ATLANTIC MERGER

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 76, 31 March 1934, Page 11

ATLANTIC MERGER

TOTING OF FINANCE

PRESTIGE OF BRITISH SHIPPING

(Front- "The Post's" Representative.) :. LONDON, February 23. A financial resolution 'which is the preliminary, to the Bill to authorise the Treasury to advance £9,500,000 towards the completion of the Cunard liner No. 534, and possibly the construction of another' ship, was considered yesterday by !£he House of Commons in Committee..''."' ," . ;' Mr. Chamberlain explained that the advances would- Be made to a merger company formed out of the Canard and thft White Star companies. '"'Of ,thei sum to be advanced £ 3,000,000 would be required to complete the Cunarder, £1,500,000 would bo set aside ± or the provision of working capital, although the whole of it would not necessarily be required for that purpose, and the remaining £5,000,000 would: be available /if:it were decided later to;build a sister ship.; The Treasury were in no way' committed,', however, to the advance of the-last-mentioned sum, nor to the construction of a second ship; a .decision oh that matter must await the experience of tie working of No. 5341. Both, companies would sell their North Atlantic fleets, including the ship now being built, to the new company itt consideration of shares, of which 62 per ■ cent, would be allocated to the Cunard Company and 38 to the White Star."■■;■■" ' : .._.; : ,._ ; _^]J;,[- : i '■'■ " END OF RUINOUS COMPETITION. This transaction, Mr. ■ Chamberlain admitted, was unusual, but the circumstances were unusual, and the results achieved 'were- the 'justification, r The fusion which' had been'" effected would end the ruinous competition of,the great companies for. tho. , much-, .diminished trade in the North Atlantic) and a great' ship amply provided with financial resonrces would be placed on. the seas to restore and maintain British maritime prestige. He attributed the*suceess of the negotiations to the valuable help given by Lord Weir, the ingenuity of the Treasury staff, the desire of both companies to end a ruinoils state of affairs, and the willingness of the Government to take a share of the risks of tho enterpriseMr Kirtayood, in whose constituency the ship is being built, said that, these arrangements would give work immediately to 9000 or 10,000 men. The' resolution was not allowed to pass without criticism. . ' Mr. Buchanan said that this was to be a floating palace which no man might enter unless he was extremely wealthy—unless, he was a member of the crew. . Employment might be given to 10,000 men for a year, but this would only be at the expense of putting ships out :qf commission. If £9,500,000 could be spared, a better service would havo been to recondition the coastal fleet. (Hear, hear.) ' ' : ; Mr. Paling. (Wentwortli, Labour) protested against public money being used to bolster up private; enterprise. PASSENGERS OF INTERMEDIATE ■■/■; .:- .:'.-' ■ CLASS. •■ ; " : . 'Eeplyirig to poiifts'; raised in the de? bate Mr. Chamberlain. said that there seemed to be'some misapprehension" as .to the sort of ship that No. 534 would ■be. It would not be a luxury ship on which no' one but millionaires' could go. The snips/which had the fastest rates of speed -were the ships that carried the largest number, of passengers on tho Atlantic. Those passengers were of an intermediate glass, and it was for them that No. 534' was being built. It was extremely likiely that the company {might i find it necessary to. run two ships in "order to make tho first ship pay, It .was conceivable that they might build two smaller ships instead of another big ship. Tbo whole fleet of the Cunard Company was ageingj and if ships were thrown out of commission, they would bo iships already obsolete , which would-, sooner or later have to be broken up. "This was a revivifying and rejuvenating process, and was no reversal of the' Government's policy of public works. It was the Government's desire that the great industries of this country should be put in a position to compete with.' all the other countries of the world. It was the building of the ships which was the real great achievement carried out by the agreement. It was a great achievement also to join - together these two concerns into one which would be able to hold its own with the rest of the world.

The resolution was agreed to and reported to the House.