The Auckland Star WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1936. SHIPPING RESTRICTIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 252, 23 October 1936, Page 6

The Auckland Star WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1936. SHIPPING RESTRICTIONS.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the tcrong that needs resistance, For the future iti the distance, And the good that tee can do.

"There has been unanimity of opinion that something should be done," said tne Ministei of Marine, the Hon. P. Fraser, when introducing yesterday the Protection of British Shipping Bill. That kind of unanimity is easy. To "do something" is less easy, and to" do the right thing more difficult still. The question of subsidised shipping competing with British lines in the Pacific has been discussed between the Empire Governments for years, and the fact that no action has been taken Hitherto is due not to inertia or to a lack of patriotic feeling in any of the countries concerned, but to the considered conclusion that the specific restrictive action which was proposed might easily be gravely prejudicial to British interests as a whole, and not least to those of Xew Zealand. It is the duty of the present Government, therefore, to justify the action it contemplates by showing that the arguments which deterred its predecessors from action no longer exist, or have shrunk in importance. That duty was not clischaiged by Mr. Fraser in introducing the Bill.

This country is small, isolated and remote from every continent except Australia, To overcome this permanent handicap its means of 1 communication with other countries must be as numerous, varied and efficient as possible. Shipping services are of primary importance, and any action which threatens to reduce their number and frequency must be prejudicial to the Dominion's interests. Sucn a result is threatened by the action now contemplated by the Government. It is taking power to deprive the Matson Line, which has served and continues to serve the Dominion well, of the, right to share in the passenger traffic between Australia and New Zealand. Much more than that traffic is involved. The whole service, so far as New Zealand is concerned, may be threatened. The Matson Line's service is between the United States and Australia. Its ships now call at Auckland, bringing financial and commercial benefit to the port, and tourists for all New Zealand, but they do not need to do so. They might, even now, proceed directly from Pago Pago to Sydney. If they did —and the Government's action "is provoking such a change —New Zealand would lose (without, as far as can be seen, the slightest possibility of replacement) the only modern shipping service connecting it with the Pacific Coast of the United States. That is a loss which must not be risked.

s NEW ZEALAND ALONE? Why should the Government of the Dominion which has most to lose by the contemplated action take the lead? Mr. Fraser, when questioned, said that Australia also would legislation, although it might take a different form, but Mr. Menzies at i Canberra did not support this expectation; he \ said merely that the Commonwealth Government was awaiting the report of the Imperial Shipping Committee. Mr. Fraser also said ■ that "the British Government has no > objection." For years it has well been ; understood that the British Government was i the main objector, being unwilling that a precedent should be set on the trans-Pacific j routes which might prove awkward if applied ' generally. Since when has the British Government withdrawn its objection? If it has ceased to object, does it approve, and will it > support New Zealand's action? Much more [ than a negative action is necessary, for the ; spectacle of New Zealand, with the apparently still doubtful support of Australia, beginning a shipping war with the United States would ; be ludicrous and tragic. A Government which in these days condemns subsidised shipping is on very shaky ground. Nearly every Government in the world, directly or indirectly, subsidises shipping. The Queen Mary would not be in the Atlantic to-day, nor the King George be under construction, without Government aid. The British Government this year is subsidising tramp shipping to the extent of £2,000,000. As for restrictions, Canada reserves her coastal trade for British ships, and Australia does not permit any subsidised foreign vessel to trade between her ports. The United States, of which Hawaii is a Territory subject to the Federal Government, has a strong case- for considering the Honolulu trade as purely domestic. It may be that the Empire Governments, by concerted representation, could induce Washington to modify that attitude; it i> extremely unlikely that New Zealand could succeed alone. It would be difficult in any event to convince the Americans that Australia and New Zealand, which have been repeatedly declared to be autonomous, self-governing communities, j should for the purposes of this shipping! dispute be considered as one country in the same sense as the United States and Hawaii. SUBSIDIES AND MERIT. The New Zealand Government appears over-impressed with the need of "doing something." Something should certainly be done, but it should not be such as will almost certainly adversely affect New Zealand most of all. At present the rivalry in shipping is not between two lines of equal merit, one [subsidised; it is between one American line and British' lines which have only one ship, the Awatea, comparable with those of their foreign competitor. Thei*- ships (with the one exception) are old and in some cases have always been unsuitable for the services they undertake. The inequality of the competition lies in this rather than in the fact that the foreign ships are subsidised. If the British services cannot be improved without a j combined subsidy, then there are precedents j in plenty for giving a subsidy, but the action now contemplated can gravely damage New Zealand interests without bringing certain andj continuing benefits. 1