SHIPPING PROBLEM

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 196, 16 May 1936, Page 11

SHIPPING PROBLEM

British Government to Act RUNCIMAN’S STATEMENT London, May 14. In the course of strong comment in the House of Commons on the shipping position in the Pacific, Sir Herbert Cayzer (Con., Portsmouth) urged the Government to give a definite lead to the Dominions and to act in concert with them. He added that the United States was wiping out British mercantile marine in the Pacific with unfair subsidisation, and the All-Red Route was threatened with severance. It was impossible for private firms to compete with a Government like that of the United States, which was willing to spend millions of pounds to wrest trade from Britain. The United Kingdom was the biggest buyer in the world and there was no reason for not using its purchasing power to secure a fair share of trade for British ships. “We are the biggest buyer of Dominion products,” he said, "and the Dominions should rely on British ships for marketing their products.” Major G. Lloyd George (Ind. Lib., Pembroke) : Is the Government satisfied that everything is being done in view of the urgency of the problem? Mr. C. M. Barclay-Harvey (Con., Kincardine) said he was not sure whether members of the House of Commons realised the position in the Pacific. Any ship could take cargo from an Australian port to New’ Zealand, although they were part of the British Empire. It was no good expecting comparatively small countries to stand up and fight the United States. The Pacific routes would be most valuable in the time of war. Mr. D. P. M. Fyfe, K.C. (Con., West Derby), said that no one could say that what had happened In the Pacific did not justify action. The President of the Board of Trade, Mr. Walter Runciinan, said that tbe Government intended to make shipping one of the most efficient and most attractive of British industries.