FREIGHTS RISING

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2878, 16 September 1916, Page 10

FREIGHTS RISING

ACTION OF THE SHIPPING COMPANIES POSITION OF IMPORTERS

The news that tlie representatives of the shipping companies, sitting iu conference in Cliristchurch, have decided that oversea freights are to be increased again, has eausod more concern among importers than among exporters. The charges to be made for the carriage of frozen meat and dairy produco from New Zealand to the United Kingdom are fixed by the British Board of Trade, which controls the available refrigerating space. Exporters of wool, tallow, skins, etc., have to make their, own arrangements, nnd doubtless they will protest against tho proposed increases. But apparently they will not be seriously prejudiced by extra freight charges while the prevailing high prices are maintained on tho London market.

Importers are in a less comfortable position. They are already payiui high prices for their goods in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, and the freights, coupled with war insurance, make tho landed cost of many lines very far in excess _ of the. pre-war prices. The burdeii is passed on to the consumers by the retailers, and helps to account for the increased cost of living. An addition to the freight charges at the present time, state the importers, is bound to he reflected in tho retail prices, which have already produced manv protests from the general public. One local importer stated yesterday that increased freights would impose an additional handicap on the British manufacturers as compared with their trade rivals, owing to tho distance of Now Zealand from the United Kingdom. Shipping men to whom the matter was mentioned by a DomikioX reporter yesterday, said that the companies really had no option in the matter. Freights had risen all over the world since the last cliango was made in the New Zealand _ rates, and tho competition for shipping space was so keen that an attempt to maintain tho old rates in this country would simply accentuate the 'difficulty created by shortage of shipping. Steamship owners would lie hound to send their vessels where the best rates were offered, an/1 New Zealand would suffer accordniilv. "Tlie Australian States are bidding against us strongly for shipsaid one agent yesterday, "and thero is no sign of any slackening in that Quarter. The ships purchased by the Federal Government aro moving the accumulation of wheat and they cannot he said to have affected the general position materially. It has to he remembered that for a ship outwards from the United Kingdom tho voyage to New Zealand is just about the longest that can be undertaken, and with the present extraordinary demand for shipping space, tho extra time involved is a matter of very great moment to owners. The truth is simply this: New Zealand must attract shipping or it will not get it. We have got to make the vovago to New Zealand a-s profitable as the vovago to Australia, or to South America."

The now rates, it .is 'understood, Ji.'ivo been 'discussed tentatively. bnt they will not bo fixed until exact' information is available ' concernin" thn intentions of tho" Australian "shipowners. Tho. rates for tho Australian trade during the present season have not yet been announced, though it is known that increases are intended.