FASTER LINERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 235, 3 October 1936, Page 10

FASTER LINERS.

ACROSS THE PACIFIC. CONFIRMATION LACKING. LOCAL SHIPPING COMMENTS. No confirmation alnong shipping interests in Auckland can be found for the statement made yesterday by Mr. Brendan Dowling, a Sydney business man who arrived yesterday by the Mariposa, that a wealthy syndicate is considering the building of two large fast passenger vessels for the Sydney-Auekland-Los Angeles or the Sydney-Auckland-Van-couver service. Representatives of the shipping companies express ignorance of the proposal, and stated that Mr. Dowling's statement was the first they had heard a.bout it. Mr. Dowling returned yesterday from a visit to England and America. He said the vessels were proposed to be of some 20,000 tons each, and a speed of at least 24 knots. He was the representative of an Australian group interested in the project, which wished to foster the tourist trade beween America, Australia and the Dominion. He said he had been consulting the syndicate while abroad. , Attracting Tourists. He added that already the proposal was far enough advanced for plans and specifications of the vessels to be prepared, and details of the organisation were now being discussed. It would be some months, however, before a final decision was J? Jt was..hoped to shorten the travelling, time Across the Pacific, and that was why the speed of the vessels would be so great. Further, they would be specially ouilt to meet the needs of tropical conditions. He spoke of the potentialities of the tourist trade in America and of the improvements in transport, and added that it was vital that Australia an 1 New Zealand should have shipping ser vices in keeping with modern needs. He said further that, should the Governments of the Empire be contemplating the granting of subsidies, an opportunity would be given interested parties to submit particulars of the services they could give. , For the past two years there had been a rumour of another shipping service, said the representative of one shipping company, but that was common property. He knew nothing ot anything more definite. Large Capital Required. Another representative referred to the financial aspect. He said that, to inaugurate such a shipping company as was envisaged by Mr. Dowling, would need a very large capital, amounting to millions of pounds. With shipping in the condition in which it was, he doubted whether the persons concerned financially realised the position. Liners of 20,000 tons and of a speed of 24' knots were expensive to build.and run. The reference to Government subsidies was not clear, he. added. But one aspect appealed to him. If any Government subsidy was to be given from any country of the Empire, it seemed logical to suggest that it would be given to existing services rather than to another, when that other would be in competition with those already long established. He would not be drawn further into a discussion of the somewhat thorny problem of Government subsidies, but reiterated that the older companies might reasonably consider themselves to have a prior claim. Whether, of course, the proposed new company considered that it should share in such a subsidy, or whether it would have sufficient capital to be independent, was a point which could not be commented on without considerably more knowledge. Yet a third, representative had a comment to make, but his was brief. "My company has heard nothing of it, and it is not much use, therefore, for me to speak of financial or other considerations."