The Timaru Herald MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1933. PRESTIGE ON THE SEA.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19669, 11 December 1933, Page 6

The Timaru Herald MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1933. PRESTIGE ON THE SEA.

•‘We are not going to see British ships swept off the face of the ocean,” states the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Hr Neville Chamberlain) in a declaration of the policy of the Imperial Government, in face of the growing demands for State assistance of the British Mercantile Marine in face of the intensification of the prevailing practice of foreign countries of providing rich subsidies for the development of overseas shipping. “We mean to find one way or another,” the Chancellor added, “to defend ourselves.” Already, as the Chancellor and his Cabinet colleagues know, Great Britain has lost the honour of possessing the world’s fastest liner; and in another few months she will no longer own the world’s largest liner. What this means to Britain every intelligent citizen realises. The forfeiture of these records certainly does not entail the loss of Britain’s lead in mercantile marine tonnage over the rest of the world; it does not affect the traditional reputation of her seamen; in fact, its effect upon Britain as an active mercantile marine force can easily be over-estimated. Nevertheless it is generally agreed that the North Atlantic shipping challenge launched against Breat Britain by France, Italy and Germany, ought to be answered. The effect of the loss of Atlantic records upon the prestige of British shipping, among other nations may be profound, since a lead that has been Britain’s for many years has been wrested from her in spectacular international competition on which the publicity searchlights of all nations have been trained. As one shipping expert says: It is not British shipping only which would suffer through this loss of prestige; the whole of our international commercial structure would in time feel the effect. Britain would have lost one of her greatest advertisements! Is not this the correct angle of the situation? The super-liners which Britain needs are a moving display advertisement of her maritime preeminence, and as such the responsibility for their cost—and upkeep—rests not with the shipping industry only but with the nation. If there were such a thing as a national advertising allocation the uncompleted vessels should be the first charge against such a fund.

Obviously the British shipping industry does not demand something in the nature of privilege; it asks, if the voice of its leaders can be correctly interpreted, that the nation shall shoulder its share of the responsibilities of maintaining the supremacy of British mercantile marine. Not unnaturally the thoughts of the nation have been turned, during the past few months of discussion on the menace to British shipping prestige. of State subsidised foreign shipping now operating with increasing activity in the Seven Seas of the world, to the uncompleted liners now' lying on the stocks of the great shipbuilding yards in Britain. Faced with the dual prblem of subsidised shipping and the restoration of British prestige at sea, leading shipping experts are pointing out that if the great ships are to be built and maintained, the nation, through its Government, must pay for them; the gain in prestige, the employment of thousands of men now on the dole, and the retention of British mail contracts for British ships will go far towards counterbalancing the cost. But Britain cannot leave the matter there. The only possible itinerary which could handle these ocean giants is that on the North Atlantic to New York, and here Britain is unique in lyiving the experienced services of two great independent shipping companies against the one of all other nations. Hitherto this lias been regarded as adding a difficulty to the situation with which other nations have not had to contend. The merger of the Canard and White Star Lines, however, has removed the last obstacle in the way of State assistance, since it is generally recognised that national assistance in order to benefit the industry as a whole, can now be provided in support of the merged shipping interests whose traditions and past records indicate equal ability to utilise and run the biggest ships on the most important shipping routes to the best national advantage. It may yet be discovered that the way out will be found by the Government itself financing and building the two incomplete liners, utilising the technical assistance and experience of the companies concerned, and then hand over the completed liners for management at a fixed remuneration. Every day, however, brings fresh evidence of the immense difficulties facing the British mercantile marine which seem to suggest that only by the assistance of the Slate can the lost records be recovered, and British mercantile shipping hold its proud place on the face of the ocean.

PROGRESSIVE WEST ICND. .Justifiable pride in manifested evidence of ’‘something attempted, something done" was the keynote of the gala organised by the West Menders on Saturday, to mark the official opening of the now pavilion. For manv years a group

of enthusiasts, actuated by community interest, inspired by civic pride and a realisation of the palpable needs of that part of the town, has worked unceasingly to provide the West End of Timaru with recreational and social facilities set in the natural beauty of a spacious park, worthy of these long cherished civic ideals. The ceremony on Saturday marked the passing of another milestone in the march of progress to the goal the West End has in mind. The Mayor of Timaru, on behalf of the citizens, congratulated the West End on the materialisation of popular enthusiasm and enterprise. It was not surprising, then, that the president of the West End Ratepayers’ Association should have confessed that Saturday was a red-letter day, on which the hearts of every progressive West Ender welled over with pride of achievement. No words were necessary, we are sure, to explain the feeling of the public-spirited residents of the West End of the borough, because it was merely necessary for residents and visitors to look around them to see the evidence of the progressive spirit that prevails in the West End. In the beauty of the park, with its trees and rich spacious grass swards, picked out here and there with flower beds; the wellequipped swimming bath and now the commodious and ideally situated pavilion and social hall, there is material evidence of what is possible in a community which sets out in quest of an ideal. Some of the wisest philosophers have insisted that to do anything in this world worth while, man must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and make a big effort to translate ideals into actuality. This is precisely the line of action pursued by the group of enthusiasts, wholeheartedly backed by the residents, who have for so many years interested themselves in the purchase, development and beautification of West End Park. What are the tools with which the West Enders have worked? Something similar to the grander tools with which man has been tunnelling Alps, canalling the American isthmus, piercing the Arabian desert. It was Emerson who said, in supoprt of Longfellow’s dictum that “enthusiasm, begets enthusiasm,” that “every great and commanding movement in the annals of the world is the triumph of enthusiasm!” In all countries there are monuments to man’s enterprise and enthusiasm. The soil of Holland, for instance, perhaps the most populous and at times the most prosperous in Europe, is below the level of the sea. Egypt, where no rain fell for three thousand years, now, it is recorded, thanks Meliemet Ali’s irrigation and planted forests, for late-returning showers. In some countries man tights the tyrant sea successfully with beach grass and broom—and the blowing sand-barrens with pine plantations. The old Hebrew king, said “He makes the wrath of man to praise him,” and there is no argument of theism better than the grandeur of ends brought about by man’s enterprise, skill and industry. The chain of western, railways from Chicago to the Pacific for instance, planted cities and civilisation in less time than Nature takes to bring an orchard into bearing. Right down the centuries, actuated by inspired enthusiasm and sustaining enterprise, man has marched through the gloom of the early years to the brilliant sunshine of the present day, in which invention upon invention has made day out of night, time out of space, space out of time. The West Enders have not only gained the responsive ear of the civic authorities and the praise of the City Fathers, but they have enlisted the unquenchable enthusiasm, the self-sacri-ficing enterprise and the inspired vision of a community which has imparted a magnetism that has fused all the attributes of a splendid company of citizens into one happy and harmonious unity that has literally moved mountains in the quest of a definite objective in a well-equipped recreational area that will meet the needs of the community for many years to come. They have watched their dreams come true, and every progressive citizen of the fair town of Timaru will most heartily congratulate them on their meritorious achievements.