THINGS IN GENERAL.

Thames Star, Volume XLV, Issue 10420, 13 May 1909, Page 4

THINGS IN GENERAL.

ATLANTIC COMPETITION. For the 'first time for fifteen years Germany's greatest shipping line, the Hamtarg-Aniierioan Company, has failed to declare an animal dividend. | The official amnounoeiinent that, ?il- j i though) the company's net earnings for 1908 were nearly £800,000, the directors! had determined to allocate them exclusively to the interest, depreciation and reserve accounts. After recapitulating the clauses of last year's unsatisfactory results, which represented ai shrinkage of 50 per cent, since 1906, this directors referred to the dlaad'Ly competition forced uipon the Germian lines by the Lusitaniai and 'Maiuretini.au "The construction of these record-breaking vessels,' sand the company's statement, "had andl still' has a iniost disastrous influenloe on the shipping tnade. It riwi&t be admitted that the Gearmian shipping! lines, through the demiands of international competition, are being subjected to a certaini pressure in this direction. The commissioning of neiw Cunard giants awakens "a natural desire to build equally large or larger* veesels, for the shipping- , oonrnpainies deal with ..that of internationaill puiblio whidh seeks th'e_ most comfortable afnd luxuriously furnished ships. The fact cannot be ■oonicealed that the necessity to construct giant vessels has precipitated' an era of .over-bur-dened expense." The heaivy decrease j of freight amid emigrant, traffic was naimieid as the principal clause! of the tod trade : of li9OB. The HkniburglAlmlericlam line's dividends were 1 11, 10> amdl 6 per cent respectively for the years 1905, 1906, amd 1907. The decision of the White Star Company to btaiildi two ocean leviathans to eclipse even the latest Ounarders reduces the probability of the German firmi establishing ita superiority m the Atlantic running, amd meanwhile lively competition is forecast fay the rumour that Messrs Harland Mid Wolff have; obtained: a substantial, if \ not a controlling, interest in the! great Pa.knier firm at Juitow. Messrs Harland and Wolff enjoy a unique reputation for the building of «n- j ormous liners, and 1 Me^&tfa Palmer for warships. Some two years ago Messrs fiiai-land and Wolff took a considerable holding in the stock of John Brown and' Co., of Sheffield arid Cdyebamk, the oibjeot being the acquisition of am interest' in a steelmianufacturing concern. As a result of the recent negotiations with the Jarrow firm the interests of the Tyne andi Belfast aire expected to become as closely identified as are those of the Clyde and Belfast.