The course of ocean freight rates for that average of five years and other more 



recent dates, is presented in the following table 



Date 



New York Karachi Buenos Aires 



to to to 



Liverpool Liverpool Liverpool 



Australia to 



United 



Kingdom 



(Sailer) 



Cents per Cents per Cents per Cents per 



Bushel Bushel Bushel Bushel 

 Average of 5 years 



ending 1913.... 4.8 10.9 8.6 17.0 



July 1914 5.3 7.9 6.9 12.2 



Jan. 1915 20.5 21.3 40.8 



August 1915 20.3 29.9 40.8 



Sept. 10, 1915. .. . 26.6 27.6 39.0 



Oct. 15, 1915 40.6 27.6 42.3 40.8 



Nov. 12, 1915.... 40.6 39.0 55.5 45.6 



Dec. 10, 1915 38.8 45.6 73.3 47.7 



Jan. 6, 1916...... 40.6 68.4 91.2 48.9 



Feb. 1, 1916 50.0 88 (b) 94 (a) 49 (c) 



(a) For Government account to United Kingdom 88 to 90 cents per bushel. 



(b) From Bombay, India, from 91 to 94.6 cents per bushel. 



(c) For steam 72 cents per bushel. 



Roughly speaking, the extreme high rates quoted up to the 15th of February had 

 been 50 cents from New York and $1.00 from Argentina to Liverpool. Between these 

 rates and the average prevailing during the five years before the war, we had therefore 

 the striking difference of over 45 cents a bushel on the New York-Liverpool route and 

 over 91 cents on the Buenos Aires-Liverpool route. 



Moreover, the insurance on wheat, which on average $1.00 wheat before the war 

 amounted to Yz cent per bushel, amounted recently on $1.35 wheat to about 2 cents 

 per bushel. 



Sir James Wilson remarks that "taken by itself the increase in ocean freights 

 together with the insurance would, other things being equal, account for an increase 

 of this amount in the difference between the price of wheat imported into the United 

 Kingdom and the prices of the various exporting countries." 



The difference between the Liverpool and the Winnipeg prices for No. 2 Northern 

 Manitoba wheat were in July 1914, $1.08 and 88 cents respectively, whereas on the 

 10th of December they had risen to $1.81 and to $1.00. The increases in price were 

 73 cents and 12 cents respectively. Why should the advance of the Liverpool price 

 be so much greater than that of Winnipeg? Sir James believes it is to be ascribed to 

 the extent of 35 cents a bushel in the increase in the cost of freight and insurance; and 

 to the extent of about 33^ cents to the 3% fall in the exchange value of a pound as 

 compared with a dollar. The rest of the increase in the difference between the prices 

 may be, he says, due to the greater cost of inland transport and to the increased profits 

 and expenditures. 



The shipper from Canadian ports and from New York on the 6th of January, 

 1916, had an advantage in rates over the shipper from Buenos Aires of 50 cents a bushel. 

 He had an advantage over the shipper from Karachi, India, of nearly 28 cents, and 

 over the shipper from Australia by steamer of 31 cents, whereas before the war his 

 advantage in that respect averaged only about 6 cents per bushel over the shipper from 

 Buenos Aires or Karachi, and 12 cents a bushel over the shipper from Australia.* 



♦Our readers are requested to bear in mind this fact of utmost importance to Canadians, affording 

 them an exceptional opportunity and advantage in the marketing of their wheat. 



157 



