BRITISH SHIPPING

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 25 August 1919, Page 3

BRITISH SHIPPING

FURTHER FUSIONS HUMOKED

LONDON, Aug. 13 (delayed)

There are further rumors of the of the working arrangements of the Peninsular and Oriental, Cunard, and Furness-Withy steamship lines. P. and 0- deferred stock is quoted at £580.

For some years past,, and that before the war, rumors of great British .shipping amalgamations have gained currency in Lpndon, and some of them have becomfe crystallised into fact. The association of the P. and O. Line with .some other great line is tow become .what gardener's call a hardy annual. In view of the fusion of interests of the P. and O. and British India, two of the ] greatest lines in the world, and, to come nearer home, the acquisition by the P. tmd O. of predominating interests in the Now Zealand Shipping Company and Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, there is gsood reason to fenp-' pose that the rumored amalgamation or rather unification of interests of the P. and 0., Cunard, and Furness-Withy lines is not improbable. Th« P. and O. British India lines are already in the trades of British India, Hurma, and Straits Settlements, deep water and coastal; London to and from China and Japan; London to and from Australia,, via Cape of Good Hope and Suez Csmal; Australia to and from Philippines, Hongkong, China, and Japan by the recent acquisition of the Eastern and Australian Line; London ttj and- from New Zealand, via Cape of flood Hope and Panama Oanal ; the New Zealand coastal, Austraiiati, and transPacific, and Pacific Island, and the Tas-rrnnian-Australian trades, through the Union Steam Ship Company. In association with the Cunard Line, the P. and O. British Tndia combination would be publicly identified with the "Western Ocean" or North Atlantic tradealso interests in Canada, I>a!v Cre^ce' s,ml Black Sea, and Australia* and Xow

uoktiuooss'B u£ -epui^ suas.ia.vo pacjua^ with, the Furness-Withy Line, the P. arid 0. British India would have inter-! osts in the trades of the United States and Canada (also Lakes), Argentine, Holland, and "tramp" services that I lead to all ports the world over. The share capitaol of the FurnessWithy Line is £3,500.000, of which £2,000 000 is in ordinary shares. The company has paid 20 per cent, on these shares since and including 1916. It had ! a resei-ve of £1,500,000 at last annual meeting, October, 1918. The turnover for 1917-1918 was £106,000,000. It possesses a shipbuilding yard on the Tees. There wore rumors connecting the Furness line with other lines so far back as October last, but they were laid low by Viscount Furness in the following terms:—"\So i&r as this country is concerned, there are no negotiations in progress or under contemplation, either directly or indirectly, for amalgamation or fusion of jntere.isfcs with any other shipping company." The Cunard Go. is not only one of the most famous but one- of the oldest ocean lines of steamships in the world, being founded by Mr Sajnuel Cunard, of Halifax, Nova l Scotia, in 1840. The ill-fated Lusitania belonged to the Cunard Line. The company has acquired the DonaldsonAnchor Line, Anchor Line, and Commonwealth and Dominion Line. It trades to New York and other United States ports, to Canada, also in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, and to Australia and New Zealand. It has also recently acquired an interest in the Brocklebnnk Line. The capital of tha Cunard Co. is £6,000,000 The ordi-| nary dividend of the company is 20 per i cf nfc- A -t the last annual meeting of the Cunard Co. the chairman (Sir Al- j tied Booth) stated that £1,108,926 had^ been transferred to profit and loss account, as compared with more than twice that amount i n 3f>l6. He estimated the value of the £1 shares to be .hen worth (July, 1918) £4 17s per share The book value of the company s tonnage and shipping shares was then p V en a t £8,507,914. The chn^wSadaed with respect to this item: "You tUk fim 6, anrP ercenta«c you please-on this figure to represent the appreciaof°v^u c Pl^at (l 918) inflatio»