THE SHIPPING PROBLEM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12067, 24 July 1917, Page 4

THE SHIPPING PROBLEM.

AS AFFECTING THE FARMERS

SIR J. G. WILSON'S OPINION. In the course* of the. presidential ad* dress to the- Dominion Conference of tho New Zealand Farmers' Union at Wellington to-day. Sir James G. Wilson dealt at- some, length with th? shipping difficulties now confronting the people, and particularly th e producers of Ney/ Zealand. His suggested solution, is by means of State intervention, with a. Dominion-owned, State-subsidißed lino, of steamer.;. "Shortly after the war began. ' said the president, "the shipping combine announced that, freights would be raised in the aggregate by about, a, million po inds. "This naturally alarmed the producer, especially as the British Government provided the war risk, both on vessel and cargo, at a low rate. We. were calmly told that we ought not to object, because ivei could look upon this as :i contribution by tii e Zealand producers as a. war tax seeing that all additional profit that shipipng companies earned' 'war. subject to a. tax of 60 per cent.. I thought it was a. piece, of gratuitous impertinence, to make tho suggestion, especially seeing that despite the heavy taxation one shipping company has paid <io per cent in. dividends, after, no doubt, com- laling as much .profit as possible. ... If one body of men can lay themselves out to 'exploit another body, the iirst remedy that is a.U hand is for the latter to find the capital and do the'work themselves. This was what gave tho impetus to the New Zealand Shipping Company when it was formed. Freights were, «> high that a company was formed to provide competition. Most of the share* holders lost their money when going through tho slough of despond, and they fell gradually into tho hands of capitalists looking for a good investment. Strange to say, .it was tha freezing process that caused the. greatest loss. Steamers were, built, and in the eoni petition the Now Zealand Shipping Company's shares fell very low. They ue.ro bought up at small cost, and when the merger too* place with the p. and 0.. the shares were mostly held in England. Lord Inchcape, at the general meeting of the, P. and 0., intimated that lie had net much fear of any shinning company under tho control of or ru l by any Government, and ho was probably right. The producers of Nei.v Zeaiand. however, can with the assistance of the Government fight, this monopoly if thev combine. The combination must bo' complete. Not, as is usually the case, that some find the, money and the rest benefit, for that would end in failure to all. Not) only must tho producer come in, but if necessary the agents must do so too. I his means, however, that Government aid must be invoked. The P. ; ,nd O. ] vl s mopped up both our local shipping companies just in v S v™°i W; ' y ' aiul lllP wh °le'of tho New Zealand shipping is governed bv one man m London. The directors and managers Tiere have practically no say m the matter, and by a. judicious spreading among agents'and shippers of commissions and rebates, thero ■is no oiio to moke a fuss, except tho prod'-icors. H i s we ll known to everv one what their position is. Nothing short of an Act of Parliament will bring them together, .and advantage is tnl-on of tho ;ri a t every turn. " First of all. there is a - combination of all shipping companies to cxchile any other company coming in. Then contracts aro entered into with freezing companies, dairy associations, exporters of all kinds as to freights. Care j s 'taken that these contracts do not run out at the. same time, and this is used as a lever when new contracts nreIcing fixed. This will go on to the end. if the producer does not wake up and take a hand. We must, however, be all producers and exporters. The only way, if we want to start an opposition company, is to first nobble the freights. Th' 1 onlv way to fight such a monopoly is to do as thev do. They nobble the capital and 'call the tune* as to IVeichts: but if all the produce of New Zealand is controlled by .-lnothei company i hen the tune is clmnged. No shipping conipanv ''an get on willio'.il. freiglits in and out. Once control that, o r even ;-, large proportion, and terms ;I re possible."