GIANT LINERS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 33, 9 February 1932, Page 15

GIANT LINERS

AEE THEY NEEDED ?

VALUE OF PRESTIGE

Tho .suspension of work on the new Cuuarder in the Clydcside yards brings up once agaiu the question whether the big transatlantic liner can be justified. Speed is an expensive luxury. Tlieso super-liners are very costly ■to build and very costly to run. They gain a certain prestige, but, in a world of commerce, do they pay? asks a writer in the "Manchester Guardian."

When in July, 1929, the Bremen crossed to New York on her maiden voyage in four -days IS hours 17 minutes the Blue Riband of the Atlantic passed from England to Germany. But the actual gain in time over the Mauretania's last record was only a matter of eight hours or so. There must be comparatively few cases in which eight hours in a five days' crossing make any vital difference to a passenger. Is it worth while for the Cunard Company to spend millions of pounds in recovering tho Blue Riband from the Norddeiitseher Lloyd? j It must be remembered (hat iv so i competitive a trade as the Atlantic passenger service prestige is very important. Tho average wealthy American j making his annual trip to Europe likes to cross on a boat where he can meet people who arc-in the'-public eye—a famous actress or two, a film siar, a j city magnate, perhaps even a Prime j Minister. One or two boats acquire a i reputation for carrying tho great: the crowds follow. Until 1929 this reputation was shared by the big Cunarders. Tho He dc France, on the strength of- French food, French wines, nnd Paris gaiety, was their only strious rival. Now, though the trade has woe- ■ fully dwindled with the slump, what is left has boeu largely captured by the Bremen and her faster sister-ship tho Europa. These two borfis were the only ones running last summer with anything like their full complement of passengers. THEIR DESIRE. It was with an eye to this trade, both for its own sake and for tho advertisement it provides for other ships of the same company, that tho White Star Line, the Cunard, the French, and the Italian lines have all within the] last three years undertaken tho construction of large, high-speed luxury j liners. But all these projects have been j seriously affected by the economic crisis. As early as 1929 the White Star Line had stopped work on the Oceanic in Belfast. Now the Cunard Company has. suspended construction on "Ship No. 534," and the French and Italian I companies are only carrying on with large Government assistance. I From the point of view of the Atlantic trade as a. whole it may well bo that, even with a revival of commerce, there will not be enough traffic to justify seven superliners on the New York route. It is just possible that before tho world is out. of its present difficulties some sort of international rationalisation of the industry will be attempt-1 cd. But until this is achieved no single company can afford to be without its fast ships a,nd its luxury prestige.

The roof is on, the flag is up. The weather rather freezing; The carpenters are very glad, For several men are sneezing. "Come, let us celebrate the day," The foreman says. "I'm sure The drink I favour most just now Is Woods' Great Peppermint Cure —Advt.