THE SHIPPING SHORTAGE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3873, 9 March 1915, Page 7

THE SHIPPING SHORTAGE.

—. —. ] GOVERNMENT CANNOT CONI'- ( MANDEER SPACE. 1 \ INTERVIEW 'WITH THE PREMIER j (Press Association Telegram.) I AUCKLAND. March 8 ; -Nothing is to be gained by the - Government commandeering roirigci- J ating space.” declared the Prime Mm- ' ister to-night, “hecanso it would not i make a single additional inch aval - * able. Besides that, there are difficul- t ties in the way. as our legislation does < not provide for anything of the sort i The authorities who can commanded space are the Imperial Government. ; nothin on tlie advice of the Board or I Trade. It has to he remembered that such action breaks existing con- \ tracts, the result of which would be t that freights, which are lower from i New Zealand to Britain than from the 1 Argentine or Australia, would go up < with a bound. , , . f , “There has been a great deal or oil- 1 ticTsmadded the Prime Minister, i “in regard to the shortage of ship- v pin" but it must he said that the eir- I cumstances during the present season , have been exceptional and ue have i not had the best of good fortune . connection with insulated steamei.. . First of la*, the Ivaipara was sunk and i then the Tokomavu met a submarine. . The Nairnshire was commandeered o.V the Imperial Government_ and attei- • wards took fire. The Muntai was damaged by a collision and only the othei dav we were informed by cable that the Surrey hau been torpedoed. Several of the ships trading to New Zea- • land, and which call at Australian ports have been commandeered i>> tlie Australian Government, and several others by the British Govemme^y e required, in the early part of the season, a certain number of insulated ships to take first the expeditionary forces to Egypt. By arrangements with the shipping companies, 1 brought three of these vessels back m ballast at very considerable expense to the country, but, by so doing, effected a great saving m time to the producers, who were naturally anxious to get their meat away. I also arranged for the Muntai, _ after bein repaired, to come back in ballast. \t my request, the Canadian Government released a portion of our snips which they had commandeered and the Australian Government allowed tin ee to go which it contemplated taking possession of. Just lately the Australian Government gave me an assur- ! ance that it did not propose to interfere. with, six ships of the Shaw Savill and Albion line which are in Commonwealth waters at,present and will come to New Zealand. Then the Imperial Government. I learn from communications which have reached us, is negotiating with shipowners in Britain to have as many vessels as possible made available for the carriage of frozen meat for the use of the Allied f voces. “In spite of all these difficulties, continued Mr Massey, “up to January I 31 wo had sent away equal to L,/io,G 53 carcases of mutton, as compared with 860,877 for the corresponding period of last year. This increase was maintained in the same proportion rio-ht through February, so I feel certain that we are ahead of this time last vear by at least £1,000,000. “As to prices,” continued Mr Massey* “I have endeavored to arrange a scale of nrices which would be fair to the Imperial Government and also vo the producers of this country. tp to the present, I have not received a single complaint, and I believe that the irreat bulk of the producers and the people connected with the overseas trade are of opinion that it lia-> been done satisfactorily It is quite likely that we shall get the first ship ,awav with meat for the Imperial Government' before tlie end of this v ae “ : The steamer concerned is the R«a- , bine, which is timed to leave Well k ! ton on Thursday. It has been su - ■ o-ested that there might- he some cle- ' lav with regard to the payments tor l the meat. I am making ariange ; memos so that payment will bo marie promptly, either at the head office at i ’wellinpton or at n. of the tah *; I ing business.in New Zealand on 1 - | sentation of the necessary documents.