Empire Safety.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 September 1922, Page 3

Empire Safety.

OUR .MERCANTILE MARINE. WELLINGTON, Sept. IS The Hon G. J. Anderson (.Minister for Marine) speaking at the eombin, i\l shipping companies’ smoke concert em Saturday night, said that he had only become connected with the Marine Department some few months ago, when his worthy predecessor desired to have a well-earned rest and visit the Old Country. At the time he lent" very little' about seafaring matters and wondered why lie was selected to hold the portfolio, but he had now got very interested indeed in the work oT the department. Such reunions, lie said, "ere splendid things for bringing them all together, and enabling them to realise that they were all not such terrible men after all. He had been under the impression from what Ida

!. farmer friends had said—he came from ! a farming district, and was a hit of i an amateur farmer himself—that lie shipping men were terrible men, oiiL to rob the farmers; but he had tound that they were jovial fellows, and coni I iell a good story. (Hear, hear, and laughter). 14. .MILLIONS OF NEW TONNAGE. I-Je had got his secretary to prepare a few notes for a speech, hut h - realised that that was not the occasion for a set speech and would not use the notes. (Hear, hear). Only one point he would like to refer to. and Unit was that there had been an increase of fourteen million toils of shipping effected since 1914, and u "as state I that nearly all the old tonnage was now laid up. When one uml: rstood the commercial position of the world to-day, one' could realise why so many ships were not reeiuired. The mercantile tonnage of the United Stat.s bad risen from 1J millions to something over ten millions, but it was reported that the United States had recently s ild a lot of ships at a loss of 31) million dollars. He did not know th.it any of those present were' very sorry that America had made a loss on the ships. (Hear, hear). America had tried to beat the British nation for sonic years in shipping, hut she' had not succeeded, and never would succeed in doiiio so. (Hear, hear). .MIST HAVE STRONG .MERCANTILE .MARINE. One of the* things the L-riliMi nation must do was to have a strong mercantile marine; and we must do everything we could to encourage* it. Dining the war it was proved clearly how great a factor the mercantile marine was in ensuring the safety of the Empire. It was true that the navy kon ! the sea dear for the mercantile marine, but the mercantile marine by its courage ami steadiness enabled lb" great heart of the Empire to beat and keep on beating till the enemy was <1 Teate I. (Applause). And, though the Americans claimed that they won ; the war, the fact would always remain : that, but for the mcrcaiitih' licet ol Great Britain and the navy of Great Britain, not one of America’s troops j would have ever reached France, lie noticed that .Mr Ito, chairman of tlie great .Japanese shipping company, had

said that he believed Japan was going to take a very great place in the ship, j ping of the world; hut lie Air Anderson) «as quite certain that Great Britain was going to keep her old place. SHIPPING DUES. INSURANCE PREMIUMS. The chairman that evening had referred lo the increased duties on shipping, hut he must remind them Iha: : the Government had to get hack from ( the shipping companies some of the in- ' Mirance money—for such it lvally was j —that it spent on lighthouse's and so on. He hoped to nut better lights* along tin l coast and also at the Three Kings. But, as regards the Three' ' Kings, lie was advised that what was re'quired even more than a lighthouse was a radio apparatus which would help the ships in ease of fog as well as the lighthouse would help them when the atmosphere was clear, lo those regions there were almost always

j fogs; so that the radio apparatus , would he needed tlu'rcr, ami he was inl(l formed that it would have all the effect of, and he just as useful as the lighthouse. However, that was a point . 1 for Lho experts to go into. : ( , j lie added that Mr K. Xewninn. ■ i M.P., on whose initiative the woolj growers of New Zealand had built up ! out of their ‘“surplus” wool profits j fund of over 6209,00(1 for the relief of ; the relatives of the men of the British |._ Navy and the mercantile marine who w lad been killed or injured in the war, m "anted anybody to let him know ol in any ease of distress caused through the m war to anybody connected with the to m; re-'iitile marine or the navy. The ir trustees of the fund had tried to get n into touch with every such case in New ot Zealand, Imt if they had missed any, e- they would he otilv too glad to know • k of them. (Cheers). i'.' ' “After all” our doubts and anguish, , Days of dread and nights of pain, 1,. AY hen we droop and gasp and languish, n- 1 Trying remedies in .vain ; Id After all our hopes have vanished, And we scarce can still endure, AVhen all useless dopes arc banished, j, 1 Then comes AVooels’ Great Peppermint Cure.