FOREIGN SUBSIDIES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 211, 6 September 1934, Page 6

FOREIGN SUBSIDIES

SHIPPING COMPETITION NEW ZEALAND ATTITUDE I STATEMENT BY MB FORBES j ' 1 Per Pres« Association. I WELLINGTON, Sept. 5. The Prime Minister (Hon. G. W. ' Forbes) in a statement in the House, I said: It will be recollected that in reply to a question asked by Mr Hargest on July 25, con’cerning competition by subsidised foreign shipping with British lines in Australian and New Zealand v,aters, I indicated that 1 hoped to be in a position to make a statement to the House at no distant date. Accordingly, J desire to inform the House that the Government had before them the representations of the New Zealand Snipowners’ Federation regarding competition by foreign subsidised vessels in the fade between Now Zealand and Australia, and after examination of these representations, and of other information before them, make the following sta.ement: This competition is obviously uneconomic, in character because it is rendered possible by high subsidies paid to foreign vessels. The granting of *countervailing subsidies at high cost to the public purse, would reallv aggravate instead of remove the fundamental objections to the present position. The Government take the view that the existence of adequate and efficient shipping services in the trade with Australia, and the future improvement of such services by the construction of further new vessels, will be jeopardised by a continuance of the present conditions. The Australian Government have indicated their concurrence in the foregoing, and have expressed their readiness to consult the New Zealand Giverriment with a view to common action for safeguading the mutual shipping interests of the Dominion and Common wealth.