Bay of Plenty Times. EVENING DAILY TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5th., 1935. PACIFIC SHIPPING.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 11866, 5 November 1935, Page 2

Bay of Plenty Times. EVENING DAILY TUESDAY, NOVEMBER sth., 1935. PACIFIC SHIPPING.

At a long last the Governments of Australia and New Zealand are to take joint action to put an end to the unfair competition of American shipping between New Zealand and Australia. Fair competition is wholesome and desirable in all businesses, but the Americans are strangers*to fair competition. They show themselves to be excellent business men when they hold a monopoly, and are adepts at dumping. Recently there was considerable complaint in New'York: because some enterprising firm bought a large parcel of goods ostensibly for export at export prices, but instead of exporting the goods, had them delivered into store, and were thus enabled to undersell competitors in the same line because export prices were well below domestic prices. The manufacturers were engaged in dumping.

But to return to the shipping problem. Under an Act of Congress, known to Americans as the Jones-White Shipping Act, eign ships are not permitted to carry passengers or-cargo between American ports. Thus Honolulu: being an American port, the Unipn Company’s liners trading to San Francisco, cannot carry passengers or cargo between San Francisco and Honolulu and vice versa. Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne are ports in the British Empire and the proposal now is to treat the Americans to a dose of their o\yn medicine, that is, American ships will be prohibited from carrying cargo or passengers between : those parts. That will tend to even up the competition in the'Pacific. Because, of the huge subsidies to American shipping, both in respect of ship-budding, carnage

of mails/ 1 and mileage travelled, the Americans have been able, to put on the water fast and luxurious steamers. It is to nullify the subsidy, advantages of American shipping that legislation i» now proposed.

Foreign shipping thrives %on the business provided by the British Empire, and Britain has built up a great shipping industry and become the common carrier of the world because Britain has direct trade relations vgth all parts of the world. If American shipping had to . rely entirely or even mainly on the trade emanating from the United American shipping would never survive, because America believes in one-way trade, that is exports. The high tariff of the United States shuts out imports to a very great extent. However, the competition of American shipping in the Pacific will eventually have good results. Travellers between Australia and New Zealand, and New Zealand and Australia have become accustomed to a superior class of accommodation than is at present provided by the Union S.S. Company, or the. Huddart Parker Company, and both companies will find it to their interest to provide more up-to-date steamers. The Union Company will shortly have a new vessel on the run between Australia and New Zealand and no doubt others will follow. No. one will regret to see American shipping hoist with its own- petard.