AMERICAN LINERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 9, 12 January 1938, Page 11

AMERICAN LINERS

PACIFIC SERVICE

NEW SHIPS SUGGESTED

■Reports that the Matson Navigation Company is making tentative plans for the construction o£ two express liners for the Pacific trade are being circulated in San Francisco, states the "New Zealand Herald" of today. It. is stated that the suggested ships, which will be larger and faster than the Mariposa and Monterey, will serve as the American reply to the proposed two new Canadian-Australasian liners. N.O information on the project has been received by Mr, R, Rose, New Zealand passenger representative of the American line.

One factor which may lend some support to the suggestion is contained in decisions reached by the United Slates Maritime Commission, which has granted Government aid in the construction of a large number of merchant ships. An announcement was made in August that aid would be given in the building of 95 merchant vessels, including 25 passenger ships, at a cost of 256,440,000 dollars, A further cable message published last month stated that the commission would call for tenders for the immediate construction of twelve steel cargo ships, the largest peace-time order for merchant tonnage ever placed in the United States. ft

Further emphasis for the support of expansion of American shipping, based on the commission's findings, was given in a cabled message published yesterday, which announced that the United States Government had signed longterm subsidy agreements with seven steamship companies for the immediate construction of 20 ships and the preparation of plans for ,28 more, Negotiations are under way with an eighth company for ten ships,.

Whether the Matson's service to the South Pacific will benefit from the great increase in American tonnage is a subject for conjecture at Auckland,