THE SHIPPING PROBLEM.

Taihape Daily Times, 21 November 1917, Page 4

THE SHIPPING PROBLEM.

In a telegraphed statement, re-: ceived yesterday, Mr Massey does, not speak very hopefully 'on the Ship : ping problem. In - fact, he does not seem at allroptimi'stic about anything except that'‘he thinks that yields of produce should r ' be eqilal to those of last year. 1 There'is-a hitch in the payment for butter and cheese requisitioned b'yj the' Government which he thinks, will be got over so that those in the dairying industry will not seriously suffer.' Final details have not yet to with respect to the Imperial Government taking over the country’s surplus butter, and he showed that Auckland was complaining .-unjustifiably about Wellington having a : 'preponderance of shipping space. On the shipping problem, he remarked, it was-'impossible for him to say much; at present there is not much to complain about. The statement is not a very illuminating one, neither is it very comprehensive. Wo are inclined to the opini 0 n that Mr Massey did not mean that it was really impossible to say anything about that subject which is troubling our primary producers more than all others put any further than that at present there is little to complain about. We cannot conceive that the New Zealand Government is absolutely without information on the question of future shipping, and we are helped to this conclusion by what the Minister for Finance told his constituents a few days ago. He said there were a number of ships in sight , but, course, no one could say definitely what would happen. There may be some people who think producers should be allowed to go blindly on, but in all probability they would themselves prefer to know the worst s 0 that they might have an opportunity to do what is possible for them to avert as much loss as possible. In this district our farmers would probably add to the storage capacity at their freezing works- if there is any real danger 0 f extreme shipping conditions. All the Prime Minister says is that the only doubt rests around but just at present there is not much to complain about. Farmers in this district may view the Premier’s words in various degrees of importance, but they would undoubtedly be steering a safer c o urse by making certain of i adequate storage.