SHIPS AND FOOD.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 104, 6 May 1918, Page 3

SHIPS AND FOOD.

DIFFICULTIES OF THE NEW COND'ITIONiS. INTERVIEW WITH SIR LEO MONEY. Various allegations having appeared in the Australian Press which seemed to suggest laxity and inefficiency on the part of the Ministry of Shipping in the handling of good?—particularly foodstuffs—awaiting shipment in Australian ports, a 'Pall Mall Gazette representative interviewed Sir Leo Chiozza Money, M.P., Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Shipping, and sought an explanation. ,r VVe regret as much' as the Australisan can possibly do," said Sir Leo at the outset, "our inability to tran c roort to Englankl the splendid stipplies of food, notably wheat and frozen meat, available at the Antipodes. But we have been compelled by very practical considerations to take ships , out of the Australasian trade to feed our people with supplies from nearer markets. That is the whole explanation. A_ ship in the North Atlantic can, in a given time, supply the United Kingdom with three times as much food as a. ship in the Australian trade. In other words, for. the purpose of food supply a ship plying in the North Atlantic is equivalent to throe ships plying to the Antipodes. "This touches the whole secret of our success in maintaining—or nearly maintaining—supplies in spite of the cumulative loss of shipping, and the policy of Sr Joseph Mac-lay has been to get the utmost possible value out of every ton of shipping by economising it in this way. "In carrying out this policy," Sir Leo continued. "Sir Joseph has worked hand-in-hand with the Ministry of Food and. other Government purchasing departments, and it is only fair to the steamship owner? to say that they hav* i almost without exception, cordially assisted. i "What this policy-bar. • meant, to O'kl ! established shipping" lines will be realised. Long years of enterprise have built up between the United Kingdom and 1 far-distant ports trading connection? of enormous value. The Shipping Controller has been compelled by the urgent I exigencies of the case to take the ships' off these distant trade routes, and so suddenly disestablish a bnsine:s ; of slow I growth.',without any compensation. The line owners have ungrudgingly placed their, foreign establishments and organisations at our disposal, and after the war.thev will have to rebuild businesses which the needs of the war have broker II PSHIP OWNERS ANT> PROFITS. "Now.: with rcerard to. freights," continued Sir Leo. "It is quite tc say. as is alleged in some quarters,- that Bvitish &hipv>wnie-ivi .:«re now making profits out of the war. . Their remuneration is what are called the Blue Book rate—the rates, that is>, which were arranged bv arbitration earlv in the war and which then represented a margin of orofit for the owners. This margin however, has been continuously reduced by the rises in costs, and shipowners are now representing that in many cases the ■Hive*. Book rates involve an actual lo~s. "The whole subiect. is being investigated. As regards the charge of ckcessiv'e freights'," added Sir "it is true there are ships at the present timr which make a fortune by a. single voyage, but it should be clearly understood that thev are neutral .'.hips outside of our control." Referring to the effects of the submayir'e war. Sir Leo remarked : "As to losses, nothing as more difficult* than to express oneself in .such a way as to state the position with raising too great hones on the one hand and unjustifiable alarms on the other. The rate of our looses has fallen ec great'v since the spring of 1917 that if is quite certain the enemy cannot beat m or starve us bv a submarine campaign "On the other hand, the cumulative effect of the losses of three years of war regains. While it is -reassuring tf know that- our monthly net losses art new no more than about what they were even before the sink-at-sight policy waf begun, the cumulative loses to datf mean a big reduction in imports; anc that it whv the need for exceeding care and economv., in consumption remain* in spite of the ceat improvement whicl has been effected. "If. therefore, I tell yon,", added Si; Leo, "that the convoy system has beer a magnificent success. I say no more than "the truth; but that success doe* not put us- back in t':ie position we cccu pied before the serious losses began. Only now building by Britain and America can do that: and' it will be some time before that building tells :v,id raises the aggregate tonnage position of the Allies." THE CONVOY SYSTEM. Sir Leo proceeded to deal with what the. convoy" system has nctuallv accomplished in the face of the "-U-boat menace. O

"The public," he said, "hoar only of quite exceptional cases of loss, without knowing what excellent results have been achieved. As regards homeward convoys, I have here a list of 186 homeward convoys concerned with no fewer than 2430 ships, carrying no less than 17.500.000 tons of cargo. And what waa the loss on the whole 1 Almost exactly li per cent! "As to food ships, so well have they been eared for that the recent losses, including the exceptional cases to which public attention has been directed, have been exceedingly small. In the last few months, for example, scarcely any of the wheat homeward bound to the United Kingdom has been lost by enemy action. "But no one," added Sir Leo, "should Tnd excuse for waste in that statement, for as*L have said, the cumulative effect of past losses remains. Further, we have unfortunately had to divert food cargoes from the United Kingdom to France and Italy to compensate them for their 31001- harvests. ■ And tlms we' have had to depiete the finest store of wheat ever built up i nth is country — bui";t up. remember, in spite of the submarine campaign."