NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY With which is incorporated the NORTHERN MAIL DAILY THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1920. SHIPPING PROSPECTS.

Northern Advocate, 24 June 1920, Page 2

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY With which is incorporated the NORTHERN MAIL DAILY

THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1920. SHIPPING PROSPECTS.

R&gistered for transmission through fche post as a newspaper.

UilJ.l 1 X»U J. MVWX UVIM. NVw Zensind, quite as much if not more than any other country in the world, save Great Britain, depends almost entirely upon shipping facilities for the life of heii trade. During the war and even up till recently all who were directly dependent upon such service have been in a constant state of uncertainty, but now that the setting up of the long-promised Imperial Shipping Committee has been • completed there should be general cause for relief fiiom further anxiety on this score. New Zealand on this committee will be represented by Sir James Allen, and from the experience gained by him as a Cabinet Minister he should prove a useful member. The objects of the committee arc to inquire into the whole question of shipping communications between different parts of the Empire, with a view to securing improvement. An indispensable purpose should there-

fore be served by this body in throw

ing clear light on shipping problems and promoting such an understanding as will not only simplify the improvement of existing services but make for united inier-Imperial action in maintaining and developing the .-trong mercantile marine which is so essential to the prosperity and security of the Empire. The

vit;il part dial the mercantile marine plays in the day-to-day life of the Empire roquines no emphasis. Our past experience ha? proved to us that without it wo would become a cypher. The definite prospects therefore of an early Mini substantial improvement in interj.inperial shipping comes ais a happy interlude to the inentfcl worry we have been subjected to for so long. Nothing is of better promise in this connection than the fact that the whole of the immense losses suffered by the British mercantile marine during,-the war have been made good, and that the construction of additional tonnage in British shipyards is proceeding at a rate for which there is no precedent. A truly remarkable achievement is disclosed in the returns which show that on March 31- last 805 merchant steamers of a total tonnage of 3,394,000 'tons wore being built in British yards. The renl magnitude of the achievement is brought out, the "Spectator" observed recently, when it is remembered that in March, 1914, the shipyards of the whole world were building 3,343,000 tons, of which 1,891,000 tons were the British share. Thus, "the British shipbuilder has nearly twice as much wonk on hand us he had in the prosperous days before the war," and the ships now undcn construction would replace almost the whole net losses of the British mercan- ; : ile marine during the war if these had I not already been made good. Moreover to further quote, the same journal: The revival of British shipbuilding is the more noteworthy because it coincides with an apparent check to the American industry wi.ich sprang up, almost in a night, under the stress of war. For a time the n«w American yards were constructing a larger tonnage than our own, but they are now building no more than 535 vessels of 2,573,000 tons. Other countries are building ships of a total tonnage of 1,074,000 tons. Thus Great Britain is holding her own in th*» great industry upon which our welfare depends. We are no!, building so largo a share of the world's shipping as in the old days, but we are building mone ships than we ever built before. It will not be the shipbuilder's fault, if there is any. apparent scarcity of ships to bring us food and raw materials and to export our nianut'nctucs and coal. The "Dominion" says the rate of constmiction in British shipyards is in all respect of splendid promise. There are, of course, other handicaps to be overcome, in efficiently meeting sea-trans-port demands throughout the Empire, than the actual shortage of tonnage at present in evidence. Practically all conditions governing the shipping industry have been transformed. The new j ships that are being built with such gratifying speed are costing five or six times as much as similar vessels cost before the Mar, and running costs also have enormously increased. It. is a striking fact, for instance, that while ii.laud industries in Great Britain were being supplied with coal during March last at about 40s a ton, shipowners were paying three or four times as much for bunker coal. The price t*t the Port of London rose in the middle of March to lfiSs. At the same time congestion in :hc leading British ports largely accounts for the fact that ocean-going ships are, or were very recently, carrying only from 00 to 70 per cent, of the volume of goods th'jy were carrying in in ]S)l4. The rapid production of ships iii British yards, hovevor, not only promises in itself an early measure of relief but indicates a confident belief hi those who are best placed to weigh :-ie facts that in spite of new handicaps and changed conditions, British shipping is still capable of retaining in great measure the pre-eminent place it

held before the war. To a great extent, of course, the new burdens imposed on British shipping are balanced by similar burdens imposed on the shipping of other nations whose people turn as readily v' a seafaring life ay those of Bii-ii.-.h .Moe'k. It is, therefore, possible to hope that ihe appointment of the Imperial Shipping Committee may coincide with the opening of a prosperous era for British shipping, and one in which it will play effectively the great psirt for which it is cast in the developing life of the Empire.