VITAL IN WAR

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19994, 20 July 1939, Page 6

VITAL IN WAR

MERCHANT SHIPPING BRITISH SUBSIDY PLAN MEETING COMPETITION FILLING IDLE SHIPYARDS (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. ,Tulv 20, 2 p.m.) LONDON, July 19.

In the House of Commons to-day. Mr. Oliver Stanley, in moving tiro Shipping Assistance Bill, said that merchant shipping was vital in time of war, which might be within a measurable period. The diminution of shipping would cause us to revert overnight from an Empire to an island. Germany had regained her 1914 position after the extinction of her mercantile marine, and Italy and •Japan had trebled' theirs. The Government, he said, could not stand by and not attempt to assist the industry to meet subsidised and unfair competition, often from noneconomic motives. The Government considered that it was urgent .that the shipbufding yards should immediately be filled 1 , for which reason part of the proposals were of an emergency character.

Liner shipping was in a special category, and the Government was constituting a committee consisting of a, chairman and two members of the Board of Trade to consider applications for assistance on their merits. It would be necessary to show that owing to foreign subsidised competition a line was endangered. The assistance would be limited' to £10,000,000 lor the experimental period of two years.