PACIFIC SHIPPING SUBSIDY

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 344, 27 January 1937, Page 5

PACIFIC SHIPPING SUBSIDY

CABINET AGREES. NEW SHIPS NEEDED. New Zealand Will Want Safeguards. From Companies. Press Association—Copyright. London, January 26. The Daily Mail’s political correspondent says that the British Cabinet, acting on the recommendations of the Imperial Shipping Committee, has agreed in principle to the subsidising of British' shipping in the Pacific, provided that British vessels are modernised and the Dominions concerned co-operate financially. It is understood that two liners are among the first projects which Britain has forwarded to Australia, New Zealand and Canada as preliminary details, but that Cabinet, will not take definite steps until the Dominions have replied. Alhough an early announcement in Parliament is likely, it is believed that Mr Walter Runciman, President of the Board of Trade, discussed the matter with President Roosevelt, explaining that Britain had been forced to act owing to American subsidies.

Before the New Zealand Government can provide a subsidy to help British shipping In the Pacific it wants to be sure that conditions on ships are reasonable for the crews as well as for passengers, according to a statement by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, in a telephone conversation to-night, says a Wellington message. Mr Savage was commenting on the British Government’s attitude to subsidies for this purpose.