A.—4,

374

10th Day.] Trade and Postal Communications and [16 June, 1911. Shipping Conferences. Sir D. de VILLIERS GEAAFF-co^. "be exercised over the ports. It has been shown how powerless this Union has " made South Africa when dealing with a single foreign country. The same con- " siderations apply to all her relations with any carefully organized union of private " interests. She can only deal with them on equal terms by applying the lesson " which they themselves have learned from the conditions of their business." Coming from such a high authority on maritime and economic questions, these views naturally carry the greatest weight. What we in South Africa are resolved to have is an open freight market for our seaborne trade. Our past experience has shown us that the trade and industries of the country will never be free to seek and secure their most advantageous outlets so long as it is within the power of any private monopoly, having no responsibility to the people of the country, but actuated solely by selfish motives, to manipulate the ocean freights without let or hindrance. Thus far I have merely attempted to give a brief review of the situation to-day in South Africa, and of the remedy which the Union Parliament has resolved to apply in order to protect the interests of the people of that country. But as one of the objects of the resolution submitted by us is to secure the co-operation of His Majesty's Government and of the other Dominions, it is necessary that I should give some illustrations of the evils to which I have referred, since it is not to be expected that this Conference will be prepared to affirm the resolution without proof of the justice of our cause. Such proof lamin a position to put before the Conference. The whole question of shipping rings, and of deferred rebates, was investigated by a Royal Commission which reported in the year 1909. The Commission's Report, and the evidence upon which it was based, offer most instructive reading to those interested in the subject. I may say at once that South Africa's attitude towards this question has not in any sense been induced by the Report of this Commission. We have taken up the matter solely and entirely as a result of our own experiences of the South African Shipping Ring and its methods ; and it is upon our own experiences and not upon the conclusions of the Commission that we have submitted this Resolution. At the same time it is of interest to note, by way of opening our case, what were the findings of that Royal Commission. The Commissioners found that (a) The system of shipping rings has resulted in monopolies ; (b) That these monopolies have in certain cases enabled the rings to place rates on higher levels ; (c) That the system has led to the diversion of trade from the United Kingdom to the United States to the injiiry of British trade and has allowed in certain cases, German and Continental goods to be carried at lower rates ; (d) That the rings have granted preferential rates to particular traders and have acted arbitrarily. And, as supporting the point I made a few moments ago in regard to the unfortunate position of South Africa prior to union, the Commissioners say, to quote their own words (at page 74) : " The actions of the Conference in these matters seem to us to show that the members " of the Conference, or the dominant members of it, have not only not been alive to, or " anxious to meet, the wishes of the South African communities, but that for the pur- " pose of preserving their monopoly and resisting change, they have not abstained from " playing off the interests of one Colony against those of another." Comment on these conclusions seems to be superflous, more particularly when it is borne in mind that several of the s ; gnatories to the Report are gentlemen who, by reason of their close association with powerful shipping rings, were not likely to exaggerate the seriousness of the situation. In face of these findings one would be forgiven for expecting the Commissioners to put forward some effective proposals for remedying the undoubted grievances that were discovered ; but their recommendations, as outlined in the Board of Trade memorandum of 24th February last, exhibit, if I may be permitted to say so, a regrettable disinclination to advocate those remedies which, drastic though they might appear, constitute the only effective and business-like method of meeting the situation. I refer, of course, to the total prohibition by legislation of deferred rebates similar to what was done in a few other countries, as I will show by and by. But I would repeat that it was not these findings of the Royal Commission that inspired the Resolution submitted by the Union Government. World-wide as