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World Unrest Retards Uk. Ships Exchange Difficulties Restrict Trade—Lifeless Freight Markets Await Reparations Solution — Proposed Shipping Legislation HERE is no escaping the fact ' that conditions in the freight mar- kets, which began the year quite hopefully, have gone from bad to worse. They were deteriorating in the first three months of the year, and during the last quarter extreme dullness has set it. At the time of writing, cargo shipping is suffering from severe depression. We are now approaching, and, indeed, are very close to the period of the year which may normally be regarded as the quiet- est. This is the period when the bulk of the great crops of the world have been shipped and the new crops are not yet available for transport. But natural conditions of this kind cou!d have nothing to, do with the stagnation of the last quarter, and they do not account for the present inactivity. Even abnormal demand from Germany for coal, which was a feature of business in the first quarter of the year, seems to have died down. The causes of the depression are far ee ee QUAR- in Germany, and even in the case of . . > . . * easier to discover than to cure. The Gross tons other continental countries they can not i i 1d’ bl tares Monnage launched: 3 cece cect 238,121 kn diagnosis of the world’s troubles sta EApieinapa ecn a 538°638 ow how the course of the exchanges business men in the face. *Tonnage building, June 30..... 1,337,759 will tend. Were they to * 1 i . . Tie troubles are: the .after- peer rns 130,000 tons of construction base thee teancathione a ee hich came ceivin i in- ee Te War wien. SHIP MANAGEMENT FACTS IN SECOND QUARTER g. PayMCH 3e e to an end _ four-and-a-half OF 1923 hoe : ental currencies, they might years ago. They are due to Co i i 7 aes find the whole of the profit ‘ . ° ime § the financial chaos which still Ordinary British steamers per ton, dead- : on which they have calcu- rules on the continent. There ee ee PIN Og SZ Cie oS lated in the transaction wiped - i ili Plate-United Kingdom grain, per ton.... 116 3 1050 out, or they might even find & me : mene, oP ptabeliex Australia-United Kingdom wee per ton 115 0 le valala) h : y 8 : which is a fundamental es- Cuba-United Kingdom sugar, per tones). : . ‘ cy 6 themselves involved in heavy A South Wales-Buenos Aires, coal, per ton : sential for commerce. There Roc tied Kinedom-Cantnent niaate, loss. In such circumstances are the wildest movements Pen 10M cy cow ae tees ce ees cena se Teta yd lee it may well seem better for Coal ‘ i the ‘rates’ of exchange. Best Welsh large S. Wales, per ton...... D530 11256 them to do nothing than to The German mark _ slides on ea es seep a ee run the risk of such results. down precipitately to lower Wages : Buyers abroad, if required to : A. B. seamen, per month .........-:- 16 20 <0 Oe 070 3 beosti a dou and still lower depths and Firemen, per month ........ pa i _ S ; : A pay in sterling Or in dollars, ; : istant st ds, per month....../..- : now and again temporarily Plaga per cont oe 41.10 0. =10 70° °0 can not tell how much in recovers some of the loss. It is impracticable for business men to keep pace with the movements, or to attempt to enter into speculative transactions in which the mark is any factor at all, un- less, of course, they are prepared to gamble heavily. Happily the British Isles, although very heavily burdened with taxation, have es- caped the appalling troubles which have overwhelmed some of the continental countries. Into the causes which have kept the country solvent, in spite of the enormous financial burdens assumed, it is not necessary here to enter. The out- Standing fact, as far as commerce is concerned, is that the country can afford As the result ‘of discussi owners and the employes, the rates of all grades of the men afloat were reduced, as shown, as from April 16. BY CUTHBERT MAUGHAN Shipping Editor, The Times, London to pay for what it really needs. It can still buy the crops of the great producing countries, but its purchasing power can not prove sufficient to absorb the export- able supplies of the producing lands. The production of these countries has been developed on the basis that the British Shipping Index PRICES OF REPRESENTATIVE SHIPPING SECURITIES IN 1923 (Second Quarter) Highest d Essa Lowest Securities Geis Cunard £1: shares. . ile seems 019 9 (April 13) (June 21) 11610% 114 3 (May 19) (April 11) P. & O.. deferred SLOOS Stocke satis S531 OOK Sea One (April 26) (April 21) OFAN 3 0829 0s 0 (June 8) (April 20) SHIP CONSTRUCTION IN UNITED Furness, ShareSase es wee Royal Mail S. P, C £100 stock eee eee continental nations would be able to go on purchasing their share. Much of the commerce of Britain has been built up by financing and shipping these require- ments and, inevitably, the dislocation on the continent has very seriously affected the trade of this country. It is well recognized that a certain amount of speculative dealing is essential to the establishment of any market. There must be men and firms who will commodities without having in sight immediate purchasers. By such ade has been centered in 303 buy any transactions tr London. Cargoes of grain and _ other commodities have been bought and re- bought in course of passage, with the knowledge that comparatively near to London were vast consuming areas in Europe, and that if buying from one quarter should subside, demand from an- other would spring up. Buying for im- mediate consumption is not adequate to keep a large market employed. Thus was commerce carried on before the war. It received its sudden and violent check in August, 1914, and it has never fully recovered. .The difficulties of fin- ance in Germany have been accentuated as the ever increasing issue of paper cur- rency became further and further re- moved from the real assets to which the _currency was originally anchored. Today the men who would buy for the purpose of forming a market have no means of — knowing what, is any, currency will be available for the purchase of commodities their currency the transaction will cost them. Buying is reduced to a minimum. It is strictly of a hand-to- mouth kind. Commerce 3s wait- ing on events which are subject to great political considerations, some of which business men do not profess to under- stand. Everywhere in business circles hopes are cherished that the latest proposals for solving the reparation problems on the continent will be successful. Only when these questions have been disposed of satisfactorily can- there be any real hope of a large revival of commerce in It stands to reason that once channels now practically. Europe. commercial