Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, MAY 10, 1920. OCEAN FRIGHTS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15212, 10 May 1920, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, MONDAY, MAY 10, 1920. OCEAN FRIGHTS.

Ne\y Zealanders arc intimately concerned m the q'lestibh- of been .'ir* freights, which hit them hard both coming and going, to uso a colloquial expression. The produce of this Do minion pays heavy toll for its sea carriage, the freight on a carcass of iriutton being estimated now a-t . over 9s, a« compared with 3s 4d before the war,; and on all importations, Of merchandise the freight charges add very, considerably to the selling^ price. Under these circumstances tho , report cabled 1 rom, England last Week covering a prediction by the. Chairman of the Cunard Lino that there would be a heavy slump m ocoan freights- in the near future, for .which British companies, ho declared,' were well prepared, was most welcome. Every: citizen has/a direct interest, in freight charges; for ; the cost of production and the; prices or necessities are largely c'ondltidnect by their incidence. A m .freights will ■ have an immediate ' and marked effect on tho cost 'of living. It was predicted by a London paper early m March that the slump m freights to which the Cunard Company's C_airman refers would come. Thos^i^piajtcf tonnage )?ef ore the .war, tho Daily Express pointed out, was less than tho tonnage juow* available. Whilo , tho goods- carried .how aro greater 1 m money value, than before the war, .they arqless m tonnag6; owing to the'falling off m international trading with Europe, Tho , old hands, the . ;p.aper " addod, arc quietly getting out tif tho business. * They are ; prejjftrod* to: tvecept the prevailing prices /for their > ships rather than undertake, the ' ' very dark and difficult adventure "/of operating them with the certain knowledge that a 1 slump is coming. Homo shipping interests have already become "Jgumpy. ' ' The boom built on , arti* ficial cqnditions was inevitably subject ,■ to a time limit, and that., timo lijmit has now been reached. / Taking, the experience of the slump after_the Boer • war, the Express considers^ that when tho decline,^om£s;it" is sijfe^to bVsub' stanti.nl, _)uring, that- war values _ox" . n o w , vessels rah' up to the pheti eh orm - ous figure of £8 per tori. : At tho end i; of the war, when the shipping trade begun to struggle back to xo^mialJconditions, ■ a.slunip 9ccnrred "^hich; s£nt ■ values based ,oh 'freights v.^pwn. -tq £4 , 15s per ton -^- the lowest :f-igure ever touched. . Many, companies. formed m . lppo had either to reduce their Capital • or to go '.put. of business. Tnone case ■tho,, ordinary shares were redhced-rfroin £10 to ss. At present hew' tonnage is worth about £4;0 per ton," compared with the high-water mark of £8 during < tho Boer war. ."be greator 'tho infla- ■ tion the greater the bang when the bubble bursts,; "The present; standard '■ pf the cost of Hvingj'ltho.paperadds, "has been largely; determined -by tho amazing increases m - freights rates during the war, which . have, brought tho value of new tonnage up to the enormous figure of £40. When the freight rates vf all' the cost ;o_ living will fall. There is no need for- public 1 action m order 4o hasten the coming ■■ slump. 'The fabric-is already filing. All the public .have to. .do .js to Jfook on and - reap , the benefit. ** When ■ "'. tho «, Cunard president etdted that.' .he British companies were Well' prepared; for - the coming stornv { ne p ref erre_, of v , course, to the that have built j up ; during, , thp waif .period ,- and after. 'The : companies, could jitot help -making .-(, money and piling up huge reserves. A .statement recently prepared :f Mm thß • records' of ; Syren and Shipping gives , vivid illustration of 'the efect of shipping -cHarges, on the ' pricey i0 £ food cargoes for Britain. , : l^ei&hts '■> from- r the River, Plate to Bngi^nd^ Tvhich were at lis peV ton m --0914 are 140s tp-day; ;f rom Bombay ils {m 1914 and 95s to-day; from the Western ports of .- America 2s per . quarter of grain m 1914 and now 17sj, from Karachi 12s 3d per ton m 1914, 1255.. t0-day; from BuenOs Ayres 8s 3d m 1914, '150s today; from Bilbao, (iron ore)-. 4s m 1914, 37s^ to-day. These eiamplbs a,lono,^sayavja, Hpiue .paper,, . show a,n average increase -of .nearly. 'iooo per cent mv freight, .rates. / Admittedly shipping costs have shown "an enor : moiis! advance, but will any^P^ne, claim that tye advance makes a hoar ap* proach to thf figures? quoted? rJf so let. him po,hder. s on ,facts like these;--! A ship • bought for £125,000 is to bo rim } on a , time y charter which witl , bring .m £29^000 m, two yea;rß.v ' Tho original * viflu^ $ the ship; was" 'just over £40,000. > Another/ ship ' .bought for £32,000 is td -run on a time charter , which' lvill -earn m. three years. During the first two • years and five mouths ,-of the. war British shipowners made, profits of ';. £_90;060,60b. Tho Mimstiy of \SMppink estimates; issued m May last < anticipated ,' a. deficit' of £1,500,000.; Jn yfrctefcer -tho Accounts showed an actual. surplus of £55,000,000. A ship sold m 1914 for £35,000 changed hands towards itho jend of iast year for £225,000. . Aiiot^r^ sSp whSh reaped £^,000^toeu years ago tvas sold m last year for. _1_4,000. Figures furnishqd.by .t^oVHinistry of Shippinc; show that oarly „ in, Il^sember ]ffi tho rates between United Kinffdotu and tho northern poTt^ of tJiie TfiUted States were 150s a ton; Trinidad, 170sPersmn^ Gulfi 210s: Born^k SSOsl Since then thfero has been a, further rise m freight rates, it further iUuV tration of tho v profit* of shiinmup Ayere". . needed, it might be i^Hi in ...tho^^ experience .of EfouunlonH, which wiiro prudent and farseeing enough to establish their own hues. The Australian Commonh , h . na ma dp enormons profits out of .ifr sups.. The Canadian Government also. Wrth nineteen vessels, " some of them .m. commission only a Short time, Canada recorded a nefc prpfit pf 4,406,600, dolljirs. The es:pcriment has been so satisfactory that £ -i J V 0 Y crn «'ont' has contracted x fe* " building sixty-threo ships, representing a tonnage of 38Qv435' tons. CompetiSou win * lppi , g v vllic > {s «<>% to bring about a decline m freight rates is t& come- mainly from th w '>nitod<Stateai which last \year. put into theV.^afcJ ships aggregating, 4,73s,lo9 tOna^as against Britain's 1,951,759" t ok America is to be. a f pi^midable^ cbmßetiter with Britain m the trad, route* of the world, and there is gooa reason to behove that i w the.q^sh of interests the overseas Dominions of the British S!! pn ' c-e -^ hlch have b ee« paying such heavy tribute to the shipping companies for the, last $0^ yea^ will reap the advantage of a very considerable reduction of freights. * ,