As has been often remarked, owners of shipping are nearly as inveterate grumblers as farmers are, and it is safe to rely upon finding such a document as the Steam Ship 34 Circular of Messrs. H. E. Moss & Ca., which he cannot avoid, grumble as he may.
Then comes the ray of hope; " As we write there is " decided improvement in homeward freights especially, but outward employment is sadly Jacking in all directions, thus counterbalancing in great measure the benefits thereby obtained"—a rather cryptic utterance but not uninteleligible on examination,—" but there is no disguising the fact"—an express sion which shows haw unwilling the shipowner is to allow that there is any alleviation to his sufferings-—
36 dated Liverpool, the 30th of Septem-|"that there is better feel ug, and 36 ber 1904, full of gloom, so that any|the value of produce is appreciably ray of hope it may contain comes increasing, which is generally the as an agreeable surprise. " Our last forerunner of improv! business for semi-annual circular," they begin by|shipowners. We do not, however, saying, "was issued on the eve of the breaking-out of hostilities between Russia nnd Japan, when, instead of an all-round improvement taking place, such as invariably has occurred during previous great wars, public confidence was shaken, trade restricted, and we may say that the experienced for a decade Jast six months box [sen the ora mainly by the over-aupply of very past, can large carrying steamers, and the great anticipate that there will be any marked advance before 1906, and then gradual unless the war in the Far East is brought to a sudden close, and this, unfortunately, at the preent moment does not appear to te likely for some considerable time. When it does end, we anticipate (as happened after the Franco-German war, and history generally repeats itself) a great improvement such as we have nob seen before for many
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.