SHIPPING LOSSES.

Auckland Star, Issue 17, 21 January 1932, Page 19

SHIPPING LOSSES.

FALLING OFF IN FREIGHTS, IBIFOKTANCE OF RESERVES. AUSTRALIA MORE HOPEFUL. (By '1 olograph.—Press Association.) YV KLLING TON', Wednesday. "Shipping is a very sensitive barometer of any financial storms that may lie brewing, and along with other companics the Orient Line for some time has been fooling the effects of the depression," said Mr. Colin S. Anderson, London director of the Orient Line, in an interview. Passenger "services, lie said, had shown a deplorable falling off, and Australian cargo was only being carried one way owing to the almost complete cessation of imports into the country. Luckily, however, Australia this year produced almost record exports of primary products, which helped to make the position more cheerful for exporters. "Unfortunately," lie added, "the freights of most shipping companies lie in one direction. The falling off in the passenger trade applies not only to the Orient Line, but to shipping in general. For instance, the number of wealthy travellers across the Atlantic has dwindled to an alarming extent and shipping lines arc living on what prudence in the past enabled them to put by for an occasion such as this, which is a very good example of the necessity for all commercial concerns to have something in reserve." Mr. Anderson said people in Australia seemed to have gained confidence and become more optimistic. He hoped that meant the beginning of recovery from depression.