INSURANCE ON HOME SHIPS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 2770, 9 August 1883, Page 6

INSURANCE ON HOME SHIPS.

! [From tho Timabu Hebald, July 30.] The only point on which the Underwriters' Association at Chriatchurch. and the merchants o£ Timaru seem to be agreed, is that it ia highly inadvisable to send vessels drawing move than 16 feet, or at the outside 17 feet, to this port. On every other question connected witb the shipping of the port, their views are as contrary to one another as it is possible to imagine. The Underwriters' Association say the port, inside tho Breakwater, is little if any better than it was years ago, while the outer anchorage is not as safe as it used to be, throngh the bottom having [ been broken up by vessels' anchors. The local business firms say vessels are almost as safe inside the Breakwater as they are at Ly ttelton, and that m regard to those outside, they are now anchored at such a distance from shore that they are clear of tho break, and can lie m perfect safety. At the same time they add that they do not wish to see vessels like the Rangitikei here, but if they cannot get smaller ones, and the owners of the heavy ones choose to send them here, that is no fault of ours, and it is unfair to accuse us of enticing them here. "Vessels we must have to get rid of our surplus grain, and had we to wait until it suited the large Shipping Companies to find us suitable ones, we might never get it away direct at all. Christchurch and Dnnedin merchants know well enough that if we find a difficulty m procuring vessels which can be loaded entirely inside the Breakwater, it is principally through their leaving no stone unturned to create a prejudice against the port, with a view of forcing us to send our foreign 'shipments tmJLy ttelton or Port Chalmers. Of course it is only a matter of time for this prejudice to be swept" entirely away ; but that time will not be hastened by any efforts of our neighbors north or Bouth. To still further disprove the charge that we try to entice heavy Bhips here, we may refer to the fact that many months since the Harbor Board issued a circular strongly recommending that only vessels drawing under sixteen feet of water should be sent here. This recommendation was made for the purpose of getting as many vessels as possible of a class suited to the port and to the accommodation provided by the Breakwater. It is obvious that if all our shipping could be done this way, the gain would be double, first to the shipper, as his cargo would be afloat and realised m London sooner than if he brought a large vessel to lie m the open roadstead ; and, secondly, to the Harbor Board, as they would be able to work faster and more cheaply, and consequently make a greater profit. In the circular above referred to the following appears : — " Larger vessels must, m the meantime, lie m the outer roadstead, and it will be necessary, m order to meet the expense of extra haulage of surf boats, to increase the rates 50 per cent on what is found necessary to charge inside' the Breakwater." As regards the insurance on the Rangitikei, about which so much has been said, we may state that we have good reason to believe that her owners compelled the Underwriters to adhere to a standing agreement and to insure her at a much lower rate than the latter demanded. We are also informed that the rate of insurance on part of her cargo, at any rate, is only 27s 6d per cent, instead of the 80s demanded by the Underwriters' Association.

At the recent conference m Christchurch between, delegates from Timaru and the Underwriters' Association, the tug's usefulness was called m question by the latter. Strange to say, although they professed to place the most implicit reliance on the late Harbor Master's statement about the barque Lovehjerte drifting four miles from Timaru towards the beach m a terrific sea, they ignore that part of his report which says she was towed out of danger by the tug. If the Association accept one part of the report, it is surely only fair that they should accept another. The time-table of the number of working days of vessels m Timaru during the past season, prepared by the Chairman of the Underwriters' Association, was drawn up with the intention of putting things m the worst possible light, and m the face of direct knowledge of the fact that most of the grain vessels loaded m Timaru were detained here for want of cargo. Had the supplies of grain been ready, a3 they were at Lyttelton, the vessels would have cleared m one-fourth of the time. At Lyttelton, of course, we ought to find everything a model of perfection, and we are therefore raffier surprised to find, by the last report of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, that the despatch given to vessels there last year leaves very little to crow about. By the Report we see that during the first three months of the year, 29 vessels took for their business 1113 days at the wharves. The longest time taken m loading a vessel — and the figures merely give the time each vessel lay alongside the wharf, that spent m the stream being left unnoted — was 92 days, and the shortest 7. To put the matter straight and free from the fog m which Mr Scott envelopes it, the average of each vessel at Timaru for the six months ended June 30th, 1883, was 38 days, while for the year ended June 30th, 1882, at Lyttelton wharf, it was 36 days. "What time bas to be added to -the latter for waiting m the stream we do not know, but it must be a few

days for each vessel. We have no figures of a later date as regards Lyttelton to go by ; but we do not expect to find much improvement when the succeeding year's business is published. It is evident, though, that so far as shipmasters are concerned, they have not much to gain m the way of despatch at Lyttelton as compared with our own port.