U.S. HUGE DEFICIT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16869, 5 February 1929, Page 9

U.S. HUGE DEFICIT

£25,000,000 LOST IN SHIPPING GOVERNMENT BOARD'S DEMANDS NEW YORK. Dec. 8. The merchant ships operated by the U.S. Government in the fiscal year 1928 lost more than £3.250,000. That was £70,000 more than last year, and brought the total operating loss for the last, five years to nearly £25,000,000. In submitting these figures to Congress to-day the U.S. Shipping Hoard attributes the increased deficit largely to a lower demand for tonnage, which bad run high during the British coal strike of the previous year, and to the drop in the volume of cotton shipments consequent upon the smaller American crop. The report declares that the greatest handicap to the profitable operation of the Government vessels—the number of which has been now reduced by sales. from 273 to 230—has been the lack of vessels of suitable speed, type, and equipment successfully to compete with privately-owned foreign vessels operating on the same routes. The. American shipping industry, the. report continues, cannot stand still. It must keep abreast of the times or he forced into a subordinate position by the activities of its foreign competitors. F«r every ocean going vessel being built in the United States, Great Britain is building 50, Germany 10, France and Italy five each, and Japan four, so that in the matter of new construction, the report says, America is rapidly being outdistanced. Government loans exceeding £3,000,000 have helped seven companies to build 14 new ships, says the report; but if the merchant marine is to serve the public at its best the following conditions must be fulfilled--. Congress must give additional aid and codify the t'avigation Daws. [t must adopt. The Hague rules and enact a Load-Line Bill. It must provide for tax exemption on American vessels operating in the foreign service. A naval reserve must be created. Private owners must he authorised to handle the peace-time business of the army and navy, which is now conducted bv transports. ' An insurance system must be created that will place American ships on a parity with foreign ships.