WEST OF ENGLAND SERVICE.

Evening Star, Issue 12766, 20 March 1906, Page 8

WEST OF ENGLAND SERVICE.

THE ALLEGED SHIPPING COMBINE. [Special to the Stab.] WELLINGTON, March 20. In shipping circles the Premier’s reference at Geraldine to the breakdown of all attempts to get a wider sphere of distribution for our products has created a considerable flutter. I have come across some gentlemen who worked themselves into a state which can only be described as “ropeable.” The ‘Post’ has “elucidated the trouble ” by making inquiries in various directions, and has seen, in actuation, several representatives of the shipping interests. First, the ‘Post’ says of itself: “In conclusion, it is alleged that steamers saibng under the auspices of the American Shipping Combine will load in New York for New Zealand via London at a lesser freight than goods are at present carried between l.ondon and New Zealand. At London the freight so consigned will be transhipped into British steamers carrying Britbh • oods, and American exporters will thus be. ,iven a preference over British manufacturers and others on through rate freights from New York. To give a supposititious •ase; Where British exporters would be paying, say, 25s per ton from London to .Vellington, American exporters, by shipping from New York and transhipping at . ondon, would have their goods landed at the colony at a cost of, say, 20s or 22s 6d per ton. It is difficult at first to grasp !iow all this affects the Federal Company, who have contracted with the Government o carry the produce of this country to West of England ports. The Federal Com-, pany, it should be explained, run a regular service between New York and New Zealand. The Perthshire is at present in port with a big cargo from New York; consequently the reduced through freight from New York to New Zealand via London by the combine boats forms a good line of iltack on the Federal Company. This Company’s elimination from the AmericanNew Zealand trade would give their adversaries a clear field and no competitors, and by lessening their profits in this direction it is hoped to squeeze the concern ont of the West Coast trade, not because the other hipping companies concerned desire to take up the running, but because they are desperately anxious to have the export trade entred in London. A reduction in harbor lues, etc., would follow, and the only person who would suffer would be the prolucer, who, after all, is the individual most concerned in this business and the one most leserving of protection. In a word, therefore, the Federal Line, if compelled to relinquish the West Coast trade, would be on level terms with the other shipping companies, and produce for tho West of Fngland would have to go to London, and be distributed by rail.” Then the ‘Post’ gives the views of Mr Wallace, of the Federal Company. That entleman said his company had to meet unfair competition. They did not oject to ompetition, but there was something in the present movement which placed it outs de ordinary business rivalry. Why should American exporters be given a preference over British? The Federal Company receive no subsidy from the Government for maintaining the West Coast service. Certainly they receive a little in the way of carrying Government cargo, but that is comparatively little. Mr Wallace claims that Manchester is the natural port for Bradford, and as such, all wool from New Zealand should go through that port, but it does not. If the information, remarks the ‘Post,’ our reporter obtained in the course of his inquiries is correct, and there is good reason for believing that it is, the railway freight from Manchester to Bradford is about 15s, from London to Bradford it is about 22s 6d. The saving to producers by shipping through West of England ports is perfectly obvious. But this discrepancy was promptly met,, eo it is alleged, by a clever move on the part 0 f the companies trading to London direct. It is stated they made good the difference in the cost of railage by reducing their charges by 7s 6d per ton, and so withheld from the Federal Line cargo which that company claim rightly belongs to them. The whole matter is one which deeply concerns producers in this country. Mr Wallace declares that the West of England service will be maintained in spite of all opposition. “ We commenced running,” he said, “ and we intend to stay. Our complaint is that American exporters will be given a preference over British manufacturers, and secondly, that the interests of the New Zealand producer will be indirectly jeopardised by the success of any such movement.*’ Thus, briefly, the foregoing is the case for the company put by those interested. Inquiries in other quarters confirmed the allegation that some sort of preference is given American exporters from New York by the American Shipping Combine boats, but where it begins and ends was not so readily ascertainable. The point was nraed that if the shipping companies trading 0 to New Zealand did not take New York cargo shipped to New Zealand via London under preferential treatment, the German boats trading to Australia would absorb the trade. The employment of this argument, however, did not carry with it an admission that preference was accorded American exporters as against British in the manner suggested in the first part of this article. Mr Arthur Pearce, of Levin and Co., agents for the Shaw, Savfil and White Star Lines, stated to onr reporter that the White Star boats running in conjunction with the Shaw, Savill and Albion vessels are working under a long-standing agreement, which places them absolutely outside' the control of the American Combine so far as their miming is concerned. Mr J. H. N. A. Bums, local manager for the New Zealand Shipping Company, was also seen regarding the allegation that certain companies bad agreed to defray the difference in the cost of railage between Manchester and Bradford and London and Bradford. He said he knew nothing of it. The companies had certainly agreed to charge a through rate to Bradford of 15s from Hull, but this was done after the Federal I ine had initiated it from Manchester. Mr Bums said he had seen some mention in the papers of preference for American exporters, but knew nothing of it directly. He had not noticed any cargo from New York via London coming to New Zealand by his company’s boats. The suggestion that an attempt was being made to terminate the West of England trade because other hi" companies doing business with New Zealand did not care to enter it themselves was scouted as ridiculous. The impression was gained that the companies are not averse to a West of England service, and would be prepared to run it under favorable terms. THE PREMIER AND MONOPOLIES. Speaking at Geraldine on Friday night on the above service;'the Right Hon. the Premier is reported as follows—“In America there promised to be serious .trouble so far as relations between Capital and Labor were concerned. He thanked God that the conditions prevailing in America did not prevail here. But the' American monopolies were beginning to be felt in the colony, and would have to be dealt with. The Government had entered into a contract far the carriage of Near Zealand' pro-

ducts with what was known as the West Coast of England Steamship Service, For years the, farmers of the colony had suffered the area oyer which the frozen meat and dairy produo? were distributed in England was limited to the districts in and around London. In 1897 he strongly endeavored to widen the sphere of operations, and later on he-submitted: what was known as Seddou’s mutton shops scheme in Great Britain. He was blocked by interested parties, but his suggestion had been taken advantage of by a private company, which took the place of the colony, and which had opened tne shops, and in two years had cleared over £50,000. The colony had been gradually surrounded by the different competing countries, and had been driven into a narrow limit in respect to the produce of the colony. To counteract that the Govern- - ment established the West Coast Service to get the products of the colony sent direct to Manchester and other cities. Now he found a shipping combination trying to break down that service which took the contract, and the most recent information that had reached him was that there was to be no more return cargo given to the Federal Company, which was considered to have injured the White Star Line and other companies associated with it. That was how the colony, was to be' punished. The other companies, so it was said, were going to compete via London, and were going to give American exporters an advantage over the British exporters in the same steamers, and were not going to give any cargo to the West Coast Service. He said the people of the colony were not to be played with, and rather than New Zealand should be under the heel of any American combine, he would ask Parliament and the people to give the Government their own steamers, and they would then take the colony’s produce to London themselves.—{Applause.) The Government conld easily charter vessels, and, if necessary, out of the next three-quarters of a million surplus, they could start their own line.—(Applause.) He admitted that the direct lines had done good service to the colony, and at a time when the people were not in apposition they were to-day, but when the American Combine controlled one of these companies, and when the other companies were going to link themselves against what was in the best interests of the colony, they had got to realise that New Zealand and its people were as powerful, if not more powerful, than any shipping company in the known world.—(Hear, hear.) He thought it was just as well that the colony was on friendly terms with America, and he hoped that tin two countries would continue to be friendly, but New Zealand had got to deal with the monopolies, and it was only the State and Parliament that could hold them in check, and could control them, and the sooner they got to work doing it the better it would be for all concerned.”