RIVAL SHIPPING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 20 June 1932, Page 6

RIVAL SHIPPING

PREFERENCE FOR BRITAIN

PACIFIC STRUGGLE

FIGHT AS AN EMPIRE Referring to the competition with British shipping in the Pacific (reports the “Dominion”), Mr H. D. Bennett suggested in his address as chairman at the annual meeting of the Wellington branch of the British Sailors’ Society, that the New Zealand delegation to the Ottawa Conference should work on the slogan “Stick to the convoy.” Mr Bennett discussed what he termed "the Matson Line invasion,” and he pointed out that trie United States but mod trading by British ships in American waters, while there were nC. restrictions in the ports of the Dominions involved in the present competition. The United States Government subsidised the Matson Line to an extent of about £IOOO a day, and this line had sent two fast vessels to capture the trade of Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. The British ships on the same route received a modest subsidy of £7O a day. AMERICAN TARIFF WALLS The speaker commented on America’s tariff walls, and described the shipping innovation as “an additional fiscal adventure demoralising in its effect.” He said the Prime Minister, the lit. Hon. G. W. Forbes, had said that the matter was beyond the jurisdiction of the British countries concerned. “We have on our statute hooks the necessary authority if the Government cared to use it,” said Mr Bennett. “The Government is probably right in that individual retaliation may he inexpedient,” added the speaker. “If the Prime Minister is right and the Dominion Government is powerless, let us take our case lo Ottawa. There the strong voice of Empire may speak with no uncertain emphasis. The Wellington branch of the British Sailors’ Society 'makes this appeal—the interests of the men who made the Empire possible, and who in the words of the psalm 'go down to the sea. in ships and do business in great waters.’ ” SYMPATHY FOR SEAMEN Mr Bennett added that no survey of the effect of the economic situation on shipping in general, would he complete without reference to the devastating influence of the financial stringency on the great herring industry of _ Great Britain. The Empire was greatly concerned about the welfare of the mariner. The British Sailors’ Society, as wideflung in its service as 'the mercantile marine itself, was grappling to the best of its ability with a problem as distressing as it was colossal. ■ There arose the question of international relationships and the Empire’s duty to its seamen. The New Zealand Flock House scheme was a tribute from this Dominion, and a recognition of the obligations to the British seaman. The scheme was an acknowledgment of a debt of honour, hut it was purely a private sectional endeavour. The question was, what could we do as a nation?