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The Daily News. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1916. SHIPPING FREIGHTS.

Sir James G. Wilson mentions in a letter to the Taranaki Farmers' Union executive that a saving of Id per lb- on wool and cheese would represent £1,P00,000, and that in two years the farmers could from this saving have a fleet of second-to-none, up-to-date cargo steamers. There is no doubt that the shipping Companies are improving the shining hour to an extent uhdrenmed of, and still they are not satisfied. Were it not for the fact that another company, a small one unfortunately, outside the combine was prepared to c-ary the wool at 2%d per lb., the monopolists would have imposed a rate of 3d, thus bleeding the sheep-owrnjn of an extra £375,000. It is interesting to note how the rates have jumpej since the war. Wool has risen from to 2%d (scoured wool to 2y s d); hemp and tow from 839 to 2605, tallow from 40s to 120s, pelts from 4,"is to 130s, hides from 40s to 130s, kauri gum from 42s Gd. to lOos. Meat and dairy produce are carried under different conditions—the Board of Trade having requisitioned tiie insulated space, controis it and fixes the rates. Butter is carried ' at 3s Sd a box, as compared with 2s 6d before the war; cheese at -'lii, as against '/.d per lb. Inward cargo charges show corresponding increases. It is no exaggeration to say that, since the war the shipping companies have j taken from the Dominion an extra five t millions to six millions a year. It is e an outrageous increase, and the wonder e . ' is that the producers have not before this made stronger objection and taken definite action with a view to controlling shipping when normal times arrive. Of course tonnage is short just now 'because of the withdrawal of the GermaiJ fleet from trade, and the requisitioning by the Admiralty of an enormous amount of tonnage for war purposes, and the shipping interests have therefore been able to charge pretty well what they like, but it does seem anomalous that a country whose 5 trade amounts to the stupendous total of Ifty-six million sterling should be at the mercy of a combine the capital value of whose ships essential to the trade of New Ijjealand cannot be much more than three million sterling. Why, instead of saving the three millions in two years, as mentioned by Sir James Wilson, the producers would t save the amount in hal£-a-year, for it - has to be remembered that though the ® increase in the transit of inward merchandise is not paid for directly by the . producers it is so indirectly. So when 1 it is stated that the farmers are = waxing fat upon the "war profits" they are receiving it must he remembered

that they are also bearing this very heavy loss of from five to m\- million sterling, as well as other burdens. Produceiv should not 'be content with raising; ilieir voices in protest; they should; take action with a view to freeing themselves as soon as possible from the toils of the commercial octopi. The Stratford farmers have made a suggestion in this connection. They recommend that every dairy company, freezing company, and farmers generally instruct the Government to put on an export tax on all the principal products in order to collect an'amount of £3,000,000 to be used in the purchase of ships, for the purpose of crushing the combine. We don't know -eiiat this is the best way of raising the money, hut the idea behind it is l'iglit, and that is the main thing. Fanners must in future control their own ships iind not be at the mercy ot greedy shipping rings. The dog must control his own tail; at present the tail is wagging the dog—and very vigorously at that.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19161028.2.22

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, 28 October 1916, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
639

The Daily News. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1916. SHIPPING FREIGHTS. Taranaki Daily News, 28 October 1916, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1916. SHIPPING FREIGHTS. Taranaki Daily News, 28 October 1916, Page 4

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