A DEAD LOSS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10810, 28 January 1921, Page 6

A DEAD LOSS

SHIPOWNERS’ DILEMMA EFFECT OP HIGH WAGES AND SHORT HOURS. BETTER TO LAY SHIPS UP. By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received January 28, 12.10 a.m.) LONDON, January 27. Lord lachcape, in a letter to tho newspapers, says: ‘ ‘Ships are being laid up all over the world, and ports sire congested everywhere. Thousands of officers and seamen are unemployed, yet a commission is sitting at .Brussels to consider the advisability of limiting employment to eight hours daily. Before tho war the wages of stewards were 70s per month, not. £l3 los. This did not matter much during the war when tho ships were chartered by the Government and were a charge against the State. Now the wages must be paid out of the earnings of vessels, and the earnings won’t pay them. The thieving that goes on at. sea and at the docks is beyond anything in history. As things are we will be in pockett by discharging all our men and laying up our ships in charge of a seventy-year-old caretaker and a few aged charwomen. The end will come and we will get back to a sound economic working basis, though that time may not be quite yet.”