BRITISH SHIPPING

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 130, 26 February 1937, Page 11

BRITISH SHIPPING

Last Year’s Expansion of Trade DEMAND FOR TONNAGE (British Official Wireless.) (Received February 25, 6 p.m.) Rugby, February 25.

The report of the Chamber of Shipping of tlie United Kingdom states that 1936 was a year of continued expansion in the home market ami of progress toward recovery in world trade. The first half of the year was still a period of depression for the shipping industry, but the system of freight co-operation, backed by the continued assistance of the Government, enabled the industry in the second half to take full advantage of the rapid increase in the demand for tonnage.

FEAR OF FUTURE

Survey For Imperial

Conference

London, February 24

With 2000 fewer cargo and passenger vessels than before the outbreak of the Great War, British shipping is in a serious position. This is .the conclusion of the Chamber of Shipping in its annual report. The chamber is undertaking a survey to enable the Imperial Conference to determine action to defend shipping from foreign discrimination and uneconomic competition. It considers there is no indication that foreign nations, whose tonnage increased by 400.060 last year, contemplate any reduction and intend to abandon the methods whereby the present position has been created.

The chamber’s survey will take the form of a memorandum which probably will be first submitted to the British Government and then forwarded to the Dominions’ representatives at the Imperial Conference. There will not be time to make contact with Dominion representatives before their arrival in England, but the High Commissioners may be consulted. Much of the information will be confidential. The chamber considers that the gravity of the present position cannot be overrated.