The Daily News. MONDAY, MAY 14, 1917. THE SHIPPING PROBLEM.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 May 1917, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, MAY 14, 1917. THE SHIPPING PROBLEM.

In a recent statement made by Viscount Curzon lie aaid that the Government recognised the submarine menace was formidable, but, in the calculations made', the allowance for wastage of British shipping was greater than what had taken place, He added that personally he did not think the submarine menace would so greatly diminish shipping as to affect the ultimate issue of the war. At the same time he thought that compulsory rationing ought to be introduced. In a subsequent statement, which was made in the House of Lords on Thursday last, Viscount Curzon quoted figures which fully bear out his previous contention, and considerable interest attaches to these figures. - In June 1914 the Empire's shipping over one hundred tons gross consisted of 10,124' ships of a total capacity of 20,523,000. In December, 1910, there were 9757 ships totalling 18,700,000 tons, and the accuracy of these figures is verified by reference to Lloyd's Shipping Register which gives the total tonnage of British and Colonial vessels as at July 1, 1910, as 20,901,999 tons, thus showing the losses between July and December. The remarkable point concerning the world's shipping is that before the war the British proportion was 45.3 per cent., while in December, 1916, it was 45.2 pqr cent. Referring to vessels of over sixteen hundred tons, Viscount Curzon pointed out that prior to the war there were 3900 vessels totalling 16,900,000 tons (more than half the world's tonnage), while at the end of March of the present year there wer* 3500 vessels amounting to almost sixteen million tons, so that with an output of three million tons annually, as provided for in the Government's scheme, Britain will be in a better position as regards shipping than was the case before the war. Of course, the figures do not alter the fact that the U boatß have taken a large toll on the world's shipping and that the loss is being more or less acutely felt. The recent German claim that over a million tons of shipping were sunk in five weeks evidently allows a considerable margin for German imagination. The Shipping Controller (Sir J. P. Maclay), at the end of last month, announced that the output of steamers of over one hundred tons during the six months ended December 31 last •was less than the estimate, but the output for the March quarter exceeded it, being at the rate of over a million tons a year. The three types of standard ships now being contracted for are approximately 5000, 3000, and 2000 tons, so that seven ships of 2000 tons are being built instead of one of 14,000 tons. Probably the most truthful prt)nouncement that has emanated from Germany was that submarine activity was at its zenith, and we may confidently expect to watch its descent towards zero when the antidotes provided by Britain and America are in full 'going order. Germany's object was to starve Britain into submission, but instead of that she lias roused British, America and Japan into unprecedente 1 activity in the output of ships as well as in the destruction of submarines. Mr. Lloyd George's latest utterance on the subject was that there was "no fear of starvation in Britain. Wo shall be self-supporting in 1918." That is Britain's answer tp the U boat campaign. American shipbuilders intend to strain every nerve to retain the business they are now gaining. For the ten years prior to the war, the total average output of American shipping was only 250,000 tons, but no less than 1,500,000 tons of vessels were under contract in American shipyards in November, 1916, the total output for the surrent year being estimated at a million tuns. In November last the president of the Society of Naval Architects and Marino Engineers of the United States <;s* timated the normal tonnage of the world this yepr at about fifty million tons, of which, up to that time five million was taken as destroyed, twelve million commandeered, four and a half million interned, making a total withdraw of 21,400,000, leaving only 57.2 per cent, of the normal tonnage available, hence the high freights and the necessity for economy so that absolute necessities may be carried over seas. The utilisation of the German interned ships will be of material assistance, but it is oh■vious that for some time to come it

will bo necessary to eliminate the carriage of all but essential goods, and the day for cheaper freights is yet some ivay oft'. Mr. Lloyd. George considers that Britain will be self-supporting in 1918, one of the great factors being intensive cultivation. This and other lessons of the war will he some palliation of the many sacrifices the struggle has entailed.