VOYAGING AT A LOSS,

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18555, 30 April 1930, Page 8

VOYAGING AT A LOSS,

Although the great nations of the world are engaged in competitive shipbuilding in the hope of wresting from Germany the blue ribband of the Atlantic, it is significant that well-informed coinmentors on the business of “the men who go down to the sea in ships and do business in great waters,” are pointing to the unremunerative activities of many leading shipping companies. Recent cable messages from Berlin reported that thirty-five vessels of a total tonnage of 195,418 tons are tied up idle at Hamburg as

the result of an agreement between the Ha mburg-Amerika and the Norddeutscher-Lloyd Companies. At the same issue as this message appeared, was presented the news from Rome which reported that the keel of a giant liner of 45,000 tons had been laid. The new liner is designed to be the largest and most luxurious Italian ship afloat, and will carry 2250 passengers. It is know, too, that British shipbuilding firms have accepted Germany’s challenge and bigger and faster liners are being built to tackle the existing trans-Atlantic records. It has been repeatedly pointed out, however, that on the basis of existing world tonnage, trade would have to be increased 30 to 40 per cent, over pre-war level to restore prosperity to shipping. World tonnage lias expanded at the normal pre-war rate, and trade has not done so. Sir Archibald Hurd in a recent review of the outlook for maritime business pointed out that shipping rates have fallen to a lower level than at any time since the early years of the present century, with the result that bulk cargoes are now being carried at rates which yield the shipowner after paying port and loading-and discharging charges, as little’as Id a ton for 100 miles in some cases, and on the most favourable trade routes the amount does not exceed lfd a ton. The cost, it is claimed, is absurdly low in comparison with the charges made for the carriage of commerce by rail or road, and it means that voyages are being made at a loss for the time being. It is, of course, true, Sir Archibald Hurd points out, that these figures apply only to the movement of bulk cargoes in what are usually known as “tramp ships” and do not apply to “parcels” of goods carried in vessels of the Conference Lines, which, in the interests alike of shipowners and shippers, as well as producers and consumers, provide regular services and attempt to stabilise freights. Nevertheless, the fall in tramp freights is an important development, because about half the shipping afloat consists of general cargo carriers, which move from one trade route to another in accordance with the varying currents of world trade. British shipowners, however, whose motto is “free seas and free posts,” complain that in spite of the activities of the League of Nations and in spite of the work which is being done by successive International . Shipping Conferences, they are still suffering from the policy of subsidising the maritime industries which has been adopted in many foreign countries. The new American liners, for exanjple, which work the Atlantic routes are paid 56/a mile nominally for carrying mails, but really as a subsidy. But if international competition is becoming more intense, British shipowners have shown great enterprise and courage in restoring the British Mercantile to the position it occupied before the war. Sir Archibald Hurd quotes statistics in support of this development, showing that as old tonnage has been replaced by new, a steady advance has been made in design as well as in size, equipment and safety, and it has been possible to provide a higher standard of comfort in British ships. The consequence is that British shipowners can now claim that less than 19 per cent, of the vessels under the British flag are 20 years old or more, while nearly 47 per cent, of the British Merchant Navy has been built in the past 10 years.

THE MINISTER AND THE JUBILEE.

Reports from Wellington inform us that the Minister of Education has returned to that city from a visit to the Franz Josef Glacier, having, during Easter, accomplished the double traverse of the Alps. Doubtless the Minister will be a little proud of bis alpining exploits, but the people of Timaru who are justly proud of their educational institutions are not unreasonably incensed at the failure of the Ministerial head of the Education Department to appreciate the national importance of the Jubilee celebrations of the schools. It was reported that the Minister was most reluctantly compelled to decline the pressing invitation that reached him from Timaru, on the grounds of a prior engagement ; but we rather fancy that visits to the small schools of South Westland or even the double traverse of the Alps, could hardly be regarded as such pressing engagements as to excuse the Minister’s absence from the most outstanding event in the educational history of South Canterbury. Obviously, it was the Minister’s plain duty to represent the Government at the high school jubilee celebrations in Timaru. It was at once an honour and an obligation imposed on the Minister, as head of the Department interested in the work of the schools. This is not the first lapse on the part of the Minister. Some weeks ago, the Minister made an engagement to meet and confer with the Canterbury Education Board, but this appointment was cancelled because the Minister wished to attend the official welcome to the new Governor-General. But it remains to be said that the new Governor-General arrived in Wellington early in the week, and this should not have interfered with the Minister’s appointments,

since the Education Board sat right through the week till Friday afternoon! It will be remembered, too, that the Select Parliamentary Committee on Education which was piloted by the Minister, also declined to visit Timaru, although in the course of its hurried travels it passed through this district and at the moment the headquarters of the South Island Federation of School Committees Associations was located here. Obviously, the Minister missed a big opportunity by ignoring the commemoration of the jubilee of two high schools, which have been officially described as among the finest in the Dominion, and we are. sure that maturer reflection will convince the Minister of Education that he might have added to his prestige and raised himself in public esteem by postponing liis Easter trip to South Westland and Franz Josef Glacier, and have honoured himself and the educational activities of this district, by attending the high schools jubilee celebrations as representative of the Government.