P. AND O. CENTENARY

Evening Star, Issue 22559, 29 January 1937, Page 11

P. AND O. CENTENARY

A FAMOUS LINE , In 1937, and probably in the autumn, the centenary is to be celebrated of the Peninsula aud Oriental Steam Navigation Company, generally known as the P. and 0., says ‘ The Times.’ The company was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1840, but its board, management, and fleet were precisely the same as that of the enterprise which was formed in 1837 as the Peninsula Steam Navigation Company. This company had instituted a service of steamers to Yigo, Oporto, Lisbon, and Gibraltar, and on August 22, 1837, a contract was made with the Admiralty for the transport of mails by steamer to Peninsular ports. Previously the mails had been carried by Government brigs and Post Office packets. The word “ Oriental ” was added to the title when the Royal Charter was granted, subject to the provision that the service should be extended to Egypt, and that within two years one or more of the company’s vessels should be serving the ports of the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. The first extension was from Gibraltar to Egypt by the Peninsular steamers, and the great work had to be undertaken of organising overland transport from Alexandria to Suez. The first steamer sent bv the company round the Capo of Good Hope to inaugurate the service between Suez and Calcutta was the Hindostan, a paddle vessel of nearly 2,000 tons, whose sailing from this country was regarded as an important national event. In 1845 the company extended its services to the Straits Settlements and Hongkong; in 1852 to Australia; in 1864 to Japan; and at the end of 1869, with the opening of the Suez Canal, the communications with the East and the services of the P. and O. Company were greatly changed. _ The sailings of the Peninsula Steam Navigation Company were first advertised in September, 1837, and it may be possible to arrange celebrations of the centenary at different ports next September when particular ships are there. At the recent annual meeting Mr Alexander Shaw, the chairman, remarked that a century of private enterprise had built up in the P. and O. what, in reality, was a great branch of the Public Service. The speech made it clear that the company had still to face a full share of serious problems, particularly in the Far Eastern trades, which are to be the subject of inquiry by the Imperial Shipping Committee. At the same time much has been done during recent years, and is now being done, to provide the most suitable vessels in the light of developments in naval architecture and marine engineering, and real progress has also been made, at the cost of hard work, in strengthening the financial structure, which has been reflected in the payment of a modest dividend on the deferred stock after an interval of four years. Besides its passenger and cargo liner services the company has a substantial interest in tramp shipping, and the earnings from this, after a long period of depression, should be of benefit to the P. and O. m its centenary vear. Yet throughout the group the aims laid down by. the chairman will certainly be kept in mind—namely, an efficient organisation ashore and afloat, a fleet up to the most modern standards, and a strong liquid position, so that no unwise distribution of earnings that can be illspared is to be. expected.