Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-07-31
MUCH AUSTRALIAN WHEAT.
Ships Forced to Take Grain to Allies
and Disgorge Other cargoes.


spondence) - Wheat versus coprs
(dried cocoanut.) This succinctly de.
scribes the deadlock which arose il
April and extended INTO May between
the owners of certain American owned
sailing vessels in Australian ports, ant
the United States Australian and
British governments The war, OF
course, was the cause of the question
and of the deadlock, and the exigen,
cles of war settled both question and
deadlock. From now on. to use fig
ure of speech there will be plain sail
ing in the matter. The United States
evidently intends that as far as ii is
concerned Australian wheat shall bt
carried. Copra may De valuable, but
1t will have to play a secondary part
The fact of the Australian wartime
wheat glut is now well known. There
are in the commonwealth from the re-
cent and past harvests approximately
2So,ooo,600 bushels of the cereal. Oh
this total about 2lo,000,00 bushels ar,
available for export
Late in April eight or more Ameri-
can and Canadian "windjammers'
were stalled ut sydney and Melbourne
owing to trouble over outward cargoes
In practically every instance the hitch
was due to The commonwealth govern
ment refusing to permit the vessel tt
clear unless she took wheat and tn,
owners ins.Stence that she was under
contract TO carry copra- In some cases
the contract involved voyages 10 the
Philippines.
The owners manifested great indig-
attitude, which doubtless did caus.
them loss, but apparently the Austral-
ion authorities were acting under In
strucuons from their government
while Washington and London Were
arriving at ;tn understanding OF the
situation. Meantime, the subject OF
the ships idieness was coming up In
the commonwealth parliament
That 1900 ton vessel in these days
OF scarcity Of tonnage and soaring
freighths should remain untitled III
port for six weeks seems incredible
but such was lately the case Of the
fve-masted schooner H. X. Hall OF
San Francisco, which illustrates the
veXed position of the "Windjainmers
--or perhaps better. some of the
"windjammers. When the Hall had
discharged her cargo. about the last
OF March. her sydney agents re-
ceived instructions from San Fran
cisco that she vas to take on "a cargo
Of canned fruit for Manila. Some 5000
cases were duly taken TO the wharf ~
tie borne to Manila by the Hall, but
hardly had the loading begun when
another cable was received cancelins
the first and ordering the vessel t.
take on wheat.
The cargo of canned fruit was dis
tributed among other ships, and the
agents prepared to fill the holds oil
the Hall with wheat. Two days later
al further cable was received intimat-
ing that If any wheat had been taken
on by the Hall 1t mus, be discharged
and the original cargo OF canned fruit
must be loaded. Accordingly ar
order was placed in Tasmania for an
other cargo Of canned fruit, and ar
engagements were made for two ship
ments Of 800 tons each. Tasmania, il
should be explained, is the orchard
state" Of Aust rafia, but 1t is an island
and dt is distant from Sydney several
hundred miles by sea.
At this stage the federal authorities
stepped in and notified the agents thai
IL the Hall was loaded with canned
fruit clearance would not be forthcom.
ing. and that in any circumstances
Australian vessels under governmental
control We're the carriers of Austrian.
ian canned fruit. The outcome OF thi.
was that the Hall was for a time
minus cargo or the prospect ofaone
In the meantime, in reply to a ques.
ton in the house of representatives a,
Melbourne respecting the stubborn at
t!tude Of the captain OF Canadian
ship toward the carriage of who.
the acting prime minister. William A
Matt, had sad that the case OF this
and other ships would be investigated;
that the shipping board Of Australia
was not responsible for the trouble
and that the shipping board Of Great
Britain understood the needs of the
allies better than they were known ir
Australia