THE SHIPPING SHORTAGE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 3965, 25 June 1915, Page 6

THE SHIPPING SHORTAGE.

WHAT THE'GOVERNMENT HAS DONE. EVERY EFFORT MADE. STATEMENT BY THE PREMIER. (By Telegraph—Special Correspondent,.; WELLINGTON, Juno 23. The efforts of the Government to provide tlie steamers required by the frozen meat trade since the outbreak of war were described in detail to-day by the Prime Minister in the course of a reply to a deputation representing the and producers of the Auckland province. ‘ The deputation, which was a very large one, was introduced by Mr C. J. Parr, M.P. for Eden, and the ,speakers contended that Auckland was not getting a fair share of shipping space under the arrangements made . by tho Shipping Committee in Wellington. Mr Massey said that he wanted, first, to clear away some misapprehensions that appeared to exist in tho minds of members of the deputation. The Shipping Committee which .allocated the available refrigerating space to the various districts was not a : Government body. It was a. body set up by the'British Board of Trade through the so-called “Tonnage Committee” in London. It was representative of the" ship-owning..,companies and tho purpose of its existence was to prevent overlapping and arrange itineraries with, the object of making the best possible use of tho available steamers from the point of view of the Empire as a. whole. Tho reason, why Auckland had not a . direct representative on the Shipping Committee was that Ancleland was not the headquarters of any shipping company engaged in the oversea' trade. A representative of the Government had boon placed upon the Committee a few weeks previously by the Board of Trade, in consequence of representations made by the Prime Minister himself and he could tell the deputation that one the reasons why lie asked for representation was that he thought the interests of particular districts required to be guarded. On ouo occasion lie had returned a recommendation to the committee because he thought that Auckland was uni airly treated and had succeeded m getting for the northern province an allocation of 17,000 carcases instead ol 9.000. Then, with regard to the Government’s connection with, the purchase of meat, the position was that the Imperial authorities had commandeered the available shipping space a fid the supplies, of meat from Australia and New Zealand. 1 hey had asked the Dominion Government to make the necessary arrangements. llicre had. been nobody in cixstonce qualified to undertake the work and the Government therefore had called into existence a new organisation and secured the service of an expert in Mr Tavlor, who would be in the Waikato shortly looking after the interests of the farmers there. A part of the work in this connection had boon undertaken by the Department of Industries and Commerce, when the outbreak of war occurred, continued the Prime Muustci. Hit, Government offered to send troops to the service of the Empire-and the offer was accepted. Arrangements had to he made to get the troops away. The Mother Country and Australia were both commandeering ships toi the transport service and New /.calami had to do the same. Some ox the shins that were taken for tho conveyance of the Dominion’s troops had been engaged previously in the meat trade and their withdrawal caused a shortage oT space. After the ships had been fitted and the troops pmced aboard, an unexpected delay occurred and the suggestion had been made then that the men should he taken off one vessel which had refrigerating space and transferred to another ship that happened to be in New Zealand waters, but he had been advised at the time that the change would occupy j, fortnight and that if orders came for tho troops to move in the meantime tho whole convoy might be delayed Under tho circumstances, lie had etc things as they were and the ship had gone away. The destination of the troops had been Egypt and he had arranged with the Imperial authorities for three of the largest steamers to he returned direct to New Zealand m ballast in order that they might be available for the carriage 01. meat. The urgency of the case had justified him in paying tho owners for the loss of freight. Mr Massey gave details of the negotiations undertaken subsequently by the Government iff the course of efforts to maintain the supply of ships. He read correspondence that had been exchanged with the Government of Britain, Canada, and Australia regarding the movement of various ships and traced the steps taken to-bring various ships to the Dominion in ballast at the time when the congestion in the ports of tho Mother Country threatened to causo grave delay. He mentioned that tho cost of getting the Muritai and the Zealamhc to the Dominion in ballast had been paid bv the Imperial authorities. Recently,' the Imperial authorities had taken three of the insulated ships ordinarily engaged in the Dominion s meat trade and sent them to Argentina to carry beef for the hrencii troops. Two ships of smaller carrying capacity hail been allocated to the Dominion in. exchange. He had protested to the Board of Trade, through the Hign Commissioner, in very strong terms with regard to this transaction and had secured an assurance that New Zealand’s interests would not bo overlooked. W r ith regard to Auckland’s complaint of unfair treatment, Air Massey said that if the. northern province was being treated with apparent unfairness in tlio June and Jn y allocations the deputation could rest assured that tho deficiency would he made up later on. 'lho Northernoi.s ought not to overlook the special position of. Canterbury, where a severe drought had not broken until the first frost came. Sheep were actually starving there and the Government had arranged to carry sheep free to Ota"o and Southland in order to relieve the Canterbury pastures and also to carry fodder free to Canterbury. Linder these circumstances, it was only fair that Canterbury should receive special consideration in tho allocation of space for the current month and ho hoped tho deputation would recognise that fact, Then, he had been asked what was the basis of the a location. Ho could state definitely that He basis of the allocations made by the Shipping Committee was tho nuinbci ol carcases in store in the various districts. Auckland might have suffcied in this respect because tho district was seriously deficient in refrigerated storage and he Would very strongly urge the province to set about remedy mg tins trouble as quickly as possible. A district which had adequate storage could face a temporary shortage ol ships without serious inconvenience. Turning to the Mr Masse said that, according to tho advices he had received, the following amounts ot space would he available in ships that were duo to arrive durincr the next few months: —Ju.v, 784 950 carcases; August, 582,000 car-, cases; September, 522.000 carcases. it was obvious now that the season Weis wing to cover the *vho!o twelve months in tho present year and that there would ho no. “off period, but tho situation was improving' and lie thought that tho shippers and the producers ought to recognise, that the Government was doing its host. In conclusion, ’Mr Massey made an emphatic protest against what he reregarded as an attempt to make political capital out of the shortage ot shipping in the meat trade. Members of the doputa.t.on - then discussed the. matter -in. some detail with tho Prime Minister.