RISE IN FREIGHTS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12540, 11 May 1915, Page 4

RISE IN FREIGHTS.

JUSTIFIED BY SHIPOWNERS. (Lyttelton Times' Correspondent.) Ounedin. May Kl. The now rates of freight- on Now Zealand produce ment'oned on Saturday «-■' operating from May 15 -are not on -ill line.-. b-A\ry produce, for mutative, remains as before on- account ol' existing contracts. The principal lines ull'ect0d ;u-o:—Creasy wool and increased from {■ f 1 to £d per lb; slipe, from ]l-16d to 15.16 d; washed woo], from ;'|d to Id: rabbitskin.s, :,'d' to Id; tallow. 4().s to sos per ton; pelts.. 'lss to (i'ds: preserved meals. 40s to 555; hemp (from July). 05s to 'Bos. "It is stated by local shipowners that Australian rate- : are and have been for some time much -higher than those ruling i:i the Dominion, and- that the increase is justified by the scarcity of shins. Tramp steamers are in- enormoii- demand,' and the latest advices from Home show that vessels are being chartered for the River Plato-Unilod Kiingdten tirade at- up to 70s! per ton wehiht. and it must be remembered that the voyage is but half the distant-.; of that between New Zealand and tlio United Kingdom. As much as 35s per ton is being paid for the carriage of coal frcl.n .Britain to the River Plato. Further, steamers in. the New Zealand trade had been in the ha'- of obtaining coal for 35s i>er ton at Monte Video and Rio. whereas now they have to payup to 70s per ton at them plates. Another reason for the raising of freights is the deereas-od earning power of the steamers caused by the congestion of shipping :at Home ports and the consequent delay in loading and discharging. A steamer arriving at- London Tate in February' was urgently required back in New Zealand to lone mutton, and under ordinary conditions could have left <lun'ne: the first week in March, but -he is still there. The abnormal conditions generally are pot forward as ample justification for theraising of freights.