SHIPPING NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 103, 2 May 1921, Page 2

SHIPPING NOTES

UNION COMPANY'S NEW VESSEL

reduotio'n in wages,

trnlU t«R OWN CORRE9FONIINT.)

LONDON, 24th February. Shipping companies have received a message from .Washington announcing that the officials of the Shipping Board are hopeful that the marine unions will voluntarily accept' a 25 per cent.., reduction in pay and elimination of overtime, which are considered essential if the American merchant service is to be put in a. position to compete with foreign ships, and the withdrawal from operation of a large number of vessels is to be avoided. At a conference at Washington of representatives of' the deck' officers, engineers, seamen, firemen, and stewards, it was agreed to present the situation to the unions. While the leaders are reticent and have refused to commit themselves, officials in-Washington believe that moet of the reductions, 'if not all1 of them, will bo' adopted without controversy. The present contracts with the unions expire on Ist May. UNION COMPANY'S NEW OIL TANKER. The Union Steamship Company's new oil tank steamer, Orowaiti, has just been launched without ceremony at Greenock ! Dockyards, on the Clyde. The vessel, which is a converted cargo steamer, has a. length of 406 ft, a breadth of b^iffcy and a depth of 30ift, with a dead-weight carrying capacity of 10,000 tons on a draft, of 30ft. It is expected that the Orowaiti will be ready to sail for th» Pacific coast of America by the end of March, where sire will be employed in connection with the oil fuel supply of the steamers Niagara, Makura, Tahiti, *nd Marama. ACCOMMODATION FOR SETTLERS. No-attempt Eas-been made to patch up the shipwrights' strike, which has now been in progress for a considerable time The result is that European ports are getting the benefit of ,the jpinery work which shipping companies find" it necessary to have ' done. The Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company's steamer, Waimana, which the company placed at | the disposal of the Overseas Settlement Committee, had to be sent to Rotterdam to be fitted with passenger, accommodation for the trip. As showing v the change that'has taken place recently in regard- to accommodation for intending1 settlers, the Mahana, which might' have been used for this purpose, had to sail for New Zealand without passengers, as the Government of the Dominion instructed the High Commissioner at the last moment not to send settlers by this vessel. At present the shipping companies are) in >a position to take out as many immigrants as the Dominion is in a position to absorb. , SH t ORT HOURS AND EMPTY SHIPS. It is stated in the annual report adopted at the meeting of the meeting of- the Liverpool Steamship Owners' Associa* tion that under prevailing conditions it is taking five ships to do the work that was performed by four in" 1913. -Attention was drawn to the disastrous manner in, which available carrying power had failed to be used in the overseas trade .of the , United Kingdom ; the ship power available is sufficient to dea£. with a larger volume of overseas traffic than in 1913; but last year in the overseas commerce of, the United Kingdom imports were 19, and exports 56 per cent, in weigh below those dealt with, in 1913. The shortening of hours of work throughout 'inland ■ transport services had lessened by 20 per cent, the carrying power of ships using ports of the United Kingdom, and the aggregate annual loss exceeded 10,000,000 tons." "It is evident," says the report, "that the consequences of revising the hours of labour without first securing by other means the maintenance of the flow of traffic were never realised either by the men employed or by the nation at large." The report further strongly criticised Government, control, on the ground that our overseas trade is being crippled thereby. It showed that while there is more tonnage on the oceans than in 1913, overseas commerce sunk heavily. It demonstrated that the rise of wages, coupled with a reduction of work, is a condition which threatens disaster to the, nation. As tho association owns 25 per cent, of the British steam tonnage afloat (their h6lding is over five million tons gross), the report is one which must carry great weight. INTERNATIONAL CODE. Sir H. Jtuke, President of the tfrobate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court and of the Prize Court, has succeeded Sir John MacDonell as chairman of the Maritime Law Committee of. the International Law Association, and will take charge of the proceedings of that Committee at the Hague International Law Conference in September. Draft codes will be presented* by the Committee; for acceptance by all maritime nations affecting very important phases of shipping and commerce. ■ A draft international code on freight is already under, consideration, being the work of Maitre Leon Denisse, ; a French jurist.' The perplexed ques- ] tion of a shipowner's liability is dealt with. Another code will treat of a shipowner's liability in ■ respect of-th~e\ ship, and a third with the question of deck cargoes, for which there is an exj traordinary variation of practice at present throughout the world. It is pro- [ posed still to. have different rules for the varying conditions in different seas, but Ito make such rules applicable to all seaJ faring States. The. Board of Trade during the war ( relaxed'Sfnany of its rules, and on the whole it is believed that the modifications worked well. It has now Ito be decided whether the variations are to be allowed to continue or the former rules should be revised. .. ;. v THE BISMARCK AND IMPERATOR. The ex-enemy steamers Bismarck and Imperator have been disposed of by Lord Inchcape, acting on behalf Of the Reparation Committee, to the White Star Line and Cunard Company respectively. The Bismarck was in course of construction lat'Hamburg at the outbreak of war. She 'is of 56,000 tons gross, and is the largest steamer in the, world. When ready for sea she will no. doubt, be employed by tho White Star Line in the North Atlantic service, in association, with the Olympic, of 46,400 tons, and the Adriatic, of 24,500 tons gross. The Imperator, of 52,000 ton's gross, which now passes permanently into the control of the Cunard Company, has for some time been employed by this company in the North Atlantic service. She arrived at Southampton on 21st December, 1919, flyin" the British flag, and after considerable alterations had been effected has been engaged regularlyi in the service between Southampton or Liverpool and New York. She was built in 1912 for tho Harnburg-Amerika Line. NAVAL PRIZE FUND. The Naval Prize Tribunal (Lord Phillimore, Sir Guy Fleetwood Wilson, and Admiral Sir. T>. Sturdee) have given judgment in respect of the ships Oscar 11., Bernisse, and Elve, in connection with whioih tihe question had been raised whether the Treasury,',under sub-section 5, Part 11., of 'the schedule of the Naval Prize Act, 1918, should make the Naval Prize Fund liable for damages caused to the captured vessels by the negligence of the captors or for damages caused by the wrongful seizure of vessels under the orders of superior officers. Lor<} Philli--

more said the Court must declare that in the cases of all three ships the damages when ascertained — and it was hoped there would be no delay in ascertainment—would be a charge upon the Naval Prize Fund. \ As in previous cases, this declaration would be accompanied by an order, that the costs of counsel for' the fleet would be charged upon the fund. In these cases there was admitted negligence and error. In one of them a neutral' vessel was sunk in a collision, after she had been seized, through the bad navigation of a; British warship. In the other cases two-Dutch ships 'were ordered by the Admiralty to go to Kirkwall. One wjis sunk' and the other damaged by German submarine attack. The neutral shipowners-in all three instances preferred successful claims in the Prize Court. That meant that the damages should be paid by the Exchequer, and the tribunal, in construing a section in the schedule of the Naval Prize Act, 1918, has found the Prize Fund, not the Exchequer, to be liable for these '-'cost?, charges, and expenses."