CONSOLIDATION IN SHIPPING.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14192, 9 January 1917, Page 6

CONSOLIDATION IN SHIPPING.

; • ' " «» • .. ■ : ■ Includiiiij the Commonwealth Government's acquisition of a fleet o£ steamers, :he purchase bf the Wilson Line by Sir John Ellerraan, reoeoitly announced, wtaa cho f ourtlj shipping transaction • of the kind made publio since the end of June, which may be described as of first-class" importance. At the beginning of July there was the agreement for the. acquisition of the New .Zealand and Federal Companies by the P; and O. Company, and by the end of August Furness, vVithey and Co. had completed their arrangements for obtaining a predominating interest in the Prince' Line. There were also other developments of similar character, such as the purchase of the London and Northern Steamship Company by Messrs Pay man, Watson and Co., and, some* movements in the Canadian trade, the full significance of which is not yet apparent. The London Times recently, in referring to the movements, said : "All "the changes of management and consolidation which have been going on indicate tliat after the end of tho war the Control of British shipping will be much more centralised than it was two years ago.. The general lack of cohesion among British owners in bhe past has been repeatedly emphasised, and the new conditions direotly caused by the war made a change not only desirable but imperative. In so far as it will be of assistance in countering foreign competition after the war, the present welding prooeSs is to be welcomed. "