SHIPPING SUBSIDIES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21799, 14 May 1934, Page 8

SHIPPING SUBSIDIES

Tho British Government's plans for meeting the shipping problem are foreshadowed by the Daily Telegraph, which states that the measures to be adopted to meet the unequal competition from subsidised foreign tonnage will avoid the dangers inherent in the granting of a general subsidy to tramps. Subsidies will be granted only to ships running on routes where they are in direct competition with subsidised foreign vessels, the object being to provide a bargaining weapon with which to fight for all-round reductions. The proposal to aid the construction of new vessels designed for a specific purpose would at first glance appear to be an action of a somewhat contradictory character, seeing there has been so much concern over idle freight tonnage, but there is reason for the belief that one of the ways out of the difficulty may be through the employment of vessels of higher average efficiency than the bulk of the tramp shipping that is in existence. It was stated recently by Sir Westcott Abell that British naval architects had succeeded in producing a tramp that can cover 7000 miles, at an average speed of 280 miles a day, for an expenditure upon coal of £3OO. Such performances in actual operation would give a remarkable advantage to the owners of such vessels, and, incidentally, would have great national importance to those countries -which possess coal but not oil. Possibly construction subsidies may be intended to place more efficient cargo carriers in the mercantile marine. If the Daily Telegraph's information is correct, the policy follows more the suggestions of the anti-subsidy party than those who have clamoured for general direct action. In putting forward the case for the "opposition," Sir Karl Knudsen made a point that has not received wide publicity. It is that, under present circumstances, the real enemy of the tramp is the cargo liner, which has seized upon freight which in normal times it would have rejected at the price. The liner, he says, is frequently "our old friend the tramp," whose activities have been absorbed by the combines which regulate trade and make shipping stronger and safer both for the investor and for national purposes. When there is plenty of typical liner cargo, he affirms, the sun will shine again for the tramp. But that day may be brought appreciably nearer for the British cargo-carrier if Britain, armed with a strong bargaining weapon, is able to modify the highly uneconomic policies of its new competitors.