EMPIRE SHIPPING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21641, 6 November 1933, Page 8

EMPIRE SHIPPING

An all-Empire shipping conference, is being arranged for next year. Its object, that Empire cargoes should be carried by Empire ships, is declared with a welcome frankness. The position of the British mercantile marine very closely resembles that of British industry before free trade was abolished. It no longer holds its place as the carrier of the world. Never again, probably, will it command such widespread freighting services as it did before the war. That great convulsion not only created a shortage of shipping, but aho awakened a number of great trading nations to the realisation that without shipping adequate to meet the demands of their own exporting industries, they faced competition at a disadvantage. Accordingly they began to build, and some of them built extravagantly under encouragements which carried them far beyond the reasonable requirements of the industry the ships were intended to serve. Not only was there a common system of subsidies, often extremely generous in terms, but in some eases State money was made available at very cheap rates. The consequence has been that today there are millions of tons of shipping in existence beyond tho employment possible for it had times remained normal. Britain did not engage in the subsidy scheme. Protection by subsidy or other methods has been discussed, but it is a matter of significance that there has been resistance to this idea from owners' interests. The long view was taken, as it usually is, by British traders, but the calling of the all-Einpiro conference indicates that at long last the British Government has decided that in the national interest the unequal competition cannot be allowed to continue. On July 1, 788 British vessels of 1,946,000 ton's, were laid up in ports of the United Kingdom. This was a slight increase on the figures of the previous quarter but a decrease compared with those of the previous year. The British mercantile marine is faced with tremendous handicaps, handicaps which give great trade advantages to competitors, and the conference has not been called too soon.