The Admiralty has discontinued the weekly return of losses by
mine or submarine, and will publish monthly the figures of the gross tonnage of merchantmen lost by enemy action or marine risk, and of the Railings to and from the kingdom. The first return of the new type, published on Thursday, showed that the tonnage of the British ships sunkin March was 210,003, and that of,the Allied and neutral ships 165,628. In the past quarter we lost 687,576 tons of shipping, while the Allies and neutrals lost 435,934 tons. The world's shipping was thus diminished by 1,123,510 tons in the quarter. Against this, of course, we have to set the new ships built. The Admiralty return shows that the shipping losses, which rose to 2,236,934 tons in the second quarter of last year, have declined quarter by quarter since then. The return withholds from the public the direct information as to the activity of, the ' U'-boats which we have had for more than a year, but it presents the essential facts in a truer light. Every ship that is• sunk, whether by natural causes or enemy action, is a serious loss in these difficult times.
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