Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1943. FUTURE OF SHIPPING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 310, 11 October 1943, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1943. FUTURE OF SHIPPING.

New Zealand is ns vitally concerned as any other portion of the British Commonwealth in the future of merchant shipping,, a subject brought into prominence by the blunt statement made by Rear-Admiral Howard Vickery (United States Marine Commissioner) regarding America's policy. On his return from a visit to Erigland he said the United States intended to remain a maritime nation after the war, whether Britain co-operated or not. Later he softened what sounded like a threat by saying there could be co-operation, and he believed the British were ready to co-operate. The possibilities at which Admiral Vickery hints have not been overlooked in Britain, whose shipping suffered grievously in the common cause before the United States entered the Avar. In fact, a report issued early this year by tlie General Council of British Shippingshowed a keen appreciation ot prospects. The document begins in as uncompromising a way as Admiral Vickery’s statement, by asserting that Britain must not be afraid to say a strong mercan-. tile marine is as necessary to Britain as the Navy, Army and Air Force, and must be prepared to stand by this principle. The Council urged that every effort should be made to forestall a race in subsidies such as the pre-war period witnessed, and that the principles of the Atlantic Charter should be in\ T oked to establish the. principle of non-discrimina-tion. It also ad\ r ocated international action “to ensure satisfactory service and to maintain freight markets at a reasonable level.” These are reasonable terms to be suggested by a country wdiose very existence depends on sea transport, and they will be endorsed in principle by the Dominions. There is in the proposals of the British shipowners nothing that should bar the way to agreement between the Empire and the United States.