The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 1933. NEW SHIPPING CONTRACT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 205, 31 August 1933, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 1933. NEW SHIPPING CONTRACT.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance k For the future in the dfstance, And the good that we can do.

A reduction of £300,000 has been made by tho shipping companies on a freight bill of £.4,250,000 for the carriage of New Zealand meat and dairy produce. It appears a small concession. This Dominion is committed for three years under the new contract to pay rates which are still far in excess of those paid before the war, and is denied the assistance of cheap sea transport which is necessary at the present level of prices. British shipping on most of the routes of the world is to-day carrying freights at less than pre-war cost, and this gives foreign countries a substantial advantage in competition with New Zealand producers. Yet the trade between here and Britain is one of the most attractive from the shipowners' point of view. It is on an organised basis which makes it possible to arrange sailings to advantage, and competition iis reduced to a minimum. Although outward freights have been light, and steamers have had to come out in ballast, or with only light cargoes, that is not a peculiarity of the New Zealand trade, but applies on many routes. The shipping companies, however, have been able to use it as an argument in the recent negotiations. Another factor which continues to be a hindrance to the shipping business is the practice of loading at small coastal jDorts. Too much time is wasted in New Zealand waters, and the added cost recoils on the heads of producers, causing an annual loss which must run into a large sum. This is a problem which has never been fully investigated, and it is essential that the whole system of coastal, road and rail transport should be properly co-ordinated so as to reduce freight costs.

This, however, does not entitle the shipping companies to charge on their present scale. Homeward cargoes are growing every year, and the risks of loss to the companies are less than before the war. Also shipping costs have been cut down. A reduction of 7.05 per cent in freights is slight compared with the price slump, and it has been slow in coming. New Zealand deserved more, after the highly profitable contract to the shipping companies, which has just expired. But if the exporters have little cause for satisfaction, the importers have none, for the rates on cargo from Britain are held presumably at the old level, which is a serious drag on trade. The impression given by the new contract is that the shipping companies have proved themselves the stronger side in the negotiations, and that the control boards should prepare to act more vigorously, if necessary, well before the expiry of the new contract.