TRADE AND THE FLAG.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16034, 27 January 1920, Page 4

TRADE AND THE FLAG.

In the interests of British commerce and in view of the difficulties of scouring passages for commercial travellers and business men, Sir Hamar Greenwood, Parliamentary Secretary to the Department of Overseas Trade, recently proposed to the First Lord of the Admiralty that British trade representatives might bo carried on ships of war sailing for abroad. Such an arrangement would have appeared incredible a few years ago, but it has been made, the. Admiralty having undertaken to give to the Department of Overseas Trade early information of any sailings of his Majesty’s ships which might be utilised for this purpose, and the Department will allocate the berths available to business men. The importance of this decision lies in. the recognition by the Admiralty of the trading community of the country and the desire to help them in their businesses. It is the principle of the thing that counts most, as it'is generally recognised that the number of business representatives proceeding to their overseas destinations by warship is likely to bo small. For one thing, the activities of the Royal Navy has been very appreciably curtailed of late. For another the accommodation on a warship is limited. It is not proposed that business men should make application specifically for passages on warships. If a commercial representative wishes to go abroad and applies to the Department for a passage, every step will bo taken to ensure that he gets one as speedily as circumstances permit—by merchant ship if possible, by warship if opportunity should occur. There is no likelihood of any large number of bertha being availaile on warships, and there is no intention of iuconvoniencg the ship's company in the interests of the trade of the country. What tho concession really amounts to is that when warships arc proceeding overseas they will carry when practicable commercial men on business missions. The Department of Overseas Trade has a very long list of firms wishing to secure passages abroad for their representatives. For South Africa alone there was recently a waiting list of 300.