CONTROL OF THE PACIFIC.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 263, 23 October 1916, Page 7

CONTROL OF THE PACIFIC.

JAPAN’S GREAT MOVE. GRADUALLY MONOPOLISING TRADE. When it was evident that Japan has captured the Pacific trade opened to her by the' forced retirement of the German mercantile fleet, the commercial world awakened to the f let that this nation, was going to play a big part in the great scheme Oi oversea communication and excnange of merchandise. That Japanese shipowners intend extending their field of action to competition with our own companies will no doubt awaken more than interest among the shipping- companies concerned. An American daily of recent date gives prominence to the fact that t.ie Japanese are going into competition with the Oceanic and Union S.S. Co., for transPacific freight business. If this expansion of trade meets with the success its promoters anticipate, the Japanese will have entered every considerable shipping trade anywhere on the Pacific Ocean. The company which has undertaken to get the business of the American and Poitish lines is the Osaka Shosen Kaisha, the second largest steamship corporation in Japan. Including - tonnage now on order with Japanese builders. this line control a fleet of -318.0W tons.

The I nion Company, which this Japanese company intends competing against controls a fleet aggregating over a quarter of a million tons—slightly smaller than the Japanese company. Over 100.000 tons of the larger fleet is classed as ‘ building or on order.” so that they really have on the seas at the present time 209.000 tons-less than tlw I- nion Company at present commands. That Japan is gradually working her way up the ladder of commercial power is brought home to us by the fact that a Japanese line is running a monthly steamer to Wellington, laden with a cargo which can pass through the hands of our merchants and be retailed in the shops at prices far below those oi similar goods from British and other countries. A representative °f t’ae Osaka Shosen Kaisha Line has visited San Francisco, and made all necessary arrangements, savs the ‘ San Francisco Examiner,” and he is to recommend to his company that a monthly sailing of fast freighters make San Francisco the American terminus and Sydney and Melbourne the Commonwealth ports of call.

The willingness of the Japanese to do all they can to foster trade and meet the merchants and shippers i< illustrated by the fact that they areaiming to provide more frequent communication than at presents exists with the western coast of the United States. Tins is a thing that the Australian Press and Melbourne shipping interests have wanted for a long time. The American paper previously referred to says that the ships arc to lie fitted with refrigerating space and that they are to be able io carry 10,000 tons of cargo across the Pacific. The refrigerating appliances are to be capable of controlling half the ship’s capacity. It would seem from this that the Japanese owners anticipated a lifting of the embargo on meat. Of course such a movement on the part of the Australian authorities would make the carrying of cargo on the return trip from Australia to San Francisco a profitable business. A representative of the Oceanic Line has said that he is not surprised that the Japanese have made this move, and he further declares that it will not be long before they control everything on the Pacific. The Osaka Shosen Kaisha is a strong company financially, its profits for last year being over £600,000. Its assets in the company’s literature are given as £4,800,000. An Auckland shipping man, whose opinion is worth while, said that the Japanese would bring ruin to the companies now trading here unless legislation were introduced to keep for Australasia the trade and money which will go abroad if the success which looks possible attends the efforts of foreign traders to monopolise the Paciiis.—Auckland “Star.”