GOVERNMENT ACTION

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 84, 8 April 1936, Page 11

GOVERNMENT ACTION

MEETING COMPETITION

OUTLINE OF PROPOSALS

An indication of the Government's policy in connection with meeting competition from subsidised shipping in the Pacific was given by the Hon. M. Fagan (Leader of the Legislative Council), when speaking in the Address-in-Reply debate in the Legislative Council yesterday afternoon.

Mr. Fagan said that the Government regarded the question of subsidised shipping competition as a very serious one. Indeed, it was one of the most important questions facing the Dominion at the present time. The British line had pioneered the service to San Francisco 26 years ago, and had developed the country. There were about 600 persons employed on the British line ships, and the majority were married men with homes in New Zealand. It would be a serious thing if' those people lost their employment and became a charge on the Unemployment Fund. Nor was it desired to see a British line chased off the seas simply because the subsidy offered to the Matson Line' was too big to cope with. I do not say that we can put up a £ for £ subsidy and compete with the United States of America in its endeavour to keep its ships on the sea, but the Government will do all that is humanly possible to assist in keeping the British-owned line on the waters of the Pacific, said Mr. Fagan. BASIS OF SUBSIDY. Mr. Fagan saijj that negotiations were now proceeding with Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, and if New Zealand was to contribute its share of the subsidy with the other two countries, the subsidy would not have to be based on the old idea of tramp ships or of other inferior ships. It was realised that the public would travel on the best boats, and if it was hoped to compete with the Matson Line, steamers equal to, if not superior to the Mariposa and Monterey and the Lurline w/ild have to be placed In commission. "If the. subsidies are granted—and I believe they will be given—a condition will be that the British-owned line will have to put on the run two steamers costing not less than £1,000,000, so that each will be able to compete with the Matson steamers in the matter of comfort to passengers," said Mr. Fagan. "I can assure the Council that the Government will do everything in its power to ensure that the British-owned line of steamers is kept on the Pacific." * INTERNATIONAL QUESTION. Mr. Fagan recalled that the matter was discussed at the Parliamentary Association conference in London last j year, but at that time neither New Zealand nor Australia could do anything because the question was an international one. The American authorities would not let New Zealand ships trade between American ports, yet the American ships insisted on picking up passengers and cargo for transport between Suva, Auckland, and Sydney. "Although we would have liked to have exercised our rights in the matter, we had to consult the British Government because the question was an international one," said Mr. Fagan. "We have been successful in having certain difficulties removed, and the way is now open for New Zealand, Australia, and Great Britain to take steps that will, I feel, make for more even competition between that heavily subsidised line—the Matson Line —and the British line to which I have referred."