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o+ Oct. 1, the figures had again fallen to 456 vessels, of 824,000 tons, being the lowest of the year. As compared with the returns for 1921 this increase in the employment of British ships is remark- able. The year 1922 opened fairly auspi- ciously for ordinary cargo steamers and in the late summer months the demand for tonnage to carry coal, and also iron ore, to the United States was a very favorable factor. The River Plate market, one of the chief freight markets, showed considerable activity. Early in the year freights for the homeward voyage were on the basis of about.37s 6d per ton, as com- pared with 45s twelve months. previ- ously, when working costs were higher. In the first three months of the year the freights declined, and by the mid- dle of March they were on the hasis of about 25s per ton, at which level they remained for some little time. Then, in the summer months and early autumn, they declined, and_ the _lowest rate of 18s 6d per ton was touched. In the autumn a recovery, and in November the basis of between 30s and 35s per ton was reached. Again there was a little de- cline at the end of the year and rates fell to the basis of about 27s 6d per ton. In the late autumn a good deal of tonnage was secured for loading homewards in the first three months of the new year. As. usual, the outward coal freights to South America moved in contrary fashion. When the homeward grain rates fell to their lowest point the outward coal rates advanced to as much as 18s and 19s a ton: ‘and then by November when the homeward freights were on a comparatively high level they fell to between 11s 6d and 12s a ton. When rates were on this low level they were regarded as un- attractive by owners, since the cost of discharging is put at about 3s a ton and after deduction of brokerage, the net freight to the owner was only about 8s a ton. Taking into ac- count the time spent in loading coal —the Welsh ports are seriously con- gested—some owners preferred to send their ships to South America in bal- last. The transport of grain from Aus- tralia absorbed a good deal of. ton- nage through last year, and other markets which from time to time showed fair activity were those for the transport of sugar from Cuba and Java and rice from Burma. The Chile- an nitrate trade hardly realized the the expectations which owners at one time had of it. The St. Lawrence grain shipping sedson was a very active one and in’ the autumn months, until navigation was closed alarge amount of there was MARINE REVIEW tonnage was secured to bring grain from Montreal. Some of the shipping chartered had proceeded to North America with coal. Last year the hopes which are us- ually entertained by owners of a re- vival in the autumn, when the move- ment of the crops should be at its height, were not disappointed. ‘The first signs of the revival appeared in the East, which, when the demand set in, proved to be very short of ton- nage. In prewar years it had been British Cargo Freight Index Number Prepared by L. Isserlis, statistician for the chamber of shipping of the United Kingdom, and published in The Statist, London. 1920 1921 1922 FORUArY co 123.0 46.3 33.0 February 6: 7.2°198.0 38.0 33.6 Marte ks 141.0 37.5 33.3 April O72 .2 127.0 39.5 31.0 Mawr Sa 121.0 39.4 32.5 TNE eas 112.0 42.7 29.8 Wee: 95.0 43.0 27.8 PMCUSE ss 84.0 40.2 27.6 September 84.0 34.4 26.7 October 706i. 93.0 30.8 28.1 November 80.0 29.8 29.9 December 58.0 Bie Calculated in each case on the basis of 100 as representing the geometri- cal average in 1920. customary for some owners ‘to charter their vessels for employment in’ the eastern trade over considerable periods and when their work in the East had been done they were available for homeward loading... Possibly a good deal of this business is now carried on by the liner companies, and it is probable that only a. relatively limited amount of tonnage had thus been dis- patched in 1922 to the East with coal cargoes. In any case, in eastern trade, the supply of tonnage during the autumn could hardly keep pace with the demand for shipping to load homewards, and rates advanced con- siderably. The Far East took a sub- stantial amount of tonnage in the autumn, principally for the shipment of beans and oil. Trend of Rates The general movement of freights is indicated in the index number of ship- ping freights prepared by . Dr, Isserlis, the statistician of the chamber of shipping of the United Kingdom. This index number takes account of the rates in 21 principal trades and since some trades are of more importance February, 1923 than others more component freights are employed in these trades thus pro- ducing a weighted index. As compared with an index number of 123 in Janu- ary, 1920, the index number for Janu- ary, 1922, was 33. In February the number, at 33.6 reached its maximum for 1922. There was some decline later, but at 29.9 the number for November showed an increase of 6.5 per cent on that for. October and of 12.1 per cent on the figure for Sep- tember. It was also slightly higher than the figure of 29.78 for Novem- ber of last year. As compared with a time charter index number of 29.9 in January, the figure for November was 24.7. This represented a rise of 3.1 per cent as compared with the figure for October, this being the first in- crease since May, 1921. Although the index numbers show very heavy falls as compared with the level for 1920, they do reflect the improvement which set in during the concluding weeks of 1922. For the liner companies the year 1922 will be notable for marked reduc- tions in the passenger rates to and from India, Australia, New Zealand, and the Far East. For some time it had been known that the high charges were restricting traffic, but shipping managers nintained that the level of working co.” precluded them from making any reductions in the passage rates. As indicating the re- ductions now in force, first-class “B” rate by the P. & O. company from London to. Singapore was lowered from £124 to £98 and the corre- sponding rate from London to Japan was lowered from £150 to £124. The first-class “B’’ saloon fare from Lon- don to Sydney was reduced from £150 to £124 and the second-class fare from £115 to £86. Reductions in rates were made by all the principal lines in the eastern, far eastern and Australian. trades, and in addition to the P. & O. line, ,.by the Ellerman & Bucknall lines to India and the Far East, by the Orient and Aberdeen lines to Australia, and by the New Zealand Shipping Co. and ‘the Shaw, Savill & Albion Co. to New Zealand. The rates were lowered in. the first, second-class and third-class accommo- dation. The saloon rates are’ ’still substantially above the prewar: stand- ard, and it is probable that the tines will consider very carefully the desir- ability of making further reductions before long. The companies have to take into account the fact that their traffic depends not only on those who are compelled to travel but also on those. who desire to do so from: time to time and may be prevented by unduly high rates. Again the matter