America’s Benefit

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 732, 3 August 1929, Page 8

America’s Benefit

Dominion Shipbuilders Penalised

IF an American ship has repairs effected in a New Zealand port, the shipping company must pay the .American authorities 50 per cent, over and above the cost of the work. Such is the American law. The result is that a great deal of work which could be successfully carried out by New Zealand labour fend with New Zealand materials is now withheld by shipowners who are doing big business in freights with New Zealand exporters.

This ordinance, which is one of America’s many post-war enactments for the protection of her own industries, does not go so far as to penalise a ship that can just limp into port with broken'mechanism or with sides badly battered by a storm of exceptional severity. It is merely a legislative discouragement to American shipowners to have their repairs executed in foreign ports. It was after the war, when industrial conditions throughout the world were depressed, that the shipbuilders In the United States felt the competition of overseas yards. Shipping companies found that they could have repairs effected efficiently and cheaply In Europe and the Orient, and every opportunity was taken to use the lowpriced labour of the Eastern ports. This desertion of home industries was quickly felt in the American shipyards, and at the persistent representation of the builders the Government enacted a law compelling companies to pay an extra 50 per cent, upon the cost of all work done In overseas ports—the extra amount to be placed In the Federal coffers at Washington. Ships Deteriorate No vessel that is unseaworthy is penalised. But if a boat lying at the Auckland Wharf were to engage a shore firm to execute certain repairs which, although highly desirable to maintain the efficiency of the ship, were not absolutely necessary at the time, the extra 50 per cent, would have to be paid. Otherwise the master must pilot his charge back to a port on the American coast, where there is no penalty for doing the job. In this way the United States secures effective protection for its ship-repair-ing industries. The operation of this law frequently causes embarrassment to companies who wish to see their vessels In good trim, not only on the outward voyage, hut throughout the whole of their journey round the world’s ports, because the prospect of heavy cost discourages anything but work that is of the greatest urgency. The result Is that the condition of the ships Is often allowed to suffer. Moreover, sea captains assert the need for this law has now passed, because labour in America is cheaper, and —so they say—methods of handling are in the main more efficient in the United States, so that anything that can wait until the ship returns will not be given into the hands of New Zealanders. There is hundreds of pounds’ worth

of work, however, which could be done by foundries and engineering concerns in Auckland, and which the companies would like to place in their hands with a view to reciprocity in freight business, but which are now withheld In view of the penalties. Auckland, then, as well as other ports in New Zealand, suffers to the extent of many thousands of pounds a year by an American law which, upon the statements of their own shipmasters, could well be abolished without great loss to the United States, and with great benefit to New Zealand industries. These vessels from America enter laden with millions of feet of foreign timber, sawn into lengths, and after delivering this cargo at various ports along the coast of the Dominion — many times at places where timber is easily procurable from our own forests load with butter and other produce and steam away for their home ports. To say the least, big business is done with the New Zealand exporter and importer. But the dockyard firms which rely to a great extent upon overseas shipping for their work cannot participate in any benefit which might accrue from these transactions. In this respect at least the odds are against New Zealand enterprise. Protection in Australia Australia, too, imposes certain regulations which have the effect of protecting her own industries. Every ship tied up in an Australian port must pay full Australian prices for any goods consumed while the ship is at the wharf. If a coil of rope is required from the ship’s locker, it must be paid for at full rates; any fuel consumed in the port Is penalised In a like way; so it is with stores and merchandise, which are necessary for the sustenance of those on board —all are charged for at the full shore price. In New Zealand the law is not so stringent. All stores are certainly checked by the Customs officials when a ship enters port, and a check is taken at regular Intervals to ensure that goods have not been landed and traded to evade the Customs duties. These waterfront rules, many of which are not generally known, exercise a greater influence upon New Zealand industry than Is gauged by a casual examination of the facts, and, indirectly, is one of the many factors contributing to the existing . depression throughout the Dominion.