SHIPPING SUBSIDY IN THE PACIFIC

Southland Times, Issue 23307, 17 September 1937, Page 7

SHIPPING SUBSIDY IN THE PACIFIC

AUSTRALIA READY TO SIGN AGREEMENT CANBERRA, September 16. The Federal Prime Minister (Mr J. A. Lyons) announced officially in the House of Representatives that the Commonwealth Government would enter into an agreement with other Empire Governments to establish a subsidized British shipping service in the Pacific. Mr Lyons indicated that there would be no chance of introducing legislation to ratify the agreement until after the elections. He did not explain why, but it is understood that the reason is that obstacles have been raised by the Canadian and New Zealand Governments. ANNOUNCEMENT GREETED IN LONDON EMPIRE URGED TO CONTINUE UNWAVERINGLY LONDON, September 15. The Daily Mail, in an editorial entitled “Hoisting the Blue Peter,” welcomes Mr Lyons’s announcement and urges that now that the British Government in conjunction with the Dominions has decided to support the Merchant Navy it must be prepared to continue unwaveringly to secure a fair field without favour in the Pacific.. “It is useless waiting for competitors to abandon their fierce discrimination against the British lines,” says The Daily Mail. “Subsidy must be met by subsidy and restrictions by countermeasures. If British vessels are granted help equalling that given to their foreign rivals it will not be long before the Red Ensign is again supreme in the Pacific.”

The Daily Mail expects that vessels of an aggregate value of £3,000,000, capable of 22 knots, will be built to carry 425 first class, 300 cabin, and 100 third class passengers.