SHIPPING FREIGHTS.

Gisborne Times, Volume IX, Issue 861, 8 April 1903, Page 2

SHIPPING FREIGHTS.

HANDICAP OF NEW. ZEALAND PRODUCE.

Per Press Association.

WELLINGTON, lash nighty One of the circumstances which handicap New Zealand produce coulpeting in the same market as that from the Argentine is the scale of shipping freights. .The matter has been enquired into by. the New Zealand Produce Commissioner in London, and his report to the AgentGeneral has now reached the Department of Industries and Commerce. Mr Cameron says that there does not appear to he any definite rate, that is to say, Uiere is no agreed upon contract entered into between the Iliver Plate Freezing Company and the Shipping Companies, as there is in New The charges are the same for all classes of frozen meat, mutton, lamb, and beef. It varies slightly according to supply, and demand of both freight and shipping. Should there happen to boa, large output of meat awaiting shipment, and a scarcity of freights, tho. rates would he firm. On the other hand, whc-» supplies are short, and vessels plentiful. They would l>e lower from a halfpenny to five-eighths per poimd, according to the type oC boat and the distance up the river in Argentina where the loading takes place.—This is the usual Consideration is also given when fixing freights to the combination of ports in the country at which the discharge is to bo effected. lam also informed that shippers, who of course are few ,in number and in a large way of business, often charter vessels for the time to load them to suit their purposes, and send them where desired. While these charges aso being quoted as those prevailing in the River Plate meat trade, it must not ho forgotten that such firms as Nelson and Sons, Limited, and the River Plate Meat Company, Limited, own tkeir own boats, and charge for freight on butter fd per pound on the net weight delivered in London,; Southampton, or Liverpool.