The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1936 ANOTHER BLUE RIBAND TO CAPTURE!

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20511, 1 September 1936, Page 6

The Timaru Herald TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1936 ANOTHER BLUE RIBAND TO CAPTURE!

When the giant British, liner the Queen Mary steamed majestically past Bishop’s Rock on her west to east crossing of the Atlantic, she regained for British shipbuilding genius and seamanship, the much-coveted Blue Riband of the Atlantic. On July 27, messages from New York, reported that the Qaieen Mary, on her first Atlantic crossing after her engines had been tuned up at Southampton, had covered the sea journey between the Old World and the New, in the fastest time on record, but the course she took was less than that covered by the French liner:

When the Normandie broke all records on her maiden Voyage In May, 1935, she covered the distance from Bishop's Rock, Scilly Isles (which is shorter than that from Cherbourg), to the Ambrose Light at an average speed of 29.53 knots and on the homeward run averaged 30.34 knots between these two points.

It is this record that has now been eclipsed, and the symbol of sea supremacy has passed into the possession of a British ship. Doubtless the magnificent steaming performance of the most wonderful liner afloat will give the British nation cause to glory in the prowess of the British mercantile marine, with its great and efficient shipping companies, its capable and discerning designers and builders, and the splendid officers and crews that man the ship. But once the flush of this new triumph for British ships and seamanship cools down somewhat, intelligent and far-seeing British citizens will begin to reflect on the increasing difficulties with which British shipping lines are fighting a battle against great odds. The recapture of the Blue Riband of the Atlantic demonstrates beyond all challenge, the ability of British shipping to hold its own against all comers. Given equal conditions, British ships and mercantile administrators, and British seamen can meet the fiercest foreign competition on the Seven Seas of the world. Is this generally recognised ? If so, why should not the maritime sense of the British people inspire them to make a well-organised bid to recapture the blue riband of shipping in the Pacific? This is the issue that deeply concerns New Zealanders. It is a sorry reflection on the breadth of outlook displayed by the Parliamentary leaders of the British people, that when the Ottawa agreements were drafted to develop inter-imperial trade, it was agreed that varying preferences should apply to goods sold within the Empire, but in spite of the appeal of British shipowners, no provision was made that the cargoes should be carried in British vessels. Since the hour of that sorry blunder, a steady decline has been noted in the employment of British ships in British trade. The explanation of this decline is to be found in the difficulties under which British shipowners are trading:

In some cases they are fighting shipping which is heavily subsidised; in others they have to compete against vessels with wages and other costs far lower than theirs. In other instances they are prejudiced by the coastal reservation laws of foreign countries, which enable the freight rates to be cut in ocean going trades. The dice is heavily loaded against British shipowners, and, as the result, they are carrying a smaller proportion of the cargoes in and out of British ports.

It ought to be obvious to the least discerning among British citizens that the activities of British shipping lines are being sorely hampered, particularly in the Pacific, because of the unequal battle they are fighting against heavily subsidised lines. All that British shipowners demand is equality of conditions in the movements of ships trading in the Pacific, and it behoves the Governments of Britain, Australia and New Zealand to look a little deeper into the shipping problems of the Pacific, particularly in relation to the devastating effect of subsidised lines and trading restrictions imposed by foreigners in their own ports, from which they are exempt in British waters.