The official return issued on Thursday gave the total losses
of British, Allied, and neutral shipping from all causes in April as 305,102 tons. This is the lowest monthly total recorded since the unrestricted ' U '-boat warfare began. The losses of British shipping, amounting to 220,709 tons, were smaller by only 100 toes than in March, but the losses of Allied and neutral shipping were less than half those of the preceding month. Our shipyards only pro- duced 111,533 tons of new shipping in April, or half of what we lost.. But the American yards turned out 160,000 tons of sh;pping, and the Allies and neutrals between them probably built ships enough to make up the remaining 34,000 tons of the adverse total of ships lost. New construction, that is to say, for the first time probably equalled the tonnage lost by submarine, mine, or the ordinary perils of the sea. This is an encouraging fact. We have still, how- ever, to replace the millions of tons of shipping destroyed last year by the.enemy, and the output of our own yards should and must be, very greatly increased.
