A SHIPPING RING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 204, 22 May 1908, Page 5

A SHIPPING RING.

VISIT OF A BRITISH TRADE COMMISSIONER. MR. BEN. H. MORGAN. Mr. Bon. 11. Morgan, secretary of the Manufacturers' Association of Great Britain, and an accredited special trado commissioner, is a visitor to Wellington at present. Mr. Morgan, who conies with letters from tho High Commissioner, has already waited on Sir Joseph Ward, and ho is to address tho Chamber of Commerco on Friday next. Interviewed by a Dominion reporter, Mr. Morgan said that ho was visiting New Zealand to sco what effcct tho new preferential tariff was having upon trado with ■ Great Britain, and as ho had only just arrived ho could not say very much on that point. What he was aware of, howover, was tho bxistcnfco in; New Zealand, as in Australia, of a shipping ring, which w.is detrimental to the best interests of British trade with tho Dominion. At present goods could bo imported from German or American ports via British ports at less rates than they , could bo imported from tho samo British ports v This was a condition of affairs that demanded immediate attention, not- only from tho point of view of tho British manufacturer, who was so unfairly handicapped, but in tho interests of the consumers in Now Zealand, who in tho end havo to pay those increased rates of freight. Goods could be imported from Hamburg (in Germany) by a steamer coming by way of London for a 20 per cent, less freight rate than could be got from London by tho lines now trading between the metropolis and New Zealand. Likewiso goods could bo imported from New York Via Liverpool for a lower freight rate than ~could be got from Liverpool itself, which means that the shipping ring_ is practically subsidising Gorman and American trado. A Baleful Influence. Mr. Morgan said he had been travelling through tho Commonwealth States, whero ho had referred to tho existence and baleful elfect of .tho shipping ring. That ring included all the-regular steamship companies doing businoss between Australia and Groat Britain, and was conducted on what was known as a deferred rebate .system under which the shipper was changed an additional 10 per cent, on his freight, which was returned to him at the end of sis or twelve months, provided ho did not ship goods by any other line except thoso included in tho ring. In this way tho shipping ring had got hold , of the whole of the import trade of Australia, and it was absolutely impossible for any other shipping company to enter the trade or promoto healthy competition in shipping matters. The whole of the trado was tied up in this rebate business, and firms everywhere had large sums tied up with these companies which they would loso if thoy shipped a ton of goods from Great Britain' by anothor lino of ships. Tho ring had raised rates .'and imposed other conditions of a-le-strictivo. character ' that greatly ; hampered British trade; as instanced in the differenco in freight rates from Germany and England, even though tho German vessels called at an English port on Toute.

Factory Establishment. Mr; Morgan lias been travelling in Australia not only in an endeavour to extend tho trado relations with England,- but with a viow to tho . possibility of establishing factories that will bo' subsidised by tl-o > i.cw tariff, for there was no doubt there vere many kinds of goods that are now impor!«l that would shortly be manufactured within tho Ho was to prosecute the samo inquiries in Now Zealand lfith a view io reporting to his Association on the prospects of establishing factories' for tho manufacture of goods within tho tariff.' We had iron, coal, timber, copper, a,nd raw matorials of all kinds ready to hand for tho manufactm cr, assuming other conditions to be favou.-allo. " English, not Corman or American." j "What I would'like to emphasise,", said. Mr. Morgan, "is that.if factories aro .to be •established they should be your own or, English, not Gernian or American! Another thing I have noticed already is that lots of goods_ are boing sold in New Zealand as British-mado that wo'know aro Germa.i or American goods, and this has been goia,? on for years and years. One case that has come under my notice is a certain brand of corrugated iron, which ha§. been sold for years as British, and.which has been ' mado in Germany ' always." Pianos being referred to, Mr. Morgan agreed that that was another line that was fredy misrepresented. They might be shipped from London, but in a great many instances they had been shipped there from Germany. No! Understood. Asked Hi to whether our labour legislation would not interfere with tho .proposal to •establish factories and industries in tho Dominion, Mr. Morgan hesitated to express an opinion, but he was emphatic in stating that tho experimental legislation indulged in had undoubtedly kept a great doal of capital and population out of New Zealand, not necessarily because the legislation was bad, but owing to its being now in principle, and its not being understood by the , people of the Old Country. Ho could not understand tho master being bound down while .the men seemed to have a free or at least tho uppor hand. It was not so in England, where ono might notico from time to timo trado unions being fined heavily for breaches .of awards. They had no Arbitration Act, but they had Conciliation and Arbitration Boards in connection with the' British Board of Trado, which set up a court to _ adjudicate in trade disputes on tho application of both parties.