CALL FOR ACTION

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 145, 16 March 1934, Page 12

CALL FOR ACTION

British Shipping Crisis DOMINION MENACED Choice of Two Roads A call to New Zealand to do its part in assisting to arrest the decay into which British shipping has fallen was made hv tiie Hon. Alexander Shaw, chairman of the I', and O. Company, in an address to members of tiie staffs of the New Zealand Shipping Company and the Federal Steam Navigation Company at a luncheon at the Midland Hotel yesterday. Among those present were Sir John Sandenian Allen, Mr. C. M. Turrell, general manager of the New Zealand Shipping Company, Mr. A. D. Bayfeild, manager for New Zealand of the" Federal Company, and Captain H. Barnett, master of the Rangitiki. Mr. Shaw stressed the vital necessity of a strong and healthy mercantile marine to Britain and her Dominions, and referred to the menace to British shipping of State-subsidised foreign ships. “I have been much impressed by the great amount of understanding in New Zealand of the prolonged crisis which is affecting British shipping, and the sympathy with, which tiie difficulties of that great industry are regarded,” Mr. Shaw said. “It has been my privilege to converse here, as in Australia, with men in all walks of life, and I have never on any public question known so solid a verdict. There are, of course, on this, as on any other question you like to name, a few instances of those who prefer the narrow view to the broad view, and the continuation of a great injustice to its radical cure. Such people have attacked me in the Old Country, they have attacked me in Australia, and even in New Zealand I have been the recipient of anonymous letters from gentlemen who appear to cherish the pathetic idea that abuse of myself, or of the great company over which I have the honour to preside, will in some way close my mouth. “In one or two instances it had been possible to do a good deal more than to guess at the ultimate source from which such communications came, and I can tell you quite frankly that the interests of those who vilify British shipping are not British interests, and that the support which they receive in their campaign is not British support. With all respect to these gentlemen, I fell you quite plainly that every such communication increases my determination to see this thing through and to do without stint . hat little lies within my power to obtain elementary justice for the greatest and the most neglected of our Empire interests.” Peril Not Imaginary. Tiie peril in which British shipping stands was not imaginary, said Mr. Shaw. It was real, and it called for action. Here in New Zealand, the remotest of the Dominions, the people were dependent for I heir economic life upon shipping. It was no exaggeration to say that the decay of British shipping was a menace to New Zealand. About that process of decay there was no doubt. He reminded those present that before the War the British Empire possessed 43 per cent, of the world’s tonnage. and that. the proportion of British shipping was now only 29 per cent. He stressed the further fact that the apathy with which the shipping question had been regarded had actually abandoned to Its fate at foreign hands no less than one-half of the tramp shipping of Britain, without which, as had been rightly said, Britain could never have won through the Great War.

“These figures are familiar to you,” Mr. Shaw continued, “but lest you should imagine that this process of dry rot has stopped I would call to your attention the fact that in 1933, in spite of an increase in the trade of Great. Britain, there was an actual further decrease of 1,165,000 tons in British vessels using British ports, whereas foreign vessels had increased by 2,419,000 tons. As one whose work in life brings him in daily touch with the situation I know that we are up against stern and formidable facts—facts which concern not the prosperity of an industry alone but the fate of an Empire.

“Vacillation, flabbiness and fear would never have created the British Commonwealth of Nations. Vacillation, flabbiness and fear have already abandoned much of our heritage upon the seas. They have relinquished defenceless to their fate at 'the hands of foreign Governments the ships and the men who in time of peril are our only strong link and sure defence. I received the other day a personal letter written by a very distinguished American citizen—a patriotic American who; like most patriotic Americans, loves fair play. He put. it this way: ‘You can’t expect any private industry to compete against the wealth of Governments.’ Now that is just what people apparently have been expecting the British shipping industry to do. It is not reasonable to expect that, and it is not possible to achieve it. Sheer Necessity.

“No sensible person denies that to an Empire like ours, divided by the seas, a strong mercantile marine is not a luxury but a sheer necessity. No responsible person could doubt for a monienti that in the crisis-of the Great War it was only the plenitude of British ships which saved us from disaster. No person who takes the trouble to study the facts can be unaware that British shipping, whose services are so valuable an invisible export in time of pence and so necessary a bulwark in time of war, is diminishing and is without any defence whatever against the persistent campaign being waged against it by more than one foreign land. No .man wlip feels any pride in the history of the Empire, or is thrilled by the thought of the great services which it can render to mankind, can feel otherwise than humiliated by the spectacle of continued drift and inaction.

“I cannot tell yon how much encouraged I have boon by the attitude of the public- and of the Press in New Zealand.” said Mr. Shaw. “You have hero a special problem somewhat apart, from iho general problem which faces the Empire as a whole. Highly subsidised foreign competition is to my own certain knowledge now undermining the services which British shipping is able to render to this Dominion and to Australia. Those lucky people are not content with strictly preserving their own estate against you. They come into your back garden and dig up the potatoes for their own consumption. A point has been reached at which I would respectfully suggest a definite choice of roads lias to be taken. For there arc two roads and it is impossible to travel by both, for they go in different directions. One road leads Io the gradual extinction of British shipping services between I lie Iwo Dominions and to the extension of foreign subsidised lines in the trade. “If you travel by that road, at th a

end of it lies, in my humble opinion, not only disillusionment, but dishonour. The other road is the road of fair play to British shipping—fair play which will enable it not only to continue to serve the interests of both Dominions, but to construct new vessels, which under existing circumstances it woiild be folly to build. Along that, road there lies security in the services of British ships which are yours to the end, not; only when the sqn shines, but wljen the clouds darken and the day of peril conj.es. It has been suggested that I say such things out of personal interest. I have not one penny of personal pecuniary Interest in tliis matter—not a single penny. But I know the facts, and I venture respectfully to put them before my fellow British citizens. It is for them to choose. If they choose the British road of courage, security and honour thev will never regret it. If they delay too long they will already have made the fatal choice of the other road. “If that other road Is chosen, I profoundly believe that in less than a generation of time the Britisli race everywhere will reprobate the apathy, which delivered np to foreign hands without a protest or struggle the sei power which made the Empire and which alone can preserve it. What is happening now is not the result of fate, but. the inevitable result of apathy and follv. Other nations which have less need of a great mercantile fleet have preserved and expanded theirs. We in our utter need for such a fleet, have forgotten and neglected ours. Courage, a clear policy and <lefi'’”" action are the need of the hour. I should not wonder if New Zealand, where these dualities flourish. leads the way. In great emergencies site lias never been backward. She has been in the van of progress. So from these shores- of New Zealand God grant that there may come a message of hope to British shinping in its grim struggle —a message breathing the sympathy of a fairminded people and tiie clear courage of a gallant land.” Sir John Allen proposed the toast of the two companies. He said that the whole of tiie Empire was dependent. upon shipping. He mentioned that tiie present British Parliament was one of the most accurate and live Parliaments that there had been for many years, and that its members, who were iiot going to let. matters drift, as had been done in the past, stood for British principles and standards. Other addresses were given by Mr. Turrell and Mr. Bayfeild. both of whom mentioned the good Unit, would merue from visits of persons like Mr. Shaw and Sir John Allen.