PUBLIC RECORD
OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O-885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
17 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
Paragraph 3.
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it may be advisable to send a report which can be published and to supplement it by a special confidential report containing information which it may not be desirable to publish in full.
The Officer Administering
the Government of
APPENDIX B.
Sierra Leone.
Gold Coast.
Cape Colony.
Straits Settlements.
Queensland.
New South Wales.
Victoria.
Tasmania.
Ceylon.
Canada.
Jamaica.
British Guiana.
APPENDIX C.
Lagos.
I have, &c.,
J. CHAMBERLAIN.
Southern Nigeria.
Natal.
Hong Kong.
South Australia.
Western Australia.
New Zealand.
Mauritius.
Newfoundland.
Trinidad. Barbados.
LIST of LINES known to be included in the SINGAPORE and HONG KONG SHIPPING
CONFERENCES,
Notes in Straits Settle-
ments
In Straits Battlements Confidential Despatch,
In Hong
20th February
Kong, No. 310 of 6th November 1899.
Despatch.
1900.
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company
X.
X.
Oriental Steamship Company
X.
Messageries Maritimes
X.
Subsidised.
Subsidised.
N.D.L. Company
X.
The Glen Line
X.
The Shire Line
The Ben Line
The Mutual Line
Holts Line
The Mogul Line
The Nippon Yusen Kaisha -
The Compagnie Transatlantic
X.
The Hamburg-American
The Belgian Mail Line
APPENDIX D.
(New Zealand.)
XXXXXXXXXIII
MEMORANDUM on CIRCULAR from the SECRETARY OF STATE,
dated 23rd August 1899.
For the Information of the Honourable the Premier.
Subsidised.
? Subsidised.
་་
11
1899-989.
(I.) Freights between the United Kingdom and New Zealand are to a large extent in the hands of the New Zealand Shipping Company and the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company, which have their headquarters in London. These companies
27
have, I understand, an agreement with the Shire Line and with the Tyser Line trading between the United Kingdom and Australia, by which the Shire Line offers no competition in carrying cargo from the United Kingdom to New Zealand, and in respect of cargo from New Zealand to the United Kingdom both lines charge no freight below a minimum rate agreed upon. These four companies do the bulk of the carrying, but I am assured by the agents that competition is not entirely eliminated. For instance, during the past year there has been a very large pro- duction of grain in this Colony, and in anticipation of low prices ruling in the United Kingdom the Government entered into an agreement with the Tyser Line, by which a reduction of 58. per ton from the current rates, and also a reduction of primage from 10 per cent. to 5 per cent, was obtained in respect of grain carried by the Tyser steamers, certain conditions being guaranteed by the Government.
(II.) The agents of these companies informed me that they had no knowledge of rates of freight charged in the United Kingdom or of any differential rates in favour of goods from a foreign port, and that this information could be obtained only from the head offices of their respective companies in London. They thought it possible that in some cases goods originally shipped on the Continent may be transhipped to their vessels in London, and carried to New Zealand at the same rate of freight as would be charged on goods shipped at London for New Zealand.
I have, however, obtained two documents which throw some light on the question of differential rates. These are:
(a) A circular, copy herewith marked A,* issued by August Blumenthal, of Hamburg, containing a "through freight tariff in connection with the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Co. and the New Zealand Shipping Co., and stating that the sole Continental through traffic agency for these two companies is held by him.
(b) The New Zealand Shipping Co.'s cargo steamer rates, dated London, 6th May 1899, and signed J. B. Westray & Co., 138, Leadenhall Street, E.C. This was a printed document, and as only one copy was available, and the person in whose possession it was would not part with it, a typewritten copy is furnished herewith marked B.*
A comparison of these documents has been tabulated on Statement marked C, and it will be observed that goods shipped on the Continent for transhipment in London to New Zealand by the steamers of the Shaw, Savill and Albion Co. and of the New Zealand Shipping Co. have a very considerable advantage over the same British goods shipped in London for New Zealand. There are a few exceptions, viz., iron goods, machinery and paints.
The advantage enjoyed by shippers on the Continent through low freights arising from the subsidised lines to Australia does not greatly affect competition of Continental manufacturers with British manufactures in New Zealand, because the comparatively high freight on transhipments from Melbourne and Sydney neutralises to a large extent the advantage of a low freight from the Continent of Europe to Australia. The direct freight from the United Kingdom to New Zealand would not differ much from the freight by subsidised lines to Australia with the further freight on goods transhipped thence to New Zealand. That some advantage is gained, however, may be indicated by the increasing tendency to sell goods delivered c.i.f. The seller pays the freight, and the rate or amount paid is not known to the buyer in New Zealand. There is a suspicion that when this is done, Continental shippers get advantages in freight which are denied to persons ordering goods to be shipped f.o.b. in the usual way.
Until recently, importations from the United States of America came by sailing vessels. A direct line of steamers has now been established by which goods are carried at about half the rate between the United Kingdom and New Zealand. This has given a very great advantage to American producers as against British producers of the same articles. It is believed, however, that the low freights referred to cannot last, and that shortly an increase will be made. In the meantime fresh lines of American goods are obtaining a footing in the New Zealand market, and this will enhance the keenness of competition with British manufactures which already exists.
III. The Agents in New Zealand of the before-mentioned companies have the fixing of the minimum rates of freights on goods carried from New Zealand to the United Kingdom or to Europe, subject to the approval of their head offices in London. They state that when goods are shipped for the Continent of Europe, an addition is made to the rate from New Zealand to the United Kingdom to cover transit from London to the Continental port. Consequently the foreign port gets no advantages as compared with the British port.
• Not printed.
45842,
HI
28
¢