A MOST SERIOUS DIFFICULTY.

Marlborough Express, Volume LI, Issue 152, 29 June 1917, Page 3

A MOST SERIOUS DIFFICULTY.

WHAT OUR MERCANTILE MARINE IS DOING.

Mr Massey, in His sxjeccb at the civic luncheon at Auckland, said that the most serious difficulty the, Empire had to face at present was that of shipping; Our mercantile marine not only had imposed upon it the duty of keeping the requirement of the British population supplied, but it was also supplying the armies of all our Allies, besides carrying food aiid ammunition to our own forces at Salonika, in Egypt, in Mesopotamia, and in France. It was also supplying the armies of Italy, and until recently—he was not sure that it was not still doing so— those of Russia. That being so, and in view of the submarine menace, the difficulty of the task could be easily understood. There was double its ordinary work to be done, and with less ships than we had had for years past. ,To show the acuteness of the' position in Britain, Mr Massey mentioned that the forests of the Old Country were being sacrificed for the piirpose of supplying timber that was formerly imported. ' Nob long ago a request was made for the services of "70,000 timber workers to deal with the timber of the country, and the people, who owned that timber were giving it cheerfully. Then, in regard to. iron, Britain . had long imoorted the greater part of the iron ore it required, because its own ore was infei'ior, but was now making use of those inferior ores, and doing it very successfully. The whole of the trouble, of course, arose from the German submarines. Germany thought she could starve Britain out, but he predicted that she would not do sB. There were no potatoes in the country. Seed potatoes were supplied, to be available in ,ehe planting season, at 3d per lb., but there were no food potatoes to buy. Very little sugar was available; only about one-fourth faf .what was consumed two or three years ago. Flour was not plentiful; there was no white bread, "but the people were getting very good and wholesome wholemeal j bread. The^e/ were a few indications of'the scarcity^ of food that existed, but theY position was; that' we were j now within two, months of the British harvest.' Germany had aimed at starving Britain out before the j harvest was gathered,«but he could say positively that she would not succeed. Presently the situation would begin to/ improve. DEALING WITH THE SUBMARINES. In regard to dealing with stibmarines, whenever .he . had had to negotiate with the Shipping Controller he had been faced with the question of making a choice between getting supplies from a country half as' far' away from England as New Zealand, and keeping the people of Britain insufficiently supplied." Of course, there could be only one answer to the Controller—the producers of New Zealand were only secondary considerations. His duty was to keep the armies supplied. The long days of the Northern Hemisphere now ruling were the worst j time for our mercantile marine, in that they ga^ve the submarines more daylight in which. to wage their work/ and it might be expected that the situation would shortly improve. The aim of the British authorities was to £et bacK to the proper reserves of foodstuffs, and till that was done the position was bad for New Zealand, suppliers; but he was confident that, without waiting for any new inventions, the destroyers, light cruisers, and arnfed merchant ships, witi: added assistance from the United States/Navy, would be able to deal •■vith'lhe submarines. Then there "was Japan, and whatever we might have thought of Japan before the war. she was "playing the game." (Applause.) PROSPECTS { AHEAD. Coming* to the prosoects ahead, Mr Massey reminded his hearers that shortly after hostilities opened he assured the Imperial authorities, on behalf of New Zealand', that all we had and.ali we wei'e was at their disposal to carry the war to a successful conclusion. He was certain that if he asked Parliament, or if he asked-the people of New Zealand to renew that pledge they would do so with a tremendous majority. As the war went on more sacrifices would be required in both men end money, but he .was sure that all British countries would say thrift they would not break faith with those who had died for -the Empire. "