SHIPPING COMBINE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 26, 31 January 1912, Page 10

SHIPPING COMBINE.

UNION-CASTLE LINE ABSORBED. [from oub own cobrespondent.] LONDON, 22nd December. Australasia is directly concerned in the latest shipping combine, by which the Union-Castle Line is taken over by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company and Messrs. Elder, Dempster, and Co. It ia highly probable that not only will the South African mail problem be now settled at an early date, but also that a more direct service will be promoted between the Cap« and Australasia. Thk has long been greatly desired by the Commonwealth authorities, and it may be assumed that the Union Government is no less anxious for closer relationship with Australasia. This, object ■will be achieved by the amalgamation, and should be productive of incalculable benefits to both countries. The hero of the scheme is Sir Owen Philipps, who was Liberal M.P. for Pembroke from 1906 to 1910. Only-forty-eight years of age, 'he is already the Colossus of the Seas. It was in connection with the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company that ne jumped into fame in the shipping world. The company was old-fashioned. Sir Owen, as soon as he was made chairman,' set to work to reorganise it, and he worked to 6uch purpose that he, had very soon removed any doubts as to its position and its future. The R.M.S.P. Co. reorganised, Sir Owen startled the shipping world by purchasing the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, an act which involved the expenditure of somo £1,500,000, and proceeded to build magnificent modern ships for the Pacific trade. WHOLE LINES PURCHASED. "When Sir Alfred Jones died it was freely said that there was no man who could quite fill the vacant place at the head of "the gigantic shipping concern whose fortunes Sir Alfred had steered. Sir. Owen not only took up the work, but signalised the fact by a notable extension of tho 'activities of the concern in a quite new direction through the purchase of the historic Glen Line, whose steamers trade between London, Middlesborough, Hull, and Antwerp, to the Straits Settlements, , China, and Japan. , i This was followed by the acquisition of the goodwill of the Shire Line, which ,also 'worked along the eastern routes, and it was then realised that Sir Owen Philipps and his associates were determined to revivify the influence of the red ensign in the East, which had been attacked by the operations of great German firms. This latest development of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company's activities adds another to an already long list. The following now represent the steamship companies with which the Royal Mail is intimately identified : Pacific Steam Navigation Company, the Shire Line, the Glen Line, Elder, Dempster, and Co., Lamport and Holt, the Union-Castle Line. This group of companies represents 1,290,000 tons of ! shipping, the Union-Castle Line having added 320,000 to the already enormous t6tal of 970,000 tons controlled by. "the Colossus.'*' OPINION IN THE CITY Public opinion regarding the amalgamation^ has endorsed, without hesitation, the view that the scheme offers great advantages to each of the three companies. In expert circles an even stronger view is held, and the chairman of a wellknown colonial shipping company regards the matter as a daring and brilliant exploit on tho part of Sir Owen Philipps, chairman of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, to whose initiation the scheme is^'due, though he 'has been energetically supported by Lord Pirrie, the chairman of TSlder, Dempster and Co. The circular issued to the shareholders of the Union-C.astle Company, announces that if they agree to the scheme their £10 shares will be taken over on the basis of £32 10s each, while in respect of the year ending the 31st inst. a dividend of 4$ per' cent, will be paid. Messrs. Donald Currie and "Co., the managers of the Union-Castle Company, recommend thatthe scheme be adopted, and in view of the*terms offered tnere is no doubt teat this* will be done. The amalgamation represents the most powerful shipping organisation in the* world, the combined tonnage beating that of ,the International Mercantile Marine Company (American) and the HamburgAmerika Company. Discussing the project from the fthavo holders' point of view, a financial writer says: — "The scheme has been propounded at a /time when conditions for shipowners are exceptionally favourable. We doubt whether in ( the memory of living man freights have' been so remunerative as of late, and this state of affairs seems likely to continue, at any rate for some time. It may be anticipated, therefore, that the outcome of the first year's working of the' consolidated concern will show remarkable resultfi; whether these will be maintained thereafter remains to be seen, but it. is at least something that the unification of the tfiree companies is contemplated at a peculiarly appropriate moment, and in the experienced hands of 'Sir Owen Philipps it may confidently be, expected that the most will be made of the many favourable factors now working with unusual unanimity in favour of the shipping industry." /