BRITISH SHIPPING

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 153, 24 March 1919, Page 5

BRITISH SHIPPING

SUPREMACY TO BE .REWON

Before the war the British mercantile marine commaiid«l tho oceans. Nearly half the world's steam tonnage was Brit-ish-owned—more than 12 million out oE the 20 million tons afloat. Owing to the commandeering and sinking of ships find the. restrictions on trade, that supremacy has been undermined. Can it be re« stored and the "red duster" resume its old proud position on the seas? Lord Inchcape, .under whose presidency is nearly two million tons. of.Bri.tish shipping, believes it can. "My confident anticipation," ho says, "is that when tho Government has set free tho shipping industry the British merchant service wilt: win back pretty nearly I lie whole of its pre-war supremacy.' It may need a. dogged and united effort to do it, but it can and will be done. A step in that di- ■ lection is tin , transference of Government standard ships, now in course of construction, lo private owners. ihedistribution was entrusted to Lord Inch* cope, chairman of the P. and O. Coins puny, and Sir Owon Philipps, chairman of the Royal Mail Company. It is new possible to adapt unfinished ships to the special needs ami trades of purchasers, and, while the scheme has not yet been completed, there can be little donbi as to its ultimate success. A vast deal oi: leeway has to bo made up. Losses dnriii" the war were extremely heavy/, and must be replaced. AH the ships requisitioned by tho Government havo to be overhauled and repaired before they can go back to their old trade. Mar-, kets have been sacrificed, familiar routes: abandoned, old connections severed. Foreign competitors have started rival services. With all the friendliness in the world, American competition has to be faced. In this respect tho position is reassuring. Before the war the United States had not a tenth of tho carrying capacity of our own mercantile marine. Exigencies of international safety compelled her to: build, and build fast. It was announced Hint sho would have Yi million deadJ weight or !) million gross tons of shippin? afloat bv January, 1020, but the impulse to shipbuilding created by a common peril was evaporated, and it n doubtful whether this expectation will bii is-ore than half realised. -.Again, the cost of building lias been very high in Anicr-ira-.C75 a lon, instead ot the £Xl originally estimated. Besides, tho very liigli wages offered to American seamen \vill handicap the owners in their competition for the freights of the world. Sorno apprehension has been felt for tho future because of tho money available for buildin" ships abroad. Lord Incheape's reply U that there, is money in Great.Britain also. "If," lie says, "foreign rivals, knowing nothing of excess-profit duties and Bluc-Book rates, have been able to accumulate vast reserves, tho coffers of British shipping companies arc by no means empty. This is not because the companies have, bee" profiteering. It their exchequers are fairly well filled, it simply means that they arc holding their capital in cash or securities instead of in the far more preferable form .of snips. At any rate, they are not going to be prevented from meeting foreign competition by financial exhaustion.' ,

It is reported that a new creamery will l)e erected on tho Koputaora fioad, not Inr from the junction of the Foxton ami IlnntUerloa Roads, before the.next dairy season bcßins. This portion of tho district has cone ahead lately, and tho venture should be a great convenience to the dairymen who are settling there.