BRITISH SHIPPING.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 10, 10 December 1936, Page 9

BRITISH SHIPPING.

SERIOUS POSITION STRESSED. COMPETITION BY JAPAN. LONDON, Dec. 9. At the P. and 0. Company’s meeting, Hon. Alexander Shaw, who presided, said:— “The board’s opinion is that the uncertainties of British shipping are such that it does not see a prospect of a return to larger distributions. Indeed, figures available for the current year are not so good as those of last year.” Referring to the Canadian-Australian-New Zealand line, he said: “If it is wiped out by wholly uneconomic competition an example will be given other lands of how easy it is to extinguish British lines anywhere aiid how British hesitation, timidity, and inaction lend themselves to the process. It would be surprising if the public here and in the Dominions would quietly tolerate the wiping out of the last British links on these waters. Britain’s merchant tonnage to-day is about equal to carrying out trade in peacetime and would be unequal to the task in wartime. Japanese ships are increasingly invading the coastal trade of the British Empire to Hong Kong Singapore, Penang, Colombo, Indian ports, African territories, and South Africa. All Japan's doors are closed to us. All ours are open to her. 'The cards are in our hands, yet we do not play them. For years British shipping has been going downhill and it will continue to go downhill so long as responsible authorities do nothing to save it.” He warmly applauded Australia and New Zealand’s legislation to secure their own purely local trade. He suggested that the Government of_ India should bo pressed to begin negotiations with Japan to make any concessions to Japan dependent entirely on fair play to British ships, and that the broad aspects of Britain’s shipping position in the Far East he referred to the Imperial Shipping Committee for examination and advice.