MERELY POSTPONED

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 49, 26 August 1938, Page 10

MERELY POSTPONED

ORDERS FOR SHIPS

| THE PACIFIC TRADE

(Received August 26, 1.15 p.m.) LONDON, August 25. Lord Craigmyle, chairman of the P. and O. Company, reasserted that th« construction of two ships for the Australian and Canadian trade has been merely postponed. He added that it was unfortunate that high prices had come at a time when negotiations for a matured agreement had been reached concerning the need for ships for the Pacific.trade. It was encouraging that Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and, Britain were determined not to permit a vital British service to be swept away. . The National Union of Seamen,, alarmed at the future of the mercantile marine, points out that 130,000 seamen and 2000 ships less are at present in service, than in 1914, and that at present Britain possesses 28 per cent, of world tonnage, compared with 48 per cent, in 1914. The union urges an I adequate subsidy, to be controlled by a committee of representatives of the Government, ship owners, and seamen.

In connection with the decision not to build two new Pacific liners, Sis Edward Beatty, chairman of Canadian Pacific Steamships, and Lord Craig" myle, chairman of the P. and O. Company, in a joint statement last month, said that the plans and specifications of two new ships were submitted to selected shipbuilders, but unfortunately ship-building prices had reached an uneconomic peak. Accordingly, the company had decided that construction at present was impracticable. The postponement was regretted, but the company anticipated that the discussions would be resumed.