Taranaki Daily News. MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1915. SHIPPING FREIGHTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 December 1915, Page 4

Taranaki Daily News. MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1915. SHIPPING FREIGHTS.

In the House of Commons, last. Thursday, M.\ Balfour macle a statement relat.jve(,to, the,, difficulties,. in connection with shipping . matters owing to -thb war; and though lie. threv very little new light on the question he was obliged tq admit there had been a wastage of tonnage which, he said, an angel from heaven could not have eliminated. Probably commercial circles will not readily accept the impossibility of wastage,,for,though. Mr f Bajfo.ur contends in freights has been brought about by the demand outrunning' the supply, there is ho question but, that had the supply been C%ientjy qrganisetj and intelligently controlled it would have sufficed in the main. The Admiralty commandeereq all shipsj and, as a matter of course, not h.aving . ,any, experience of or sympathy with the needs of commerce, .concentrated its attention on the transport of troops, and supplies for the forces. As.aconsequence the mercantile marine vyas shorn of its ,nr,opSr,functions and it was only an insufficient number of vessels that were set free for carrying on, th!|.,.trade i of the It is little wonder that freights high level, and what makes matters worse is the fact that every delay diminishes, the.tonnage.available and increase's the freights, as ws)l',as, %e, cost.ojj the exported and imported goods. Had the iilunitiohs JSiil been passed it would have qpabled the .construction of merchant vessels a? part, pf .thfc war,, work,, but that would probably; not jiave brbugtii rci l "" 11 :illl towards the close of, or ppssil'" iHe'r, the war. At one time tho - . .St 'H&.V'-l IfT, li (>-i .Mini' , dearth of shipping: facilities seriously directed the dairying.aDd Jirofen, meat industries of the Dominion, but as tlii ( s wjiß found -to affect the supples for the British, fflrqes the ,cv,il was reijiedied t" an appreciable est-eni. . *c„is % distinct I misfortune that the Home authorities are,. so,. exjre'mely ; siow • in adapting themsejyea jio ij«w cppdiUbW, and that the tendency ,to .wastage Js, so,,,pronounced. TtTee different Departments of have lately h'ad a share in ihe pt.ntrol.of slppjjing the time the war.endß th^e„vsf H no,'gojiJ>t, have been evolved a fairly workable,syjiem., Meanwhile serious loss fias beep suffered, and aWnougn tiere Is at present a specially oMrganisM.|'rapsport0 M rganisM.|'rapsport Department, composed partly of shipping experts, the necessary facilities for cojooiperce are a long way below- par. Mr, asserts ,jt}iftl the Bofird of Trade is clos.qly watebj^g, British interests, to which everything, else is to be I sacriflc^d., These interests require moje ;^4 oWn tV%yf >l ? e^^P%!r !! 1 ?M il<l siimiiiating ,'nqw,. t)i'at,|Ae. ( perniaii Jiaa'been driven from the. seas. , maintains that Germany .is a. beaten ia I ' 3 s ."', ,iS3 to see that she does not her head; again after the- war.--.-It is also Britain's duty to see that the commerce of the Empire is not penalised by excess-ye freights and irregular services, nni, It' \t. time than an intelirgent effort pijcei v^Pr ßSj>i^ii^oJ.^his, # i!:.ru;; pireon-a Jflptjng,'thai yg\ and this can only be done on commercial lines. 1 UOWIAM'/jn -v-.i ''