Protest on ships urged

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32612, 21 May 1971, Page 3

Protest on ships urged

(N.Z. Press Association)

WELLINGTON, May 20. It was surprising, to say the least, that the Government had not protested about the failure of the British scheme, said the Opposition transport spokesshipping lines to consult it before deciding to abandon the container man, Mr J. Mathison (Lab., Avon) today.

Mr Mathison said the shipping lines had apparently shocked the Government with their decision. The Minister of Transport (Mr Gordon) had said the Government was advised but not consulted before the decision was made. “This must seem strange to the producers and othei users of the four shipping lines in view of the fact that with Government approval and support, millions of dollars have been spent by harbour boards, particularly in Auckland and Wellington, for work that is now largely redundant.

“From the time the Molyneux report was released—a report that was prepared for and in the interests of the shipping lines there was plenty of discussion with the Government until

the shipping lines received Government support for the major recommendations of the report,” Mr Mathison said. “The purpose of that support was to increase the profitability of the shipping lines and give them a virtual monopoly of the New ZealandUnited Kingdom trade, and also a large share of our internal transport operations. “Such an arrangement is not necessarily in the best interests of this country.” Mr Mathison said the Gov-

ernment had apparently accepted as a fact the shippers’ reported comment that the container decision was final —and this showed that a weak Government was powerless when dealing with a shipping monopoly.

Would the Government continue to leave New Zealand exporters and importers “at the mercy of this shipping monoply” or would it take steps to encourage the introduction of competing shipping lines, Mr Mathison asked.

Better still, he said, would it consider the desirability of following the lead of many other countries and do something about establishing a New Zealand- shipping line. The decision to cancel the container service between Britain and New Zealand could mean pressure on conventional berthage and shipping space for some time, said the chairman of the Wool Board (Sir John Acland) in London last night. “We have been surprised by the move and the board will need time to review the implications,” he said. Sir John Acland said he had never been convinced of the economic benefits of moving wool in containers and had always expected most of the clip to go by conventional ships. In the hard-pressed state of the wool industry, a fast and efficient flow of wool through the ports was most necessary.

F.O.L. VIEW The president of the Federation of Labour (Mr T. E. Skinner) today called for the overseas shipowners to pay compensation to New Zealand for the investment which has been poured into container terminal facilities. He also said at the F.O.L.’s annual conference that the Government must spread New Zealand’s responsibilities in shipping, and establish a State shipping line so that “we can control our lifeline.”

Japan Line’s representative in New Zealand (Mr H. Tanisada) said today that his company had already studied the possibility of a container service between New Zealand and Japan. The Japan Line might be using Auckland’s container terminal within about four years. The company now ran two container ships between the United States, Canada, and Japan, and three more container ships were being built.