BRITISH MAIL SHIPS

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 June 1936, Page 10

BRITISH MAIL SHIPS

PITTED FOR SIX-INCH GUNS LONDON. May 12. It is disclosed in a White Paper issued yesterday that Canard White Star liners carrying mails are to be prepared, at the expense of the Admiralty. to carry six-inch guns. . This provision forms part of a schedule attached to a new contract for the conveyance of mails to and from America. Il was signed by Major G. C. Tryon, the Postmaster-General, and representatives of the company, on April 1.

Other provisions of the contract are: That in mail ships built in the future endeavours shall be made to protect the steering gear. That the contractors will encourage the*practice of the Admiralty system of signalling with men-of-war, signal stations and merchant ships. •That the contractors will co-operate in the distribution of naval intelligence. That the contractors will encourage the Royal Naval Reserve movement among the officers and men on board the contractors’ ships. Tin's is the first lime that the terms of a mail contract between the Post Office and a shipping company have been made public. .£loii.iioo A YEAR PAYMENT Cunard White Star Ltd., will receive .£lOO,OOO annually for providing a regular weekly mail service from Southampton to New York. A deduction will be made for each week when an outward mailship is. not provided. A further .£5 per tun will be paid for all mail conveyed on outward voyages by any other of the company's ships.

According to a Treasury minute at tached to the contract, it is anticipated that there will be some in crease in payment.

The new contract supersedes two old contracts, and will run for two years from January 1, 1935. One of the clauses covers the loss or damage of any parcel or registered packet. It states that the contractors shall be responsible. . . .

"unless such loss or damage be caused or occasioned by act of God. the King's enemies, pirates, restraints of princes, rulers or people, jettison, barratry, fire, collision or perils or accidents of the seas, rivers and steam navigation."

These are the perils which are usually insured against. The aggregate sums payable by the contractors are not to exceed LT.itO-'i in respect of any one voyage. It is also stipulated that every mailship shall have a speed of 2(J knots.

Tile master and officers and at least three-fourths of the crew of every regular mail-ship are to be British subjects. NAVAL TREATY PROVISIONS

Most foreign governments which subsidise merchant shipping stipulate that suitable vessels shall be available as armed cruisers in an emergency, and that before they are built their design must be approved by the naval authorities. This rule is strictly enforced by the United States. Japan, France and Italy (writes the Naval Correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph”). In Britain, only vessels such as tin#

Queen Mary, the and Lusitania are required to conform to certain Admiralty regulations. O'wing to her immense size the Queen Mary would be quite unfitted for naval service. Each of (lie three naval limitation treaties signed since, the war. including the London Pact of last March, provided that merchant vessels may in time of peace have their decks stiffened to mount guns not exceeding G.lin in calibre. While there is no rule forbidding the carrying of guns by merchant ships in peace time, no guns are actually mounted at present. Shortly before the war, certain British liners on the South American route were armed with 4.Tin guns at the stern, but no ammunition was provided.