Shipping

SHIPPING.

The movement of shipping freights from i 90o to 1927 is illus trated by the Economist index figures as follows, the year 1913 being taken as Too.

*Freights abnormal owing to coal dispute. No comparable index figures calculated.

It will be seen that since the slump in 1921, which followed the unprecedentedly high level of 1920, freights have kept steadily be low the level of wholesale prices, which for the corresponding years have been as follows, according to the Board of Trade Index figures and again taking the year 1913 as I oo :— 1921 . . . 197.2 1925 . . . . 159.7 1922 . . . . 158.8 1926 . . . . 148.1 1923 . . . . 158.9 1927 . . 1924 166.2 To illustrate the state of employment in the industry, it may be stated that in 1913 the total number of seamen shipped on British foreign going vessels was 572,581 as against 524,345 in 1925, and 524,504 in 1926.

B. Shipbuilding.

The following table taken from Lloyd's Annual Summary of Shipbuilding gives the tonnage of merchant vessels launched in Great Britain and Ireland and the rest of the world from 1894 onwards:— Merchant Vessels Launched from 1894 Onwards Railways.—The first line of railway for regular passenger service, that from Stockton to Darlington, 14 m. in length, was opened on the 27th September, 1825. The first really important railway was the line from Manchester to Liverpool, opened on the September, 1830. The first sod for the London-Birmingham railway was cut at Chalk Farm, ,London, on the 1st June, All the great railway systems of England sprang into existence within less than ten years after the opening of the London-Bir mingham line.

The railway companies were at first only authorized to con struct and maintain the permanent way, charging tolls to the owners of locomotives and wagons and coaches which used the lines. The next step was that they became providers of the loco motives which hauled the privately owned wagons and coaches. Finally the companies have become providers also of the wagons and coaches, except in the case of mineral wagons on the L.M.S., Southern and G.W. Railways.

The following table gives the figures for the total length of railways for carrying passengers, 1825-1850:— The years since 1913 have witnessed a revolution in our inland transport system.

At the outbreak of the War, the Government took complete control of the railways guaranteeing the Companies their pre-War revenues. The fact that the War lasted for more than four years, and involved a far-reaching re-arrangement and re-distribution of the trade and traffic of the country, made the strict terms of the agreement practically inapplicable. A huge sum of money was required to put the companies back into their pre-War condition of repair and efficiency. Rolling stock had been removed to other countries, stations closed, permanent way and other plant allowed to fall into comparative disrepair, staff seriously depleted, and the arrangements for the routing of traffic widely altered. The costs of operation had also risen enormously.

The Ministry of Transport.—The Government, foreseeing the difficulties which would arise if control were suddenly removed, passed in 1919 the Ministry of Transport Act, which gave the Minister powers to control the operation and charges of all exist ing means of internal transport. Later there was passed the Rail ways Act, 1921, under which I. The 120 railways of Great Britain were amalgamated into four large groups, the Southern, the Great Western, the London, Midland and Scottish, and the London and North Eastern.

2.

A new tribunal called the "railway rates tribunal" was set up, its most important function being the settlement of the charges and conditions of carriage of the amalgamated companies. The tribunal consists of one person of legal experience, who is chairman, one person of railway experience, and one of commercial experience.

The first of these provisions was intended to facilitate working economies by eliminating costly competition, and the second to provide a cheap and business-like tribunal for exercising the necessary control over the new system.

Charges and Wages.—The Act laid down an entirely novel prin ciple in regard to the basis of charge. Section 58 provides that the charges be fixed on a basis estimated to yield an annual net reve nue ("the standard revenue") equivalent to the aggregate net revenues in the year 1913 of the various companies absorbed by the amalgamated company together with allowances for interest on capital expended or raised since Jan. 1, 1913, or capital which had not at that date become fully remunerative. Section 59 pro vides for periodical revisions of the charges and also lays down that if on any such review the tribunal finds that the net revenue of the company is substantially in excess of the standard revenue, such excess shall be divided between the public and the railway companies, 8o% being allocated to reduction of charges and 2o% being retained by the company as profits. This increased standard (the old standard plus 20% of the excess) is then to become the standard revenue of the company: In regard to wages and conditions of service, the Act provides that all disputes in regard to these shall be referred to two bodies, the Central Wages Board and the National Wages Board, the lat ter acting as a court of appeal from the former. Both these bodies are in the nature of conciliation committees including representa tives of the companies and their employees; the national wages board also includes representatives of railway users. The process of working out the new system and fixing the schedules of charges has proved long and laborious, and ultimately Jan. 1, 1928 was fixed as the "appointed day" when the new arrangements came into operation.

The Removal of Control.--The position of the companies since the removal of Government control has been an unfavourable one. The economies promised through amalgamation have been slow in materialising, and the trade depression resulted in a decline of traffic. At the same time the rapid increase of road transport, aided by the increase of rail charges to a level i00% above pre-war, had diverted from the rail a considerable and increasing volume of the most lucrative traffics. The companies, whose position has been further complicated by the great increase in working costs, in the hope of stimulating traffic reduced their charges as from Aug., 1923, to 5o per cent above pre-war, but the hoped for im provement did not result. Expenditure in 1924 exceeded that of 1913 by £96,000,000 or 117%, whereas to meet this additional burden receipts had only increased by £88,000,000 or 70%. Coal was 142% higher than in 1911, and 89% over 1913; other ma terials were 67.9% and wages 153% above 1913. There was an increase in staff by 13%, due to the operation of the eight hours' day. The year 1925 gave signs of improvement, but the coal dispute of 1926 caused a severe setback, and in Feb. 1927, the charges were increased to 6o% above pre-war, a general level which was confirmed in the new schedules.

The companies' financial position, however, was relieved by the fact that in 1922 the Government, in order to clear up claims for compensation under the control scheme, handed over to them sums amounting in all to £62,000,000 making over £100,000,000 so distributed since the beginning of the control. The companies were able to maintain their dividends by drawing money (over £ 5,000,00o in 1924-5) from their reserve funds, which had been enormously augmented by these grants. The year 1927 saw some improvement in railway finance and organization and for that year none of the companies was compelled to draw upon its reserves to pay dividends. At the end of the year all the com panies introduced private bills asking for increased powers to carry goods by road in order to enable them to compete with the road hauliers. These bills were referred to a joint select committee of the two houses of parliament, which held that they had been proved. The committee agreed that the proposed ex tended powers should be granted. The new acts, which received the royal assent in August 1928, empowered the four main rail ways to provide transport services by road subject to certain safeguards. A Royal commission was appointed in July 1928 to consider measures for securing better traffic regulation.

In the table on p. 717 the receipts for 1925-27 are shown quarter by quarter, omitting the figures for the period of the coal stoppage :— crease of road transport by motor vehicles both of goods and passengers.

The development is shown by the following table :— Canals.—Canal transport began in Great Britain in the middle of the i8th century, and formed a very important development of our transport system till the growth of the more speedy and elastic system of railway carriage began to impair its position. At the outbreak of the war there were still about 3,80o miles of canal in use, and in 1913 these canals carried about 33,500,00o tons of traffic, their position having remained practically stationary for a generation. Moreover development did not keep pace with the growth of traffic; physical limitations made the use even of 1 oo ton barges impossible and 30o tons is generally accepted in other countries as the minimum standard to enable canals to compete with railway transport.

The value of the canals during the war caused a revival of interest in their potentialities, especially as the railway system was very congested during the early post-war period. The govern ment instituted inquiries into the possibility of reviving the water ways which had largely fallen into disuse prior to the war, but no government felt justified in undertaking the somewhat ambitious schemes of reorganization which have been recommended at various times. Local schemes have, however, been under con sideration in various districts, and with government and municipal assistance important improvements are being made on the water ways between Nottingham and the Humber. It is possible that further developments may be undertaken, notably between Bir mingham and the Mersey, and Birmingham and the Severn.

Roads.

The first roads worthy of the name of highways were constructed about the middle of the 17 th century, and these formed the main avenues of traffic until, in the middle of the i9th century, the railways began to displace them. The de velopment of road motor transport during the first decade of the 2oth century directed attention to the condition of the roads in the country and, as a result, the Development and Road Im provement Funds Act was passed in 1909. Under this Act a road board was constituted with powers :—(1) to make advances to county councils and other highway authorities in respect of the construction of new roads or the improvement of existing roads; (2) to construct and maintain any new roads.

The annual expenditure on roads from 191 o to 1925 was as fol lows: The great increase since 1918 has been due at first to arrears of maintenance during the war, and since to the very rapid in During the same period horse-drawn vehicles licensed declined from 215,083 to 127,248, a loss of 40.8%.

The following are the approximate number of motor vehicles licensed during the years 1921-1926:— 1921 . 1924 • • • 1922 . •979,000 1925 . • 1,547,000 1923 . . . . I,141,400 1926 . . . . 1,729,000 The total mileage of all roads in 1927 was, England & Wales . . . . . . . Scotland Tramways.—An act passed in 18 7o to facilitate the con struction of tramways throughout the country marks the begin ning of their modern development. It led to the laying down of "street railways" in many large towns. According to a return laid before the House of Commons in the session of 1878, the total length of tramways authorized by parliament up to June 3o, 1877, was 363 m. and the total length opened for traffic 213 m. comprising 125 m. of double lines and 88 m. of single lines. On June 3o, 1900, there were in the United Kingdom 7o tramway undertakings with 585 m. of line belonging to local authorities, while Io7 with 592 m. of line belonged to other than local authorities. The capital expenditure on the former amounted to £10,203,604, on the latter to The development of tramway enterprise in the U.K. as shown by the mileage open, the paid up capital, gross receipts, work ing expenses and number of passengers carried, has been as follows:— Post-war years refer to Great Britain only, the Irish figures having been excluded from the year 1913. From 1890 to 1913 the Irish figures are included.

The number of tram-cars licensed in 1927 was 14,000.

Air Transport.

Air transport first became a commercial reality after the World War, the first commercial passenger plane crossing to Paris in Aug. 1919. The first air mail contract was made by the Government in the following November. During the early years services were operated by various companies under considerable financial difficulties. In 1921 the first Government subsidy scheme was inaugurated and during the next three years subsidized services were operated by Messrs. Daimler, Handley Page and Instone. In 1924 all the British air lines merged in the State aided enterprise of Imperial Airways Limited, a million pound company with Government representation on the board.

The services in Europe operated by Imperial Airways are as follows :—London-Paris ; London-Brussels-Cologne ; London Ostend ; London–Paris–Basle–Zurich; London–Le Touquet ; and Southampton–Guernsey (the latter being operated by seaplanes) ; and in the Middle East the present (1928) route is Cairo–Gaza Baghdad–Basra. This latter service constitutes the first link on the imperial air route to India. It was inaugurated in Jan. 1927, and completed its first year's operation with a i00% regularity throughout. When certain political questions have been settled with Persia, this service will be extended to India (Karachi) and the organization for this is already laid down.

Air Mail.—The increase in the carriage of mails by air is shown by the following figures :— For the year 1924-1925 the total weight of letter mail carried by air on European services was 2.7 tons and the total weight of parcel mail 17.8 tons; whereas for the year 1926-1927 the total weight of letter mails on Euro pean services was 5.3 tons and parcel mail 24.4 tons. In the Middle East the air mail service already saves in time over sur face transport up to 17 days between London and `Iraq and from 12 to 13 days to Persia. The extension to Karachi will result in a saving of seven days for the first class letter mail and, with the further extension from Egypt to Europe a reply to an air mail letter will be received in the time the first letter takes to be sent by the ordinary mail methods. To-day over one-third of the total mail between England and `Iraq and 6o% of the incoming mail from `Iraq to London is carried by air (Imperial Airways). Dur ing the year 1927 approximately 32 tons of mail was carried on this route.

Passenger and Freight Traffic.—The number of passengers car ried on Imperial Airways routes in Europe in the year was 11,395. This number has steadily increased and in the year 1926-1927 the number of passengers carried on their European routes was 17,000 and on their Middle East weekly service 1,177. There has also been a steady increase in freight (1924 1925, 224.2 tons: tons on the European services).

Carriage of Bullion.—Bankers and brokers are utilising more and more the air services for the carriage of bullion. Imperial Airways in 1927 carried over nine millions sterling.

The advantages of carrying bullion and precious metals by air are, (a) the greater speed in reaching its destination and the consequent saving of interest on gold; (b) there is less handling en route and consequently less risk of theft ; (c) the insurance rate on bullion and precious metals is considerably lower than by alternative means of transport.

The fleet has recently been augmented by three-engined air craft which are the largest passenger aeroplanes in existence and carry eighteen passengers, a pilot, a mechanic, a steward and a fully equipped buffet. A new departure in 1927 was the institu tion of a second class service, which left Croydon for Paris at 8 o'clock each morning and was carried out on twin engined aircraft having a seating capacity of twelve.

Transport and Communications.

Postal Service. The first inland post was established in England in 1635. Early charges were 2d. per 8o miles, 4d. for 140 miles, 6d. for greater distances in England, 8d. to Scotland. At first the volume of cor respondence was very small, and Scott in the Heart of Midlothian mentions that one day in the late 17th century the mail from London to Edinburgh consisted of a single letter. The institu tion of mail coaches in 1784 marked a great step forward. Mails were first sent by rail in 1830, and the penny post was established in 1840. The sending of telegrams was originally in the hands of various telegraph companies, the transfer to the State taking place in 1870. After 1880 the then novel and undeveloped system of telephony was carried on under licence from the State, being held to be within the State telegraph monopoly. The Na tional Telephone Company gradually absorbed all other licencees, and obtained a licence which expired in 1911. The State, how ever, had control of all trunk lines. The National Telephone Com pany's system was transferred to the post office on January 1, 1912. The number of exchanges increased from 1,566 in 1910 to 3,971 on Dec. 31, 1925, and the number of telephone stations from 619,399 in 1910 to 1,357,908 on Dec. 31, 1925. The use of automatic exchanges developed after the World War. By the end of 1927 these were working in over 6o provincial towns, and the first automatic exchange in London was opened at Holborn in that year. The same year witnessed a great extension of tele phone connection with foreign countries. By the end of the year it was possible to speak not only from London but from most towns across the Atlantic, as well as to all European capitals and large commercial centres such as Lyons, Zurich, Frankfurt, Ant werp, Cologne, Hamburg, Leipzig, Gothenburg, etc., to Prussian towns on the Lithuanian border and even to Swedish towns in the Arctic circle.

The following table extracted from the Commercial Accounts of the post office for 1926, shows the balances in the postal tele graph and telephone expenditure and income accounts from March 31, 1912, to March 31, 1927, and gives some idea of the magni tude of the business involved, while it may be mentioned that in 1926-27 the total amount expended in salaries, wages and allow ances was no less than f33,880,072.

*May 1923.

Rates for telegrams were doubled during this period.

Cables.—It would be difficult to exaggerate what the submarine cable has done to develop and cement the British empire. The first cable was laid across the Channel in 1850, and the Atlantic was finally conquered in 1866. In 1922, when the Eastern Tele graph Company, the group which practically controls the whole system, celebrated its jubilee, the total mileage of cable in the world had grown from under i,000 to 325,000 and the capital invested in this one group alone to 25 million pounds, with a total for all companies of about 6o millions. The system, pro tected as it is by the British navy, was of extraordinary im portance during the war, for whereas Germany was at a very early stage completely isolated, the British cables were only cut by the enemy at two points and these were quickly restored. Some idea of the potentialities of the cable in the way of speed can be gathered from the cable "Derby" in 1927, when the re sults of the race reached Egypt and S. Africa . . . . . . in 2 seconds India within . 5 S. America within . . . . . . . i 1 „ Australia . . in 32 „ Straits Settlements . . . . . . . 45 China . „ 51 „ while the message of H.M. the king announcing the opening of the British empire exhibition in 1925 travelled 31,56o miles in 8o seconds.

The principal organizations in the cable world are the Eastern Telegraph Company, which controls 130,00o miles of the total 325,000 of the world's cables connecting Britain with the whole of the empire except Canada, the Indo-European Company and the Imperial Pacific, now owned by the British and Dominion Governments, which provide an all round route to Australia via the Atlantic and Pacific.

Wireless Telegraphy.—Operation of wireless telegraphy services in Great Britain were, till 1928, kept in the hands of the Gov ernment. The system first used was a high-power, long wave system. In 1924 the Marconi Company entered into a contract with the Government to provide beam stations for communication with Canada, Australia, India and S. Africa. All these services are now (1928) working under the administration of the G.P.O., the last (Indian) having commenced in Sept. 1927. The four circuits are said to be carrying traffic at the rate of about 3o mil lion words per annum, the rates being lower than the cable rates on all except the Canadian circuit, where the charges are equal.

Wireless services are also in operation with foreign countries, the European services being partly run by the G.P.O. and partly by the Marconi Company under licence from the G.P.O. There are also services with the U.S.A., Brazil and the Argentine, which are operated by the company.

The year 1927, therefore, witnessed the definite establishment of competition between wireless and cables. It is true that at the end of the year there was only one wireless transmitting service between the United Kingdom and the United States of America, which was worked on the old high-powered long wave system, and that the rates for this service were no cheaper than cable rates, none the less it was stated that this service was carrying 2o% of the United States traffic in competition with 14 cables. Moreover, the Marconi Company had installed at Dorchester a beam station transmitting on low power, and short wave length for communi cation with the U.S.A. Once this was placed in operation, an even greater proportion of the U.S.A. traffic was by wireless.

Up to the present the wireless business has been mostly confined to the deferred and week-end rate messages, owing to difficulties in connection with the phenomena of "fading." It was not thought, however, that this difficulty would prove insoluble. The cable companies were also improving their service by the estab lishment of loaded cables which will be able to carry five or more separate messages simultaneously. These should enable the corn • panies to effect considerable economies and to reduce rates should the competition of the wireless service make this necessary. None the less, there is no doubt that the cables are feeling the competition of wireless acutely. According to the Post Office Commercial Accounts for 1926-7 there was in that year a deficit on the inland telegraph service of £1,300,000; on the G.P.O. wireless service of over £ 1 oo,000 and on the G.P.O. imperial cable of £40,000. At the beginning of 1928 a negotiation took place between the Associated Cable Companies and the Marconi Com pany with a view to finding some basis of cooperation if possible, and at the same time a conference of representatives of the British Government, the dominions and India met to consider the future relations of the imperial wireless and cable services.

Wireless Telephony.—In Jan. 1927 there was opened by arrangement between the post office and the American Telegraph and Telephone Company a wireless telephone service connecting the two countries. Very little use had, however, been made of this during the first year of its existence.

Television.—During 1927, the possibility of the wireless trans mission of pictures and facsimiles was much studied and hopes were entertain2d that a two-way service with the U.S.A. might be established within the comparatively near future.