SHIPPING SUBSIDIES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18284, 30 December 1933, Page 7

SHIPPING SUBSIDIES

THREAT TO BRITISH TRADE

FACING THE COMPETITION

MELBOURNE, Dec. 22

Speaking at a luncheon given in his honor to-day, by the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce, Sir John Sandeman Allen, a member of the British House of Commons, said that British shipping was in imminent danger, because of the competition of foreign companies subsidised by their respective Governments. The* volume of world’s trade between 1913 and 1929, he said, had increased by 28 per cent., but the merchant tonnage in the same period increased by 39 per cent.; while there was an increase in efficiency and speed of about 10 per cent. Yet in *1929 the British mercantile tonnage was little more than in pre-war years. Foreign tonnage had been doubled, and that of the United States was nine times greater than before the war. In the old days each British ship had' one foreign competitor, but now each ship had two competitors, and these competitors were subsidised. Foreign ships were receiving £39,C00,000 a year in subsidies. There could be no return to sound conditions in the shipping industry, and the future.' of international sea transport could be assured, he said, so long as the uneconomical pnliey of Government subsidies continued. The annual Government expenditures, omitting guarantees on buildings, etc., were as follows: France, 1913 £2,000,C00, 1932 £4,000,000; Italy, 1913 £BOO,OOO, 1932 £4,900,000; United States, 1913 £200,000, 1932 £16,800,000. “We do not intend to allow British shipping to be wiped off tho sea,” Sir John Sandeman Allen concluded. “In one way or another we will take steps to maintain our position and face the competition by subsidised services, which we believe to be destructive of trade. The different parts of the Empire have to come together aqd decide how to do it. (Applause.) I believe that the Empire will rally to maintain the British flag on' the seas in the common interests of us all.”