May 69,773 June 109,847 July 83,073 August 102,060 September 63,150 October 148,309 November 158,826 December 112,486 January 58,568 February 100,038 March 161,674 April 111,533 In the year ended April, 1917, new U.K. ships totalled 749,314 tons, and for the year ended April, 1918, 1,279,337 tons. The growing scarcity of shipping, the urgent need of providing tonnage for the food supplies, not only for this country, but also for our Allies, forced the Government to consider in what way they could make the most economical use of the tonnage available. The position was rendered more acute by the entry of America into the war, and the adoption of the "convoy" system as a protection against submarine attack. There were two policies open for adoption by the Government. One was to marshal and organise shipowners, and place in their hands the provision of the necessary tonnage, thus securing the co-operation and assistance of trained specialists. The other policy was to "control" the trade, requisition the whole of our shipping, and to work it themselves. They unfortunately adopted the latter policy, and by so doing they not only lost the individual enterprise and supervision of the trained shipowners, but practically placed shipowners out of business, and this at a time when "neutrals," who continue to benefit by the high freights, are making rapid strides as shipowners. The shipping control, under the able direction of Sir Alexander Maclay, is doing its work on the whole better than might have been expected--thanks to the voluntary assistance of many of our younger shipowners. Under the control, the shipowner is paid at rates laid down in the Blue Book, and without going into figures it may be roughly stated that on the pre-war values of steamers these rates leave him 6 per cent. or 7 per cent. on his capital, and 6 per cent. for depreciation, but on to-day's values the return upon his capital is very poor. A steamer now costs to build at least three times its pre-war cost. Therefore, it is obvious a provision of 15 per cent. for interest and depreciation on pre-war cost is only 5 per cent. on to-day's values. This affords no inducement to enterprise, and it is not surprising that many shipowners have gone out of business.