BRITAIN'S "LIFELINE"

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 76, 26 September 1940, Page 10

BRITAIN'S "LIFELINE"

When the British Minister of Shipping (Mr. Ronald Cross), in a review of the year's war effort, described the Merchant Service as "the lifeline of the British peoples" in bringing cargoes from all over the world to British ports, it Avas no rhetorical flourish. New Zealanders, in this war, as in the last, warmly acknowledge their debt to British j seamen for the way they take our cargoes to the Motherland through perilous waters, open to every form of enemy attack. Mr. Cross put it plainly: . It is a fact beyond dispute that the whole of our war effort, indeed, our j very existence, depends on the ships j and the men who work them. The question then is: How does Britain stand in the shipping at her disposal and the job it has to do? The job is harder than it was even in the Great War. Europe a? a source of foodstuffs, raw material, and manufactures is almost entirely nut off, and all these indispensables have to be brought now from much greater distances in the world outside the war zone. Then the Mediterranean route is out of commission, and this also means longer voyages round the Cape. For these reasons many more ships are required to carry the same quantity of cargo' at the same rate of arrival in Britain owing to the longer voyages. Fortunately, there is the advantage that Germany by her seizure of maritime countries has released their merchant fleets for the carriage of British cargoes. In addition there are many neutral ships working for Britain. So Mr. Cross was able to state that essential imports into Britain wei-e not much below peacetime figures, and,| he said, "Britain is beginning the second year of war in a good position to feed her people and supply her factories." But there are no signs yet of any slackening in enemy j attempts to cut our "lifeline," and! strenuous efforts on the part of Bri-i tons all over the Empire will still be needed if the present satisfactory position is to be maintained, ■ i