BRITISH SHIPPING

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21228, 26 September 1940, Page 9

BRITISH SHIPPING

IMPROVED POSITION LOSSES MADE UP STATEMENT BY MINISTER (OlTiclal Wireless) RUGBY, Sept. 24 The Minister of Shipping, Mr R. Cross, reviewing the year’s war effort, stated: “British merchant vessels have unceasingly sailed the oceans of the world, liable to attack throughout by submarine, raider, mining, aircraft, and more recently E-boat. One might well have supposed that our position would be worse than that of the countries whose ships bolted to safety, but the fact is we have lost by enemy action only about oneeighth of our pre-war merchant fleet, and we have more tha'n made up this and every other loss. Captures, new building and transfers from foreign flags have brought us reinforcements in excess of our losses.

“The overseas supply position, and consequently the shipping position, has taken on a wholly different appearance. Timber, steels and alloys which formerly came from Scandinavia must now be carried from North America, and iron ore formerly derived from Sweden, Norway and France is fetched today from more distant sources. “Australian and New Zealand dairy produce takes the place of Danish and Dutch supplies. The workshops of the United States are turning out engineering products which m the past came from Belgium. Moreover, ships bearing the products of India and the Far East are no longer ordinarily routed through the Mediterranean, and the lcnger voyage round the Cape means that a larger number of ships is required to bring equivalent cargoes. “The scale of our shipping needs, therefore, is greatly augmented, but it is also a fact that the fortunes of war have brought us augmented shipping resources on a commensurate scale.

“Germany, by its inexcusable assaults on Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland and Belgium, put out of employment great quantities of tonnage which formerly served the commercial needs of those peaceful lands. The greater part of this tonnage now carries cargoes for the Allied cause and compensates for the greater distances which many supplies must now be carried.” Plenty of Food “A great fleet of British, Allied md neutral vessels is bringing to England between 4,000,000 and 5,000,000 tons of imports monthly (enough to meet essential needs), compared with a peace-time total of about 6,000,000 tons monthly. “Wc are beginning the second year of the war in a good position to feed the people and supply factories.”