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Day.] Dues on Vessels passing through Suez Canal. [19 June, 1911 Mr. FlSHEK— cent. " made upon shipping for using the Suez Canal are excessive and seriously retard "■ the trade within the Empire and with other countries, and invites the Government " of the United Kingdom to use their influence for the purpose of obtaining a sub- " stantial reduction of the present charges." Since 1896 the Commonwealth Government have made repeated and continuous representations to His Majesty's Government to endeavour to get a reduction of the charges made on shipping using the Suez Canal, and reductions have been made in recent years; in 1903, 50 centimes, amounting to sd. ; in 1908, 75 centimes, amounting to 7jd. ; and in 1911 (the other day), 50 centimes, amounting to sd. The present rate is 7 francs 25 centimes, or equal to 6s. per ton. Notwithstanding that representations have been made the Canal Company maintain that the improvements they are making m deepening and improving the Canal, and other facilities, are of more value to the shipping than an actual reduction in the rates. That is a matter, of course, which must be discussed between the shippers, and the' Canal Company, but we in Australia are very nearly concerned with the speed of, and the charges and burden that are placed on, the ships that carry our trade through that great waterway, and we think that a more substantial reduction than any yet made ought to be made by the Canal Company. To give an illustration : a ship of 10,000 tons, say, passing through the Canal at the present time would pay 2,900?. per passage. That amounts to a charge that is really embarrassing. It is true, and we ought to admit it cheerfully, that this is a private company carrying on their business in the ordinary way, and, as was stated during the preliminary discussion here, if the shippers do not desire to use that Canal they can pursue their business by another sea. That, of course, is an obvious answer from a commercial point of view. But I think there are other interests involved, and when it is pointed out that the amount paid in dues exceed the amount of our mail subsidy you will see that the charges are very heavy and very burdensome. It is also, as you will notice by a recent report of the P. and O. Company, stated that the dues paid to the Canal Company by their ships passing through that waterway are more than the amounts paid for the wages of the whole of the crews of those ships. That is a fair illustration of the amount of those charges, and the burden that is imposed by them. It is quite true that the Company may fail with their great works, and their interests may be in danger from some uncertain event. That is always possible, and they demand very high rates of interest on that account. But, on the other hand, we have the statement made to the world by the great engineer who was responsible for the construction of the Canal, De Lesseps, that when the dividend amounted to 25 per cent, they intended to reduce the rate to, I think, about 5 francs per ton. At this time, that would mean a reduction of per cent, on the present rates. Now, as a matter of absolute fact, the average rate paid has been from 25 to 28 per cent., and if that promise were redeemed to the public it would largely help us, and it would not do serious damage to the interests of the Canal Company. That is one side of it. His Majesty's Ministers are large shareholders in this Company, and apart from any commercial aspects of it, I think we are not going beyond our rights and bounded duty now to again bring this matter before them, and ask that they should use their influence in every possible way to get these charges reduced to the amount promised by the great engineer who constructed the Canal. The Suez Canal is our most speedy and convenient route to Europe at the present time, and we desire that it should be used by our mail steamers, but there are other routes which has been discussed at this Conference, and we have now our great sister Dominion of South Africa with us for the first time at this Conference, and it will be undoubtedly the duty of that great Dominion and the Commonwealth to ascertain if they cannot find relief in other quarters. Ido not utter that at all by way of a threat to influence the Canal Company. They, no doubt, know best how to conduct their own business ; but we make an earnest appeal to the Government in the first place, and to the Company in the second place, for a further reduction in rates.