PACIFIC SHIPPING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 285, 1 December 1936, Page 8

PACIFIC SHIPPING.

MR. STEVEN'S PLAN.

COMMENT IN AUCKLAND &

'WOULD NOT BENEFIT N.S.W.*

"When the legislation was passed W the New Zealand Parliament, it was I think, stated by an Auckland business man that Australian politicians must be smiling at the way New Zealand had fallen into the harmless looking little trap they had set for us," said a prominent shipping authority this niornirm j a commenting on the speech by the Premier of New South "Wales, Mr. B g. Stevens, in which he advocated a direct shipping service from Sydney to tha United States, eliminating the present calls at New Zealand ports. Jir, Stevens also said he thought people would come to Australia more readily if ships came across the Pacific direct from Fiji, thus omitting the triangular trin to New Zealand. '

"Apparently now that our Government has incurred all the odium attached 1 to the proposal to eliminate shipping competition in the Tasman—to my mind a most foolish and undesirable step to take —Mr. Stevens thinks it is sale to put forward the advantages which Australia would gain if Matson liners altogether eliminated New Zealand as a port of call. Certainly, in legislative matters, Australia shows an amazing capacity for looking after herself.' <■ <,

"This agitation for a monopoly in the Tasman trade has been forced on the attention of our legislators by years of propaganda emanating from one of the English companies. It would certainly benefit that huge corporation to get a monopoly of the service, but is it gointr to be of benefit to New Zealand? ? emphatically say it will not, and, by discriminating against American shipping, we are treading on most dangerous grounds. Britain's shipping trade 13 much more vulnerable to attack than that of the United States, and since probably 80 per cent of the passengers carried by British ships across the Atlantic are Americans, and as American ships in the Tasman carry but a fraction in comparison, is it not a misplaced form of patriotism for New Zealand to deliberately talk about reprisals?

"We all want to see British shipping protected against unfair competition, but to my mind this can best be done 'by subsidising those lines which have to compete with foreign subsidised vessels. But discrimination against the United States will -not assist British shipping as a whole; it is likely to. have just the opposite effect, and we ought to thank Mr. Stevens for. pointing out just how it is likely to affect the growing tourist traffic to New Zealand, which the Matson Company has developed by the expenditure of much money —their own money, not ours. The opinion that, a« the New Zealand and Australian tourist trades wers so closely related, the Commonwealth would suffer •with the Dominion if tourist-carrying vessels omitted New Zealand ports of call was expressed today by Auckland men associated with the tourist trade. Pacific Tourist Trade. It was stated that the Tourist Department's advertising in the United States, as well as in Great Britain and Canada, assisted Australia in the same manner as the Commonwealth's efforts to attract tourists helped the Dominion. While there were many tourists who concentrated on either Australia or New Zealand, there was also a large number who preferred to visit both countries, either on the way out from the United States or on their return. Thus, if New Zealand were omitted from the ports of call, Australia would not derive any benefit from the traffic attracted to the Dominion.

It was pointed out by another man that the Commonwealth had nothing to compare with New Zealand's scenic beauties. Thus Australia benefited considerably from tourists who had come to this part of the world primarily to see New Zealand. Another opinion was that if New Zealand were eliminated from the ports of call, it was quite prob;, able that Europe and the East would benefit at the expense of AustraliaThere was keen competition in America among the shipping companies entering for the various tourist routes —to New Zealand and Australia, Japan and the East and Europe. It would thus he unwise for New South Wales to press for such an exclusive shipping service. The only apparent way in which MrSteven's proposal could be carried out would be if Australia instituted an entirely new service.