SHIPPING NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 85, 9 April 1924, Page 11

SHIPPING NOTES

FREIGHTS AND CHARGES

SCOTT'S DISCOVERY

(FROM OUK OWN COBRBSPONDENI.)' LONDON, 14th February. A visit to the city and a few conversations with commercial and shipping men reveal the chaos that can be brought about by strikes and rumours of strikes. Some 200,000 boxes of butter and 128,GOO crates of cheese have arrived by the Pakeha, Arawa, Eimutaka, Port Dennison, and Ruahine. The question this week is whether any of this produce will be available on the markets shortly, or will it all be held up by the threatened dockers' strike. Some of the vessels will be discharged by reason of a special effort on the part of the shipowners .before next Monday, the day for the strike to begin, but even if this is done, the cargo will be held up in the stores. FREIGHTS AND CHARGES. ; Tho opinion is expressed among the shipping companies trading with the Dominion that there will be little chance of any reduction in freight in the near mtuxo. It is considered that in present circumstances no further cuts can be made. Last year's reductions were made on the assumption that charges wera coming down, both here and in New Zealand and Australia. ' Hopes in this respect have not been realised, and the price of coal has been going up. Dockers are_ wanting more money, miners will oe asking for more presently, which will mean dearer coal; and probably sailors will follow .with a demand for increased rales or wages. Charges in New Zealand have not been appreciably reduced. Ihe C'orinthic, on her last stay in Dominion waters, had to pay out £23,000 in charges. In view of the good prices received for all kinds of produce, it would seem that any attempt to induce shipowners _to bring freights down still further will be met with strong resistance. ,-* U.S.S. COMPANY.^ Work on the Union Company's Aorangi is going- forward normally, and it is expected that the new internal combustion oil liner will be ready for delivery at the end of this' yea.r. Salvage operations on the Union Company's ill-fated/Armagh, which ran aground in the Mersey Channel, are still proceeding. The after-part of the vessel is now quite below water, but the forward portion is still dry enough for salvage work. No Board of Trade inquiry will be held into the reasons for the disaster, as the vessel was not a passenger-carrying one, but the Mersey Dock and Harbour Board, who take charge of such matters under an Act of Parliament, will, no doubt, require, to know tho miscalculations which brought the vessel aground while a pilot/ was in charge. RECONSTRUCTION OF THE DISCOVERY. The auxiliary barque Discovery, in which Captaiu Scott made a successful South Polar voyage, is in dry dock at Portsmouth, undergoing what amounts to reconstruction, in preparation for her use for scientific research work in South Georgian and South Shetland seas. The vessel's masts, machinery, and interior fittings were lifted out in the early stages of the work ; two-thirds of the keel is being renewed, the stem and stern are being practically rebuilt, and most of the timbers and much of the planking . are being repla-ced.' To discover oak for the iteei. representatives of the firm, who are reconstructing the ship (Messrs. Vosner I and Co., Ltd.) had a long search of Brit- I ish forests, and ultimately chose five trees from Northern Somerset, but:when ! these had been sawn up it was found they did not yield the necessary length and size of sound timber, and it was necessary to utilise Quebec oak. As the Discovery is an all-wood ship, some people may wonder why it was decided to rebuild her rather than to constructan entirely new vessel. The answer is that her immense strength and particularly suitable, design for work in ice-bound seas being considered, it is a much less costly and easier task to renew her than it would bo to build a new wooden vessel like her. Her speci-ally-protected bow, with powerfully 'buttressed" stem and raised stern, with hftmg rudder, and propeller, are ieatures in her construction, and for the new service to which she will be put h»isail plan will be remodelled, and her engines will be replaced. 'A "SUICIDAL" POLICY. At the annual meeting of the Society of Engineers, Mr. George A. Becks delivered his presidential address, in the course of which he discussed tho relations of the engineer with- the trader, frd-htl question of shipping ■ "Were it not so serious a matter to merchants, the present situation," ha said, would almost be a suitable topictor comic opera. The object of the shipping combme in this country appears to be, How much can we possibly squeeze out of the trader without his squealing too loudly.'"' Instead of proceeding of, the proper principle of maximum tonnage at minimum rates, they seemed to favour minimum tonnage at maximum rates. Such a doctrine if persisted in must speedily spell suicide ■by sta^naB/k meaDt- °f a B0"caU«» «Sate sj stem, the combine forced the shipner t? Pay additional freightage, and This they held as B kind of de J fl ' sit «-J™ 'good behaviour" on the part of the shipper. Such a system of organised hfeh freights was obviously detrimental to the development of our foreign trade It 'frequently forced the would-be purchaser of British material to zo to th« Continent where he could genfrally I tain what he required at a lower cost and where-the freight charges were lit' In some uwfenoes the identical shin itwhich 40s per ton was askwl ;™ w 1 j would carry* the materSlfc l^erp at a lower rate. Another anomaly of Imperial trade was furnished by the con dibon obtaining in Australia. c duty imposed by the Australian authori Ues in practice was almost a fatal bw to business with this country, and yet A as ° St&thfr trade should be . fostered, tf until'l more comprehensive and ™ " !• basis for business had been esHblkh ? httle practical progress in th a 'ji ectfon could be When merchant had to spend their own money in ™, 1 • material they were" obfige? £ Cinlh? cheapest markets without regard to Bur P ly patriotic considerations. Pc"