BRITAIN'S SHIPS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 99, 28 April 1928, Page 9

BRITAIN'S SHIPS

THE TURNING TIDE NOTE OF OPTIMISM IMPORTANCE OF COAL (From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 2nd March. Sir William Seager, a shipping magnate and colliery owner of Cardiff, has been elected the new president of the Chamber of Shipping of the United Kingdom. In the course of his presidential address ho said that- if the heavy industries of the country were moving but slowly towards prosperity they were none the less moving, while tho expansion of 34 new industries, involving an additional employment of 874,000 people, was a most encouraging sign. "Surely we can ut last hope," ho said, "that the tide will turn and . that, though freights are very low at tlie moment, the year as a whole will show a better result. "An outstanding fact to-day is the great improvement in shipbuilding. Whereas at the end of December, 1926, there were under construction in this country 760,084 gross tons, to-day there are 1,579,713 gross tons under construction, and what is particularly . hopeful is that the foreign nations, who have been our good customers for ships in the past, are maintaining and even increasing their custom. "The shipping industry, although still under the shadow of tho long depression, is not Jacking in signs that a revival to comparative prosperity may be expected before long. Shipowners have now for six years had tho_ uncomfortable honour of selling their services at pre-war prices while having to meet costs far in excess ofUhis level, but tho real honour of British shipping lies in tho outstanding fact "that, notwithstanding all its difficulties, British shipping has held its own in the •world .and shows every indication of continuing to do so. "I hesitate to prophesy, but my years of experience in the shipping in- . dustry help, mo to believe that the demand for employment will soon equal the supply, and with that will come freights which will enable us once more to pay our own way. "Tho efficiency of the British rawrantilo marine has been fully maintained. We still carry half the world trade. Speaking from an experience of the shipping industry which goes back fifty years to the days when sailing ships were the principal'means of transport, I am certain that our fleet is j .to-day botter than it cvor has been." TRADE BAERIEKS. Without prejudging for one moment Ihe question of freo trade awl protection, it was obvious, Sir William said, to every observer of post-war economic life that the race in tariffs and other mutual obstructions had been growing faster- and faster, and that unless: the nations called a halt, reduced Hieir tariffs, and abolished other trade barriers, their own trade, which they sought by those falso moans to promote, would decline and disappear. The distinguishing characteristic of tho nineteenth century was individualism. The dominant note in business and in politics sinfec tho war has been co-operation. Tho League of Nations, the International Shipping Conference, tho International Chamber of Commerce, trustification, amalgamation, are post-war household words. "I will give you one principle for tho work of the coming year, and that is to unito co-operation and individualism in what we may call 'collective industrialism.' Such a marriago of tho nineteenth and twentieth centuries will at once infuso the modern desiro for organisation with tho essential element -of personal effort and responsibility, and will organise the force of individual effort to tho common and particular good. No amalgamation will succeed unless it preserves at the holm of each business to which, it is applied tho right man: that is, the man equipped to guide and direct with tho energy; initiative, responsibility, and tho froedom to act, and act quickly, when needarises." PULVERISED COAL. Referring to the coal trade, Sir William continued: "Coal is tho only raw material which we have to export in exchange for tho wheat and grain and other commodities which we cannot produce ourselves, and which are needed to support our population. In these circumstances we must pause before committing ourselves irretrievably to oil as -the standard menus •of power for our ships. The British mercantile marine has achieved its great position by the use of steam generated by coal. To throw ourselves entirely upon oil is to impose upon ourselves in times of peace tho necessity for importing our means of power, and to leave in idleness one of the potential Sources of our national wealth; in tho event of another war we might be gravely handicapped. '• •• "The possibility of developing the use of pulverised coal at a cost and under conditions which will more than : compete with oil is, therefore, a matter' of national interest, and I hope that • the scientists and the engineers will find by this or some other way. the ' means of stil! using coal. "I feel," said the president, in conclusion, "that anything done by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to prevent - tho natural increase of capital in the hands of our capable men will bo a great mistako and do a lasting injury to our great industry and tho commerce of the world. "It must ever bo borne in mind that if it was not for tho earnings of the shipping of this country our Budget would fail to balance and wo should soon find that we were in a very difficult position in trading with tho other portions'of the world. The large sums which como to us, apparently invisibly, through tho earnings of our shipping are an enormous factor in helping this country to overcome tho tremendous difficulties wp havo inherited by reason of the war. What we want to do is to consolidate and extend our mercantilo marine, for the Navy, being our suro defence, the mercantilo service is our means of livelihood."