conv panv into a State company before th Ledgn purchasers get possession. The Chairman of-the Farmers' Union Conference, in his opening address, said "a serious difficulty is the shortage of shipping, which is Jflafly affect the

value of our exportable surplus to a great extent. The Union intends holding a conference at which the formation of a shipping company will be discussed " He further stated, "The Shipping Combination and the Meat Trust require careful consideration. It may be that this country will have to go through a period of depression before an abiding peace is secured. ' ' Although the Chairman of the Conference was not then fully cognisant of shipping developments, he foreshadowed what must happen if the Meat Trust and Shipping Combination got possession He saw that a wave of depression would sweep over this country from its •producers falling into the hands of commercial philujtin.es. The remedy he mentioned, the formation of a Farmers' Shipping Company, is no longer serviceable; the disease has taken on a more virulent form. There is but' one specific now, and that is for the State to step in and say to the Union Shipping Company shareholder, "You shall not sell the shipping service this country has built up and hand over its produj- | cers to any shipping ring." Luckily, the Government has the ideal weapon ready !to hand in its War Regulations. It has I the opportunity that no previous GoI vernment has been given of determining that New Zealand shall be kept for New Zealanders, and that this country and its people shall not be passed over into Shipping Combination and Meat Trust slavery. To take over under the "War Eegulations would mean an extension of the proposal suggested by Mr. James Smith, of Taihape, to the Farmers' Conference the other day, when he pointed out that this country was subsidising ships for carrying our oversea mails to the extent of twelve thousand pounds, and urged that this sum should be capitalised by the State and a State line of shipping instituted. If Mr. Smith had been in possession of facts that, have since come to light he could not have urged a more common-senso and effective method of dealing with that supreme difficulty. With the liter information that New Zealand is to go body and soul into the control of shipping and meat combinations, what will Mr. Smith and those who supported his views now say and do. It is undoubt-. edly time for action, quick action; ;every effort will be strained by emissaries of the trusts to.cause,delay in action; tQ/fljqole and hoodwink our people ;till the. contract is signed .which will ren der place', our, very^worstlnfluences' ''pat can ' possibly 'overtake i them. WaPn¥s been Uleclar-' 'ed upon irio v nstry J .-Wi i lI faiV 'mers fign^°or'kniiclil( i '-'dowh. to the slavery that is as certain to come -as that they'' exist if n'oi steps arej taken to eompel'-thc State to come; rescue? l -' I] ' :i '--''■••' '• • noi;c.j; r. ■*;-, ~ .