The Auckland Star: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1904. BRITISH AND FOREIGN SHIPPING.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 250, 19 October 1904, Page 4

The Auckland Star:

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1904. BRITISH AND FOREIGN SHIPPING.

WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED Zty ©jHtirtjj firing, iSlotrring firms mh «ZThf Gcha. .' ■ ■■ for the cause that laclcs atstitan-ce. For the wrong that needs resistance. For the future in the distance. And tho good that we can do.

The decision of the South African Inter-colonial Conference with reference to the practices of certain shipping rings which now control 'the African trade should be cordially endorsed by all interested in Imperial commerce. One of the chief objects for which the Conference was called was to discuss the methods and the scale of freights adopted in the South African maritime trade, and the report of the Conference so far as it has been published should be good news to those merchants and exporters who have been fighting for some time against a crushing monopoly. The xing which now practically monopolises the shipping between British ports and South Africa has not only run up freights to an extortionate level, but it has instituted a. scale of charges that enables goods shipped from American ports to get to the Cape Colony at proportionately lower rates than goods from England. From both points of view the action of the ring is injurious to British trade, and the Conference has certain measures by which it may b<. "counteracted. The Government is advised to call for tenders for the shipment of all its stores, and to consider the question of .financially assisting. the: lines not included in the ring. Special notice is directed to the present unfair differentiation in favour of American goods; and if the Conference does nothing else it should produce a beneficial effect by calling the attention of the Imperial Government to the urgent need for considering the interests of Imperial commerce and protecting it against any form of unfair or illegitimate competition. We P need hardly remind our readers that the question raised by the Conference has a very direct application to this colony. It is well known that the freights charged from England to New Zealand by the large shippiug companies which practically monopolise our carrying trade are in many cases exorbitant. As the scale of charges was much lower when the3e companies were > actively competing against one another —and shipping companies do not make a practice of carrying goods at a dead loss —we may reasonably infer that the immensely higher rates iiow charged are considerably in excess of what shippers might- reasonably be expected to pay. It goes without saying that extortionate transport charges mean a serious loss to the trade which has to submit to them. But there is more in this pian a superfluous burden entailed upon our British import trade. "We have frequently pointed out that the shipping . lines trading with these colonies differentiate between Germany and England to the serious detriment of British commerce. Without repeating figures wliich have been often quoted, we may say that several British lines actually charge less to carry goods from Hamburg via London to Ne-w Zealand than to carry the same class of goods from London to this colony direct. The facts are undeniable; for the Chambers of Commerce of Glasgow and Birmingham—not to mention the Auckland Chamber of Commerce—have called the attention of the English Board of Trade to them and urged that steps should be taken to prevent this unfair and unwise differentiation in favour of German trade. With competition so -ieen as it is to-day in all branches of commerce, a very .small difference in freight charges in favour of any rival nation may meau irreparable injury to our loipeivial trade; and we hope that the warnings of the South African Conference may effect more in the way of reform than the urgent representations already made on this question to the Imperial authorities by many influential bodies both in England and the colonies. If once the Imperial Government understands the scope and scale of this question, it is difficult to believe that it will absolutely refuse to interfere. It is admitted in most countries that to differentiate in favour of any special commodity or trade in the matter of transport charges is to confer an utterly unfair advantage Upon it to the serious loss of all its competitors. In America, differential scales «r special

concessions on railways are rigidly forbidden by law under heavy penalties.! Yet British shipping companies are allowed by England to penalise British trade to the direct profit of America. • Of. course . the "argument used by the companies which indulge in these practices is that they desire to compete with German and American companies, and that as these' are in many cases heavily subsidised, they have to cut down their own scale of charges to hold- their ground. This is probably a strong argument in favour of a system of Government subsidies to British lines competing with subsidised foreign shipping. But it should certainly not be accepted as an excuse for penalising British trade -either by exorbitant freights or by differential charges in favour of the foreign producer. As far as New Zealand is concerned, what we regard as the only fair principle of maritime commerce is embodied in our navigation laws. We have no objection to foreign competition so long as it is carried out on equitable terms; but we refuse to allow foreign sliips to trade on our coasts unless they will accept the industrial conditions enforced in our own mercantile marine. We think that the same principle should apply to Imperial trade; and certainly it is a direct negation of the whole theory of Imperialism that we should treat rivals and foreigners better than we treat those of our own race and name. Now that the South African Conference has spoken out decisively on this.subject of preferential freights,. it -would be well for our own Government to take steps to represent its views on the question as far as it affects our own over-sea trade with the' United Kingdom.