TONNAGE IN BALLAST.

A peculiar feature of the shipping trade is the small though varying proportion of tonnage in ballast arriving from and departing for places beyond Australia. Thus in the year 1881 this description of tonnage amounted to 5.2 per cent., and in 1891 to 4.1 per cent., of the total external shipping; while in 1903 the proportion was 7.2 per cent. The increase during recent years is chiefly due to the larger number of vessels which come to New South Wales in quest of freights, the proportion of shipping in ballast for that state being over 10 per cent. of the total external tonnage. The figures for Tasmania were again high in 1903, the tonnage in ballast being 12.6 per cent. of the total external tonnage, the proportion for the previous year being 14.4. Of the 86,615 tons entered and cleared this state in 1903, 15,671 tons represented sailing vessels entered in ballast from North America, and 16,077 tons sailing vessels in ballast from South Africa. Amongst the clearances there were no less than 10,420 tons representing sailing vessels cleared in ballast for Japan. The total external tonnage entered and cleared the Commonwealth in ballast during the years 1891, 1901, and 1903 was as follows:

The reason why so small a proportion of Australian shipping clears in ballast is principally to be found in the great and varied resources of the country; for when the staple produce-wool-is not available, cargoes of wheat, coal, silver, copper, live-stock, frozen meat, butter, fruit, tallow, leather, skins and hides, and other commodities may generally be obtained. Besides, owing to the great distance of the ports of the Commonwealth from the commercial centres of the old world, vessels are not usually sent out without at least some prospect of securing a return cargo. As a rule, it does not pay to send vessels to Australasia seeking freights, as is commonly done with regard to European and American ports. It is strong testimony, therefore, of the value of the trade of New South Wales to shipowners to find entered at the ports of that state direct from outside countries the comparatively large quantity of 419,700 tons of shipping in ballast, the following being the chief countries represented -Cape Colony, 157,619 tons; New Zealand, 83,628 tons; Natal, 58,104 tons; Portuguese East Africa, 26,438 tons; Philippine Islands, 10,924 tons.

The tonnage in ballast which entered and cleared at New Zealand ports and the percentage of such to the total tonnage of that colony may be seen in the following table.

The proportion of tonnage in ballast to the total shipping of some of the principal countries of the world is subjoined :

The shipping trade of the Commonwealth of Australia and of the colony of New Zealand is almost entirely in British hands, as will be seen from the subjoined tables, which deal with the total tonnage, both inter-state and external. Although direct communication with continental Europe has been established within recent years, and several lines of magnificent steamers, subsidised by foreign Governments, have entered into the trade between Australia and foreign ports, yet the proportion of shipping belonging to Great Britain and her dependencies has only fallen from 86-8 to 85 per cent. during the period extending from 1891 to 1903. The chief increases during the period have been amongst vessels trading from Germany and Japan, the proportion of the former rising from 5.2 per cent. to 7 per cent., and of the latter from 0.2 per cent. to 1.2 per cent.:

Nationality.

British..

Total Shipping Entered and Cleared the Commonwealth.

1891.

1901.

1903.

Percentage of each Nationality.

Vessels. Tonnage. Vessels. Tonnage. Vessels. Tonnage. 1891. 1901. 1903.

16,235 23,085,914 86-8 85-3 85-0 427 893,693 3.6 2.5 3.3 609 1,900,546 5.2 6.8 7:0

The returns published by the various states are not in such a form as to admit of the separation of the purely local tonnage from the other shipping of the Empire, and vessels owned in the Commonwealth are classed in the above table as "British." The number and tonnage of the steam and sailing vessels registered in each of the states of the Commonwealth and New Zealand may be found on a succeeding page. Few of the large vessels employed in the inter-state trade have been built in Australia.

The nationality of vessels trading with New Zealand may be seen in the following table :

Vessels. Tonnage. Vessels. Tonnage. Vessels. Tonnage. 1891. 1901. 1903.

The following table shows the relative increase during the last ten years in British, foreign, and colonial trade with New Zealand, and the figures possess a certain amount of interest in view of the laws recently passed in that colony granting preferential trade in certain commodities to Great Britain :

Shipping Entered and Cleared New Zealand.

Year.

British.

Colonial.

Foreign.

Vessels. Tonnage. Crews. Vessels. Tonnage. Crews. Vessels. Tonnage. Crews.

1894 281 542,458 | 12,893 | 855 616,597 26,806 87 103,161 4,054 1903 286 917,863 15,689 804 963,756 33,000 135 333,610 12,571

These figures apply to external trade only; but in addition thereto, as might be expected in a country with such an extensive seaboard as New Zealand, there is a very large coastal trade, amounting in 1903 to 9,216,221 tons entered, and 9,266,980 cleared.

STEAM AND SAILING VESSELS.

The tendency to substitute steamers for sailing vessels, which is general throughout the world, is very marked in the Australian trade. Unfortunately the subdivision of the total tonnage into steam and

sailing was not obtainable for the whole of the Commonwealth States until 1902. It is not possible, therefore, to show the total increase of steam tonnage, but appended will be found the figures of the external trade of the various states so far as they can be given :

The substitution of steam for sailing vessels in the shipping trade of some of the principal countries of the world may be gathered from the following table. The figures refer in most cases to the year 1902, the latest for which information is obtainable for the places specified :—

A comprehensive view of the changes which have taken place since the year 1881 in the class of vessel engaged in the inter-state and the

external shipping trade of the Commonwealth is afforded by the following figures :

As the table shows, the total number of vessels engaged in the shipping trade of the Commonwealth of Australia during 1903 was 1,171 more than the figure for 1891, and the returns of tonnage show an increase of over 10 millions. The average tonnage of shipping is 1,496, as compared with 956 in 1891, and 563 in 1881. The explanation of this increase of course lies in the fact that a superior type of vessel is now engaged in the shipping trade, and the enterprise of the great British and foreign trading companies will doubtless have the effect of raising still higher the average for succeeding years. Several of the vessels belonging to the fleet of the North German Lloyd are over 10,000 tons, the largest exceeding 13,000 tons. The Peninsular and Oriental Company possesses a magnificent fleet, the steamers ranging in size from 6,600 tons to 10,500 tons. The average tonnage of the steamers of the Orient Pacific Royal Mail Line is over 7,200 tons, of the Messageries Maritimes 6,500 tons, and of the White Star Line, the vessels of which were built principally as cargo carriers, 12,000 tons. Considerable impetus has been given to the foreign shipping trade with Australia through the subsidising of the lines by several of the foreign governments. The North German Lloyd, for example, receives an annual subsidy from the German Government of £115,000, equal to 6s. 8d. per mile. To protect the interests of the German agriculturists it is stipulated in the agreement that the vessels