The Star. MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 1919. STATE AS SHIPOWNER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12710, 4 August 1919, Page 4

The Star. MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 1919. STATE AS SHIPOWNER.

The Australian Government is evidently determined that the Commonwealth shall have her own. ships and shall not he dependent upon the shipping combinations. It is of . quite recent date—early in 1916—that Mr W. M. Hughes bought a line of cargo carriers, and since then these have been added to by a number of enemy ships seized in the Australian ports and put into commission. Just before leaving England Mr Hughes ordered two big liners for the Commonwealth, and as the work of constructing smaller vessels is preceding steadily in Australian shipyards, ere long the Australian Government will possess a fleet of considerable dimensions. When the war ceased wooden steamers were being built in the United States and Australia for the Federal Government, but in some cases construction was stopped, and a liberal sum paid to the builders as compensation. In Australian yards, at the present time, a very serviceable type of steamer, of about 5000 tons, is being constructed, the whole of the work, even to the engines, being Australian, and these will be followed by a larger type of from 10,000 to 14,000 tons- At the present time the Federal fleet numfcsais (about thirty vessels, and they have proved a great financial success. The trade of Australia is completely dependent upon shipping, and so, too, is that of New- Zealand. Yet while our big neighbour on the other side of the Tasman Sea has embarked on a venture of the most vital importance to the State, the Dominion has made no move whatever to follow a worthy example. Time and again the question has been brought forward, but the Government refuses to be moved, and apparently nothing is likely to be done until the question is forced to the front, and our political leaders are compelled, to incline an attentive ear to the demand of the people. The country will require its future representatives to send the past into oblivion and look into the problems of the future. It wants men with up-to-date ideas and the courage to tackle them and carry them through, men who recognise that the old conditions must be jettisoned, that a new era is dawning in which new ideas and new methods must replace the wornout political machinery of the past. There may be men of this type at present possessing the right to place M.P. after their surnames, but who, through being associated with a Coalition Government, have been debarred by force of circumstances from venturing along paths they would eagerly tread under pre-war political conditions. New Zealand will surely follow Australia’s lead in the matter of a State merchant fleet, though the time seemingly is some years hence. Public opinion will ultimately force politicians, however unwilling they may be, to break the stranglehold of inertia, and put the Dominion in a position of independence as far as shipping facilities are concerned. he have already expressed the opinion that an excellent beginning could be made by nationalising the ferry service between Lyttelton and Wellington. This should be made a prominent issue at the coming elections, and if it is impressed on candidates we have no doubt that the change will be brought about.