PACIFIC SHIPPING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22390, 9 April 1936, Page 11

PACIFIC SHIPPING

QUESTIONS OF SUBSIDIES OUTLOOK NOT FAVOURABLE LONDON, April 7 The Commonwealth Minister of Commerce, Dr. Earle Page, and the Attor-ney-General, Mr. R. G. Menzies, to-day met the President of the Board of Trade, Mr. Walter Runciman, and the Dominions Secretary, Mr. Malcolm Mac Donald, also the Canadian and New Zealand High Commissioners, with their respective experts. They agreed upon a basis for the discussion of the Pacific shipping- situation when they meet again after Easter, in order to obviate each country putting forward separate plans. The Australian Associated Press says It understands that these opening consultations revealed that the British Government is likely to be the most formidable obstacle to an agreement to maintain the services with interGovernmental aid. Mr. Runciman's non-committal attitude is dictated by the fear that either a counter-subsidy or a reservation of certain routes to British shipping will produce American retaliation in the Pacific and elsewhere. This, with the addition of the reluctance of Mr. Runciman and his Government to broaden the principle of subsidies, means that no solution is apparent yet.

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