BRITISH SHIPPING.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 December 1921, Page 5

BRITISH SHIPPING.

UNPRECEDENTED DEPRESSION. MANY VESSELS LAID UP. By Telegraph.-—Press Assn.—copyright. London, Dec. 7. At the meeting of the P. and O. Company Lord Inchcape said they were passing through a period of unprecedented depression and, in common with other shipping companies, had had a wretched year. Government control of coal caused enormous prices during the spring, then came the coal strike and the joiners’ strike, which drove ships to the Continent. They also bad to bear an enormous increase in wages afloat and ashore. Trades Union Wages Boards kept production costs so high that the world had been unable to purchase from us and steamers had been leaving Britain with only ballast cargoes and often not , even these. The greatly lessened demand for raw material made it increasingly difficult to find homeward cargoes. As exemplifying the scarcity of cargo the Peninsular branch last financial year dispatched eleven steamers capable of carrying 101,000 tons measurement of cargo. These had sailed with space for 68,000 tons unfilled. The board’s policy of late years in refraining from large increases of dividend would eventually prove to have been right. They had to realise war loan investments at a serious loss in order to pay for their ships. As the result of high wages, which had been slightly reduced, but were still much beyond what ship-owners could afford to pay, 650 British ships, of 1,117,092 tonnage, were laid up in the United Kingdom and probably as many hgain in ports outside the Kingdom. Consequently thousands of captains, officers, engineers and men were unemployed, while those remaining in employment were drawing pay much above the economic rate. These wages must come down if British shipping is to hold its own. Replying to a shareholder’s question Lord Inchcape said the credit balance (£683,405) included £381,000 transferred from the insurance account. The Orient Steam Navigation Company, after transferring £50,000 from the underwriting account, has a balance of £265,320 and declares a dividend of 12$ per cent, tax free. The company transfers £7440 to general reserve and carries forward £50,167. 9