JAPANESE AMBITION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1967, 31 December 1906, Page 3

JAPANESE AMBITION.

] ; CONTROL OF PACIFIC 1 SHIPPING. 4 (Melbourne Age Correspondent,) ] NEW YORK, October 19. ? The undcnicd report that tlio Jfip- Jjj aneso have options on the Spreckles lino _ of steamers running from America to v Australia is now generally accepted as a true, and it is confidently believed that in the event of the failure of the Ship Subsidy Bill now before Congress, they will gain possession of the steamers, Indeed, it is not denied by the owners of the line that they will sell if an increased subsidy is refused them. Mr John D, Spreckles has publicly stated in an interview pub- -I blished in- the paper he owns that the fate of the Oceanic Steamship Line .. depends upon the Bill. The measure has passed the Senate, and has tho approval of President Roosevelt. As adopted by the Senate by a vote of t 88 to 27, the measure establishes thirteen ( ( new contract mail lines and increases |< the subvention to the Oceanic lino to h Australia. Of the thirteen new lines, 1< three leave Atlantic coast ports, ono running to Brazil, one to Uruguay and C Argentine, and one to South Africa ; six f' from perts on the gulf to Mexico, em- 01 bracing one to Brazil, one to Cuba, one 01 to Mexico, and three to Central America and the Isthmus of Panama ; four from Pacific Coast ports, embracing two to Japan, China, and the Philippines direct, a one to Japan. China, and the Philippines |, via Hawaii, and one to Mexico, Central ]j America and the Isthmus of Panama, tl The Bill also grants a subvention at the u rate of LI per gross ton per year to S cargo vessels engaged in the foreign h trade of the United States, and at the rate of 22s per ton to vessels engaged in S 1 the Philippine trade, the Philippine I 1 coastwise laws being postponed until y 1909. Another feature of tho Bill is that to create a naval reserve force of 10,000 officers and men, who are to receive re- j ( tainers, after the British practice, „ Vessels receiving subsidies are required to carry a certain proportion of naval t reserve men among their crews. The t aggregate compensation for mail sub- b sidies is about ±600,000 annually. No t steam vessel of less than 1000 tons is to h receive aid under the Bill. u There is no doubt that it is tho settled 1' plan of the Japanese Government to j; obtain a monopoly of the carrying trade ‘ of the Pacific Ocean by destroying com- j' petition. A report received by the ' American Government from Special a Agent Burrill, now in the Far East, gives some methods of the Mikado’s t Government in bringing about this end. v Aided by a subsidy from their Govern- i ment, Japanese shipowners openly de- i clare that they will carry freight cheaper 1 than any other lines, even though the ( transaction results in a loss They have 1 now sufficient boats, Mr Burrill declares, ' to handle all the fi eight business of tho , Chinese coas f . Of course, tho British ( have a monopoly of this trade, but Jap- s anese competition is so fierce that, ac- j cording to Mr Burrill, “it seems reason- < able to suppose that ultimately their - purpose will be accomplished ’’—that is, the driving out of all competition. Two years ago, he says, the Doug as line was operating at a profit eight coastwise steamers. That company has withdrawn all but three, and these it is reported are running at a loss because of Japanese competition, A well-posted authority commenting on Mr Burrill’sreport, says tho Japanese merchant marine is the most completely subsidised in the world. Tno Government gives bounties of from 82s to 48s per ton for every vessel built in Japan. When in operation it subsidises them for every hundred "miles. As a result I Japanese shipping increased from ' 150,000 tons in 1890 to 880,000 tons • in 1904. Japan has to-day afloat m i foreign commerce more stcamshipr than : the °Unitcd States. Incidentally its foreign commerce lias expanded from /28,400,000 in 189-1 to in 1904. In addition to tho option the , Japanese have over the vessels of the Oceanic Steamship Company, it is gene, ■I rally believed that they have options on the vessels of tho Pacific Mail Company, which run from SanErancisco to Jnpani esc ports. In any ovent, it is known ’ they have bid for them Tho owners of a the line from Puget Sound to Hawaii ’ declare they will lmvo to withdraw their o ships if the Subsidy Bill is beaten. That ro would leave the Pacific Coast denuded of 4 American vessels. * These are the circumstances that face ,‘ 0 the country in tho event of the defeat ol •_ tho Subsidy Bill. There is some opposiaii tion to tho measure on the ground tbal the nation has no right to donate mone; i c to commercial organisations ; but it i: 13 believed that tho consideration of th dv importance of saving and increasing th i lt ,. merchant marine will win tho measur a majority.