THE U.S.S. COMPANY MERGER

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3112, 16 June 1917, Page 8

THE U.S.S. COMPANY MERGER

A THREAT TO NEW ZEALAND. Sir,—"The majority of the shareholders in the'U.S.S. Co. on the British register and also ou. the Australasian register have agreed to the proposed merger*'with the P. and 0., and tho deal will lake place"—so the cablegrams and telegrams. But as he who runs may read, tho paragraphs can have that importa-nce the reader may -attach to them that, he or she likes. Although the sale of the shares to the P. and 0. may eventuate, the. ships will have to remain; the property of the U.S.S. Co. until every shareholder sells his shares or the Minister of Marine (rives his assent to the purchase by the P. and 0. The'merger of the P. and 0. with the U.S.S. Co. cannot become an accomplished fact until the Minister of Marino gives his assent to the sale. It is quite within tho bounds of possibility—nay, it is a probability— that such consent will never, be given. Any Government is only as' strong as tho people will allow it to be, and when tho peoplo of New Zealand understand and grasp tho proposed merger, then there will be an awakening. Not only have the National Government the right fo refuse to assent to the merger, but I am credibly informed that the Government hold tho winning card because of tho control that tlii'v hold over certain of tho U.S.S. Co.'s fleet through having a. clause in their charter party that the vessels ea.n be purchased at a certain price which it favourable to the Government. The newspaper.-* state that thu Acting-Prime Minister refers to the of the OrileiMii-Council governing New Zealand shipping as a "niere coincidence" respecting the proposed merger, but the coincidence becomes an incident when the two happened together, and it is the incidents that-liavo happened in life (hat have changed tho world. It was an incident that created tho world-wide war, it was also an incident that abdicated tho Tsar and the ruler-of Greece. It is when an incident/arises that thn peoplo who. have been in a state of lethargy awako and do things, and having dono them wonder why they have not done them before, and so surely as the National Government is not alive to its senso of responsibility lo tho people of tho Dominion, and take-.'in I ho' proposed merger not as a. coincidence but as an incideut, so surely will they feel the weight of public opinion. Politicians, like tho seasons, f;ixlo away and are forgotten ; the deeds of statesmen are remembered, and probably tho statesmen that this country has possessed /can be counted on tho fingers of two hands.

A statesman is needed in this country at the present juncture—a man- who can ariso and tell the peoplo that tho shippins problem and its control by <ho Government for the people is of us much moment as the control of railways, and that it is of national interest that the Government should insert itself as tho then Government did whon it eamo to tho aid of the Bunk of New Zealand. Sir Joseph Ward once said that to govern a people properlv tho Government should find out. what the people want and give it to them. Probably in the main" ho is correct, but some politicians tako a terribly long time in finding out what the people do want, and when they find their wants out, find that some- astute

Person has got in first, and that the pcmiie have u, t a ko tho leavings or pay L i T linco Ix> B et '" lvhoro specula* tois have got m (jn tue ground floor* ~,- i^ 110,1 -T olll >' ,vll<!n tho speculator i.is bitten oil more than ho can chew >1,, l\° J™ 111 ' 0,1 " 15 >mlto up and try and u> p the speculators out it the public in \v Wt J ,ho " uWi,; k "°«'s what's When the ]jeoplo «f t|,i s country U. up and find out what foreign couu>l (it our coastal shipping nieans-that lipid in London-then there will bo a serious awakening fo r the politicians, but a serious injustice will Lve bwn lono to evmynnili, woman, and child ri'o 1 )! 18^ 0, . 1111 " 011ww o hav« placed the U.S..S. Co in the. position which, it now occupies, the trouble is Hint there is no national life m a CK ft-ahuiil. Wo aro a homugenous mass with our (roubles ami our brurf burnings, and wo dance to any tuiio that any politician may tune ins instruments for us to dance to. But there will be a rude awakening. Wβ who have- gent tho best of our kindred to light thft Empire's battles on foreign soil, ami who have left their bones bleaching in' a foreign dime, will not always bo bulldozed by homeopathic doses meted out to us in tho shape of palliatives when a sovereign reniwly enn be found. You can fnol the people some of the time, but not all tho lime, and if tho pcoplo-uro fooled on this occasion, then, so surely as tho Southern Cross appears iu (he Southern Hemisphere, then so surely will tho people of this Dominion f-eo that at (.he next elections there ivilt bo no glorious dawn for vacillating politicians. I am not <i. mathematician, but any qualified accountant will b,o ablo to show-, your renders the phenomenal'rise of tho I.'.S.S. Co. No goldmine has produced wealth for its shareholders as the U.S.S.C'o. has produced for its original holders. Ho much Is this so that Dr. Lindo Ferguson, speaking ,-it the reconstruction meeting, stated that, the history of ■•the company was like a fairy tale. It has )kpm;i fairy"talo all right,' and the people ol j\w Zealand Jiavn been tho ta.iries working night ;uid day for this company, and when the manager waved his fairy wnnd the people have risen to the occasion and paid the manager's prices. Possibly for comparison sake the inhabitant? of New Zealand can bo likened to a hive of bees, the U.P.S. Co. owning the beehive and the peoplo of New Zealand the boos. Tho country has produced tho clover, the bees have gathered the pollen and taken if into tho U.S.S. Co.'s beehive, and their store has always been lull and overflowing. Tho drones can be likened to the politicians who have laughed iunl sniggered at the bees working, and oidy helped a hand when a fresh subsidy w;us needed to keep the ownors ot the beehive, busy looking for fresh markets that the bees by.tliek industry had uiado necessary. Now that the larder is full an attempt is being made to transfer it to a centre to suit , tho shipping magnates who pull tha strings. Will the bees be willing? This is for our politicians to say, and say with no uncertain sound, and it is for tho bees to sting them up to their task and the more stings, they apply the better for them.

There is no earthly reason for the merger. It is not in the interests of the people of New Zealand—it is merely for the purposes of self-aggrandisement on the part of a few individuals, and if this is the case the (rovernment should see that the unhealthy appetites of the aggrandisers should be cheeked. New Zealand has made them, but that is no matter; gratitude is generally the last thing a country can expect. State interference is generally looked npon with suspicion—sometimes merited—but if the Government formulated a echeme with regard to the "U.S.S. Co. on somewhat similar lines to the Bank of New Zealand, everything will be all right, and if the Government take the basis of their negotiations on the same level as Sir James Mills and Mr. Holdsworth. do then no harm can l>6 done, as the State will be getting a bargain, and State deferred stock is as good a security—if not better— than P. and 0. stock. New Zealand mado the U.S.S. Co. The individual efforts of its directors and its shareholders may have had something to do with its success, but indirectly and directly the peoplo of New Zealand have been the main factors of its success. Tho goodwill of the company's business has been the goodwill of tho people of New Zealand, wiio have stood Ly in the matter of subsidies , * and favourable maritime laws. .

Tho merger of the U.S.S. Co. with the jj P. and 0. means the merger of practically all our shipping interests, because ,i what the Unioir ■'.Company do not hold. B or control they >/haye.' ugrewnents with', " and no small shipping ico'nAMiy .on the 0 coast can stand up.to them/ ; rlf the mery ger comes oil ne company can come on [ our coast in oppositiOA-^uey. would be „ swallowed up-and the cafe of the Araeri- „ can meat trusts and their methods would ; become the order of the day. The trans- ■■ l'crence of tho control of tho U.S.S. Co. I" to London will be a national loss—in fact, ',' lii national dishonour. We will be in, t tile position of having to pipe to any , tune that the controlling London piper ' will play. To say that the merger is but an event to strengthen the cords of kin-. • ship with the Old Country, that it 13 ? absolutely needful for these hugo combinations to counteract German and other ' foreign shipping' companies' moves, is fudge, and- should be treated as such. Neither the laws of this, or any other self-respecting country, would allow of its conditions "becoming trammelled by foreign competition. It is as well known as the Post Office clock that although, in pre-war days we gave preference to British goods through our Customs this was practically circumvented by certain 1 shipping companies—and the companies • they have swallowed—giving preferential • rates of freight to German, goods ui the i same bottoms that brought the British > *ood=- and what, 'happened then caa happen again. The whole shipping coin- '. tination, I believe, is nothing but giving . the power of autocracy to Loadonhall i Street, and the knights there would move i the pawns out here as they choose, and , the pawns would not liave the backbone to try and checkmate their moves, but would say that the key to the problem was held in rsadenhall Street by the mighty financial knights. New Zealand is not the hub of tho universe, but it has shown that given the occasion it can revolve on its own axis, but if the wheels on which its destiny avo to be revolved •should be controlled by means of acypher out here, who will take his instructions from a coded cable message from London, then New Zealand becomes but the chess-board on which London knights work out their problems, ami prosper accordingly. We have shown that we can in 3S'e\v Zealand manage our own shipping without any outside help, and now that we have raised a monument to our ability they wish to raze it to the ground with one blow, and that blow has been given without any warning A.II tho vast interests in New Zealand bolougiug to the U.S.S. Co., all the employees running,their vessels, all tho watersiders, all the miners, and all tho people of Xt-'\v Zealand are to become the vassals of the uncrowned king in Leaden, hall Street, and bo whipped at his lidding. The position is monstrous, and no self-respecting people with self-govern-ment will allow such i , . state of; things to exist, and oven if tho present Government will not rise to the occasion, tho peoplo thcmsolyes will hoist the iirofitmongers on their own petard without any saving grace. Democracy is now fighting against autocracy i" Europe—democracy in New Zealand will fight—and on ground ot its own choosing—the shipping autocrats—and to this fight there will l>e oily one ending,—l am, etc., A. FREEMAN.

Juno U.