BIG SHIPPING COMBINES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2814, 4 July 1916, Page 6

BIG SHIPPING COMBINES

THE P. AMD O. AND MEW ZEALAND SHIPPING COMPANY MERGER. By Telegraph—Press .'is's iciation. • Christchurch,. July 3. ■ Mr. A. W. Bennett, manager of tha New Zealand Shipping Company, speaking of the shipping .'deal,' said it was perfeotly true that the,P. and O. Company would obtain the' controlling- interest' in. the New. Zealand shipping trade. Within the next two days advantageous -proposals would be placed be•fore holders in the New- Zealand Company, .and if these were accepted they would be enabled to exchange stock for IV and O.: stock. The new proposals would affect only ordinary shares, not debenture or, preference shares. • There would be no change in tho management 'of the company. The line would be run as, before, as-a- separate unit of the P. and, O. amalgamation, just as. it did with the British India Line last year. Later. Mr. Bennett states that the benefit which shareholders in the . New Zealand Company would derive should the proposal be accepted, would be that the" P..and 0. Company. paid i als per cent, dividend on its .£lO shares; wherea3 the New Zealand Shipping Company was paying 8 per cent. It-was one of the conditions of the proposed arrangement that 7G per cent, of the shares wore thus transferred. The New Zealand- Shipping Company thought that the arrangement, if carried, out, would bo beneficial to the Dominion, inasmuch as the. 1Y and 0. Company owned 59 ocean-going steamers, and it had controlling powers similar to those it now sought over tho British-Indian Steam Navigation Coy., which owned 31 large steamers. There would therefore always bo a possibility of additional tonnage coming into this trade should it bo reqnirod. , A meeting of directors of the New Zealand Shipping Company was held today, but only formal business was transacted pending the circularising of shareholders on tho question.