SHIPPING COMBINE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 211, 5 September 1924, Page 9

SHIPPING COMBINE.

THE INCHCAPE GROUP.

INTERESTS IN NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA.

FEDERAL COMMISSIONS REPORT. It is stated in the report of the Royal Commission on Navigation, set up by the Federal Parliament, that one of the primary objectives of the Navigation Act is to build up an Australian mercantile marine. In the opinion of Messrs. Prowse and Seabrook, two of«the commissioners, the Act has failed in its purpose, and one of the most interesting sections of their report shows that the Australasian Steamship Owners' Federation is practically part and parcel of the great English shipping comfbine. It is well known that almost the whole of the oversea shipping of England is in the hands of the shipping combine known as the Inchcape group, of which the head is Lord Inehcape.

There is no secret about the combine I ( says the "Sydney Morning Herald's" | special representative in Melbourne),, and it is not for one .moment asserted by Messrs. Prowse and Seabrook that there. is anything sinister in it. In fact, the combine is openly defended in the United , Kingdom, for it is claimed that this ship-, ping monopoly eliminates waste, and' instead of one English company fighting j another, they are combined to compete with foreign shipping. This, it is asserted, | is the patriotic aim of the Inehcape combine. With the same motives in order not to waste ships and money in competing with the Australian companies, the English j combine has chosen the easier way, and j acquired controlling interests in almost every Australian company. Thus, accord-1 ing to the report, it is found that the A.U.S.N. Company is a subsidiary comDany of the British-India S.X. Company | over which Lord Inehcape has control. , The Mcllwraith, McEacharn line is also an English company the majority of the shares being held in England. Burns, Philp | and Co. is an Inehcape company. The Union Steam Ship Co. is also controlled by Lord Inehcape, and this company,. ■with Huddart-Parker Co., controls the j Tasmanian Steamships Proprietary, Ltd., while the Huddart-Parker Company has a large interest in the Melbourne Steam- j ship Company. The firm of W. Holy- j man and Sons, Ltd. (shipowners), is also controlled by the Union Steam Ship! Company and* Huddart-Parker and Com-. pany. The firm of Macdonald, Hamilton, | and" Company is also owned by Britsh I interests, and the largest shareholders have large interests in Burns, Philp, and i Co. and the P. and O. Company, both' Inehcape companies. ! This brings Messrs. Prowse and Sea-' brook to the position that, seeing that the Navigation Act has failed to build up an Australian mercantile marine, the whole of Australia is saddled with the expense of the Act, which only benefits a comparatively few seamen, a number of whom have been attracted to the Australian coast ships on account of the higher wages. Therefore, in the opinion of the commissioners, the only, practical use which the Act has ia to prevent foreign shipping competitioiin Australian waters, and, in view o£ this fact, they suggest that the Commonwealth Government should enter into negotiations with the British Government with a view to evolving,' by mutual agreement, an Empire Navigation Act, such Act to contain similar conditions (manning, wireless, etc.) to preserve the coastal shipping of Australia to the mercantile marine of the British Empire. The Australian Companies. Having shown that the Australian' Steamship Owners' Federation is, in effect, a branch of the English combine, and that the Australian Navigation Act protects this part of the English combine from foreign competition, Messrs. Prowse and Seabrook examined the scope of the Australian monopoly of shipping. The section of the report dealing with this aspect of the matter . is subscribed to by all the non-Labour-members of the commission. It is - curious that the Labour members in their separate report made no refer- ■ ence to the combine. I The commissioners had considerable' difficulty in finding out the extent of the operations of the shipping companies of Australia. Soon after they began their inquiry it became evident that the shipping companies had other interests, apart from shipping. Some facts, however, did come to light, of which the following are examples:— f1) The Adelaide Steamship Company

holds about half the shares of the Abermain Seaham Collieries, Ltd., and about 35 per cent of the North Bulli Colliery, Ltd. (2) Howard Smith, Ltd., which originally had coal and shipping interests, ; separated its interests and gave its shipping branch the title of the Australian Steamships Pty., Ltd. This company, in addition, holds controlling interests in Caledonian Collieries, Ltd., Invincible Collieries, Ltd., and Australian Sugar, Ltd. In its latest balance-sheet this company shows the amount invested in other companies is £2,430,000. (3) Several large shareholders in the North Coast Steam Navigation Company are also large holders in Burns, Philp and Co. (4) Burns, Philp and Co. has controlling interests in the Solomon Islands Development Company, Ltd., Burns, Philp (South Seas) Company, Ltd., Choiseul Plantations, Ltd, and Shortland . Islands Plantations, Otd. j (5) Huddart-Parker, Ltd., is a large I shareholder in the Abermain Seaham Collieries, Ltd., and also in Hebbnrn, Ltd. (colliery), and also holds 88 per cent, of the stock of tlie Metropolitan Coal Company, Ltd. (6) Mcllwraith, McEacharn, Ltd., holds 4'i per cent of Bellambi Coal Company, Ltd. These examples point to the fact that ' the shipping companies of Australia have a grip on the key. industries of Australia. That is the opinion of the non-Labour members of the commission. "As the great meat trust of the United States built up its business by its inter-linking with railroad interests," the report states, "so the fortunes of the shipping companies of Australia (a branch of the oversea shipping combine) are bound up in those of the greatest of Australian industries; and thus it becomes patent that a comparatively few persons, mostly resident outside Australia, and with large English and foreign financial interests, constitute an enormous trust which controls the economic destinies of Australia."