The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1919. PROSPERITY DUE TO SHIPPING?

Taihape Daily Times, 13 October 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1919. PROSPERITY DUE TO SHIPPING?

With which 113 incorporated “The Taihape Post: and Waimarino Newa.”

The Manager of the New Zealand Shipping Company in -Wellington——a company, by the way, Whiph has no rights whatever to any such title, as i it completely parted with any claim to being in any way a New Zealand company when whatever New Zealand it had about it was sold to the great shipping combine—is reproaching farmers for wanting a line of State-owned ships. He says, “Politicians from farming localities .-are reviling the shipping companies,” which is only a little of the weld Satanic. suggestio falsi. It is not shipping companies farmers have occasion to revile, but it is the one great company that is endeavouring to ‘crush all- competitors which refuse to be dragooned into its vile ways. The Wellington manager told his story «of vilification by farmers to a social gathering of shipping staifs, hel-d a few nights ago. He told those shipping clerks and runabouts that the prosperity of. New Zealand was due to the present-day regular shipping lines; he rwould have evidenced some show of truth ‘had he said they were “irregular” shipping‘ lines, for, apart from outrageous profiteering freights, irregularity, and no ships at all are the irrefut--a.ble cause of the trouble, not only to farmers, but to every man,‘ woman, and child in the land. Had he, on the other hand, said that the prosperity of ; shipping companies was largely due tog New Zealand, he would have been un- I derstandable. Had not the combine locked up the ocean door to New Zea? land meat, and put the key in its eon- r scienceless pocket, while it entered in-I to arrangement with Meat Trusts to ex- I ploi.t European markets when meat was ‘ up to six shillings a pound, New Zea-‘ land would have indeed been prosper-N ous. But we, have no hesitation in} saying that the taking :of ships from; New Zealand and using them for trans- I porting American meat resulted in thel loss of many millions of pounds to New,‘ Zealand farmers, and now this servant‘ of the shipping combine has the auda-3 city to Virtually tell farmers they have no cause for complaint, and that theirj whole prospel'ity—if prosperity it is——-‘ is due entirely to the splendid wayl shipping companies have served them.‘ If the way of trusts and combines. is} not the. way of Prussian militarism ; it is so much like it that no -difiierence is discern-able. It would ‘be delight-l ful to see_ the devil posing as the 1 friend of humanity did the people not realise that his exhib'iti.on of cunning} was to cloud some other diabolicaljy business already in train. What is ‘ called the ofiice of the New Zealandt Shipping Company in Wellington, is of 3 little service to ‘the ‘Combine at the pre- I sent time, except, perhaps, to special ously explain why the New Zcalan-d Shipping Company has transferred its ships to South America, and so render New Zealand prosperous. When combines re-commence their eahnpaigns of. cunning it is time for farmers to be-f ware. There are not wanting signs that I the combine fears the State Shipping,proposals that are evident in -other quarters than in New Zealand, and that it has already started cajoling and cozening peoples into believing that the eom- I bine has sufiered terribly‘ by war losses, in rendering New Zealand prpsperous. The Wellington Manager even WCIII3 50 far as to say that shipping shares in some remote period of shipping‘ hiSfOTY were only Worth half-alcrown a share! We know,.however, of a shipping company which, during the war, made more profits in one year than the total of its D paid-up capital, but that was when ships belonging to the Combine Were making New Zealand prosperous, Farmers, and politicians from farming dis; tricts are not complaining about the loyalty of the New Zealand ShiPPing' companies to New Zealand in the 09-Tl)’ 1 days of their history, when it phidl them to be loyal. They are disgusted with the absence of loyalty during The war. when there would have been some virtue in their lovaltv. From experionce, it is presumable-that had it paid better in the early days to sell ships and leave New Zealand farmers isolated in the South Pacific Ocean, there would have been no loyalty to New Zcaland producers. What seems ‘obvious is that the shipping combine is about to launch a propagiurda campaign with a view to maintaining its interests at the forthcoming election of ‘Parliament; the combine sees danger in

members being elected who are p‘led~ged‘e

to a State shipping line. Tlierc is some mystery about the purchase of a refrigeratecl ship by Mr Lysnar, of Gisborne; it is not iinderstamlable howhe managed to heat the combine that belts the shipping world, for such a. ship. However, it will probably furnish the chief argument ‘against State shipping, for it will be shown that if a somewhat obscure. individual can go into the shipping business so easily, in fact, fairly fall into it, there is no occasion for the State to go into the business. It is beyond any doubt or question, it is an unanswerable fa"c‘f, that New Zeaiand’s welfare and progress is entirely, completely, absolutely dependent on’ a plentiful supply of ships; will the State, whose very life depends upon shiping, own their own ships and so render producers and people secure, and proof against the profitee.rin.g combines, or will the State again place this country and its people at the mercy of those who leave that by which they live to rot or dcterilorate in stores which they are compelled to build to ward off iminediate Csiszster? With 3. State shipping line, the minds of farmers and people will be at peace; with nothing but the Lysnar privately-owned ships, the welfare. prosperity, and peace of mind of farmers and -people will, it is abundantly_ deznrmstrated, be a secondary matter. A «State shipping line will settle tll"- shipping cliificulty ‘for all time, why play with the combine curse that is untrustworthy? The combine is at work with its propaganda, and it behovps farmers to he on the alert.