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W.M. HUGHES, THE COMMONWEALTH LINE AND THE BRITISH SHIPPING CARTEL, 1914–1927
Abstract
The origins of a number of important public enterprises can be traced to the First World War. This article deals with the Commonwealth Line and traces the factors which led to its creation by government and those that caused its privatization. The article traces the history of the Commonwealth Line from its formation as a desperate measure to overcome a wartime shipping shortage that was preventing the transportation of vital primary products, especially wheat. Emphasis is placed on bargaining between the Australian and British governments over the tonnage to be allocated to Australia. At the end of the war the Line's obsolescent ships and its need for greater public investment was not welcomed by the Commonwealth government. The article concludes with a discussion of the decline of the Commonwealth Line after 1918 and emphasizes the role of the British shipping cartel and labor costs in its demise.
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Author and article information
NOTES AND REFERENCES
After the split in the Australian Labor Party, which followed the conscription referendum, Hughes became Prime Minister in a National Labor Party government from November 1916 to February 1917, when the National Labor Party merged with the Liberal Party to form the National Party. Hughes continued as Prime Minister until 1923 when he was replaced by S. M. Bruce. Hughes’ interest in shipping could be traced to his role as an official of the Waterside Workers’ Federation.
See Kevin Burley, British Shipping and Australia 1920–1939, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1968, pp. 8, 10–11, 25–26, 220–7; and John Bach, A Maritime History of Australia, Nelson, Melbourne, 1976, pp. 144–5 and ch. VIII. The major British shipping companies involved in the Australian trade were the Blue Star Group, the Clan Group, the Cunard Line, the Ellerman Group, A. Holt & Co, the Furness Group, and the Inchcape Group.
W. M. Hughes Papers (WMHP), National Library of Australia (NLA), MS 1538, series 17, folder 1, Elder Smith & Co Ltd, Gibbs, Bright & Co Ltd, 29 December 1915.
Australian Archives (AA) A2, item 1916/3621. Secretary, Prime Minister's Department to Official Secretary to the Governor-General, 30 June 1915.
Colonial Office, Public Record Office, London (CO) 418/132. Governor-General to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 14 October 1915.
CO 418/133. Paraphrase telegram. Secretary of State for the Colonies to the Governor-General, 16 October 1915.
CO 418/134. Paraphrase of telegram from the Governor-General to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 18 October 1915.
CO 418/134. Telegram. The Governor-General to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 22 December 1915.
CO 418/140. Telegram. The Governor-General to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 9 December 1915.
CO 418/140. Secretary, the Admiralty to the Secretary of State, Colonial Office, 16 December 1915.
CO 418/151. Port and Transit Executive Committee to the Secretary, the Admiralty, 31 December 1915.
CO 418/151. Note as to Providing Further Tonnage to Lift Australian Wheat, 26 June 1916.
CO 418/151. Note on Purchase of 15 Vessels by the Australian Commonwealth. Hughes was also motivated by Labor Party policy on state ownership. In 1914 the new Commonwealth Labor Party government included the creation of a government shipping line in its policy. See Burley, op. cit., pp. 7, 24.
Hughes W. M.. 1950. . Policies and Potentates . , p. 186––91. . Sydney : : Angus and Robertson. .
Gibbs, Bright & Co Records, University of Melbourne Archives. Correspondence, Private Series, London to Melbourne. Antony Gibbs & Co to Gibbs Bright & Co, 29 June 1916.
CO 418/151. Telegram from the Governor-General to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 10 September 1916.
CO 418/151. Secretary, the Admiralty to the Under-Secretary of State, Colonial Office, 10 October 1916.
Ernest Fayle. . 1927. . The War and the Shipping Industry . , p. 194––5. . London : : Oxford University Press. .
For a more detailed discussion of the wool purchase see Kosmas Tsokhas, ‘W.M. Hughes, the imperial wool purchase and the pastoral lobby, 1914–1920’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol XVII, 2, 1989, pp. 232–63.
CO 418/145. Paraphrase. Telegram from the Governor-General to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 17 December 1916.
ibid.
WMHP, NLA, MS 1538, series 17, folder 2. Decypher of cablegram received from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 10 November 1916.
WMHP, NLA, MS 1538, series 17, folder 1. Decypher of cablegram from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 19 January 1917.
ibid.
WMHP, NLA, MS 1538, series 17, folder 2. Decypher of cablegram from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 13 February 1917.
WMHP, NLA, MS 1538, series 17, folder 2, Decypher of telegram from Secretary of State, 16 February 1917.
ibid.
AA A2, item 1918/377. Prime Minister's Department to Commonwealth Shipping Board, 19 July 1917.
See Bach, op. cit., pp. 189–207. The Commonwealth Shipping Board included managers from major shipping companies as well as government representatives. The major interstate shipping companies were the Adelaide Steamship Co, Melbourne Steamship Co, Howard Smith, Huddart Parker Ltd, McIlwraith, McEacharn & Co, the A.U.S.M. Co, the Union Steamship Co, Burns Philp, James Paterson & Co, W.S. Scott, Fell & Co, J.A. Brown, Birt Co, and R.S. Lamb & Co. They divided routes, trade and tonnages between themselves through a system of pools. Rebates were used to bind shippers to this cartel which was organized through the Australasian Steamship Owners’ Federation formed in 1899.
WMHP, NLA, MS 1538, series 17, folder 2. W.J. Young to W.M. Hughes, 13 July 1917.
Lord Novar Papers (LNP), NLA, MS 696, item 2610. W.M. Hughes to R. Munro Ferguson, 17 July 1917.
AA A3934, item SC 14/8. Decypher of cablegram received from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 22 August 1917.
Commonwealth Year Book, No. 11, 1917, p. 637.
WMHP, NLA, MS 1538, series 17, folder 2. Decypher of cablegram received from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 27 November 1917.
CO 418/158. Paraphrase telegram. The Governor-General to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 22 November 1917.
AA A3934, item SC 14/8. M. L. Shepherd, Secretary, Prime Minister's Department to Official Secretary to the Governor-General, 20 November 1917.
AA A3934, item SC14/2. Temporary Diversion of Australford and Australbrook and Australcrag for British Government Purposes. These ships had been purchased in the UK by the Australian government.
AA A3934, item SC14/2. Secretary, Prime Minister's Department to Official Secretary to the Governor-General, 14 March 1918.
CO 418/157. Telegram from the Governor-General, Australia to the Secretary for the Colonies 20 January 1917.
WMHP, NLA, MS 1538, series 17, folder 4. W.S. Robinson to W.M. Hughes, 13 August 1919.
ibid.
Stephanie Jones, Trade and shipping, Lord Inchcape 1852–1937, Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York, 1989, pp. 89, 92, 97, 102.
AA A2/1, item 1920/1869. Instances of Reprisals by Conference Lines.
ibid.
ibid.
AA A2/1, item 1919/401, part 4. Memorandum to W.M. Hughes, from H. Larkin, general manager, 28 May 1919.
AA A461/1, item A418/2/3, part 1. Manager for Australia, Commonwealth Government Line of Steamers to Secretary, Prime Minister's Department, 6 October 1920.
AA A2/1, item 1919/401. Premier, South Australia to Acting Prime Minister, 13 June 1919.
ibid.
ibid.
ibid.
AA A2/1, item 1919/401, part 4. Prime Minister, Antagonistic Attitude of Shipping Combine, London, 18.6.19.
Burley, op. cit., pp. 231–32.
WMHP, NLA, MS 1538, series 17, folder 7. Commonwealth Government Line of Steamers to W. M. Hughes, 24 January 1922.
WMHP, NLA, MS 1538, series 17, folder 7. Commonwealth Government Line of Steamers to W. M. Hughes, 13 June 1922.
WMHP, NLA, MS 1538, series 17, folder 7. General manager, Commonwealth Line of Steamers to W. M. Hughes, 21 September 1922.
Burley, op. cit., pp. 231–32.
Commonwealth Parliamentary Papers, Joint Committee of Public Accounts, Report on the Commonwealth Government Shipping Activities including Cockatoo Island Dockyard, 28 September 1927, pp. 7, 10.
Burley, op. cit., p. 53.
ibid., pp. 318–20.
ibid., p. 236 and Commonwealth Parliamentary Papers, Joint Committee of Public Accounts, op. cit., p. 18.
AA A432, item 1929/3437. Manager for Australia, Commonwealth Government Line of Steamers to Sir Robert Garran, 17 March 1921.
Burley, op. cit., pp. 53, 324 and Commonwealth Parliamentary Papers, Joint Committee of Public Accounts, op. cit., p. 11.
Commonwealth Parliamentary Papers, Joint Committee of Public Accounts, op. cit., p. 12.
Burley, op. cit., p. 324.