The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-03-14
SHIPPING
IS PROSPEROUS

do d IcSuit VI Tue Wal 10 oOih6 '''S
advantage of here to the utmost. For
tunes or making in the shipping bus
ines and prices for freight steamers
have risen to practically limitless fig
ures.
The continuing demand for more
ships has induced the Japanese De.
partment of Communications to sum-
Marie the exact situation of Japa.
nese shipping. The investigation
shows that Japan's progress is not
due to the war alone, though it has
of course been immensely stimulated
by it, but has been going on for the
last fifteen years. japan now has
2132 vessels of over twenty tons
register with a total tonnage of L.
6O4,900 while the number of vessels
of over 1000 tons is 416 with total
tonnage of 1,331,3OS There are sc
merchant steamships each of 5000
tons, or over, now sailing under the
flag of Japan. Six new freight-carry-
ing steamships have been launched
within a month.
The shortage of shipbuilding mater
ial is being felt in all docks, but as far
as the stock is available the work is
being pushed on day and night and
some shipowners have even offered
prizes for the completion of a ship
before contract dates. A striking ex-
ample of quick building was the
steamer Taisho Maru, recently COM
pleted for the Hokuyo Steamship
Company which was launched within
three months and half after the
laying of the keel, and trimmed for
navigation in three weeks. That
ship of 5000 tons was completed in
such short period is record in the
annals of Japanese shipbuilding.
Japan's great commercial fleet has
come into existence since 1884 when
Japan really began to build ships of
iron. For period of about 200
years, between the seventeenth and
nineteenth centuries, the building of
vessels of over so tons net was pro-
,hibited by the government and it was
not until the arrival of Commodore
Perry from the United States that
Japan became awakened to the neces
sity Of laying down oceangoing YES
sells. The first steel vessel was built
in 1890.
In recent weeks the ocean trade
has shown signs of increasing activi
ty and everywhere is heard complaint
of shortage Of tonnage. In the &C.
ment market, for example, the pauci-
ty of freight space has caused big
congestion. At the Moi alone 10000
barrels consigned to Singapore are
waiting for ships to take them away.
The congestion in cement is partly
due to controversy over carrying
rates. the shippers offering rs cents
per barrel as against As cents some
time ago. The, shipping companies
are standing out for a dollar bar
rel. Similar disputes are arising
weekly in other lines of goods as the
boom in trade advances.
On the New York Yokohama or
Shanghai line the boom is now at its
height on account of the temporary
closing of the Panama Canal and the
prolongation of the route Returning
to the ar East the vessels from the
United States are loaded with war
munitions for Russia
On the Bombay route trade is more
active than ever, because the Japan
ese-Indian trade in cotton and other
goods is progressing with wonderful
rapidity. On the outward trips every
liner has her holds full of miscellan-
eous articles for India and on the
homeward voyages raw cotton fills up
every inch of space. The average
rate per ton has ruled at 25 yen or
about $3.50 during the past week.
A new plan has been started by
some shipowners who have made the
most of the recent shipping boom to
stabilize their position against posi-
BILE reaction after the war is over 1t
consists in floating big banking es-
tablishment designed to deal in all
forms of loans secured on the mort
gage of ships. The project has al.
ready assumed definite form.
The house under contemplation will
have its headquarters in Kobe and
branches in some important cities in
terested in the trade. The authorized
capital will probably be 100000.