AFRICAN SHIPPING SUBSIDIES

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 21050, 29 December 1933, Page 15

AFRICAN SHIPPING SUBSIDIES

0 HELPING ITALIAN LINES HIGH COMMISSIONER'S DEFENCE LONDON, November 24. Replying to criticism of the action of South Africa in agreeing to subsidise to the extent of £150,000 a year for five years two Italian ship- j ping lines, the High Commissioner (Mr C. te Water) maintains that the agree- I ment is not in any way connected with any undertaking given either to the British Government or to any other member o£ the Commonwealth, ; and its object is to extend the Union's trade with other countries. It covers a matter of purely domestic concern. "The reproach that the spirit of Ottawa had not been observed by the South African Government is not borne out by the facts," he says. "It is common knowledge that the Union delegation both at Ottawa and at the World Economic Conference consistently maintained the attitude that they could not support a general condemnation of the principle of subsidy, which included shipping subsidies. The Union Government maintained this attitude because of the fact, inter alia, that the Union was at the time engaged in subsidising a number of its exports, and while not possessing any shipping of its own, felt itself dependent on shipping from other coun-

tries in order to have its products conveyed to foreign markets. "Experience has taught South Africa that to obtain such services, when new avenues of trade have to be opened up, special assistance to shipping lines is necessary in addition to ordinary freight payments. The subsidy is, in other words, like the quota, or any other weapon of protection employed by protectionist countries, an economic device the theoretical soundness of which is not in question, but the practical necessity of which becomes sometimes imperative. "At the same time, it must be stressed that the services rendered to the Union by British shipping lines are not underestimated. They have handled the trade with the United Kingdom in a businesslike manner, satisfactory to Union exporters no less than to themselves. South Africa can- : not, however, in the face of the facts as stated, admit that their past services to the Union, which have been rendered on a profitable basis to themselves, entitle them to a prior claim in respect of an extension Of trade in a direction they, apparently, have never appreciated or earnestly sought."