CONTROL OF THE PACIFIC

Taranaki Daily News, 25 October 1916, Page 2

CONTROL OF THE PACIFIC

JAPAN'S GREAT MOVE. GTiAIJI' ALLY MOXOPOLTSUXC! TRADE. When It was evident that Japan hafl captured the Pacific trade opened to her by the forced retirement of the German mercantile fleet, the commercial world awakened to the fact that this nation was going to play a big part in the great scheme of oversea communication and exchange of merchandise. That Japanese shipowners" intend extending their_field of action to competition with our own companies will no doubt awaken more than interest among the shipping companies concerned. An American daily of recent date gives prominence to the fact that the Japanese are going into competition with the Ocea/nic and Union 'S.S. Co. lor trans-Pacific freight business. If this expansion of trade meets with the success its "promoters anticipate, the Japanese will have entered every considerable shipping trade anywhere in the Pacific Ocean. The company which has undertaken to get the business of the American and British lines is the Osaka -Shosen ICaisha, the second largest steamship corporation in Japan. Including tonnage now on order with Japanese builders, this line control a fleet of 31;8,000 tons. The Union Company, which this Japanese company intends competing against," controls a. fleet aggregating over a quarter of a million tons—slightly smaller than the Japanese company. Over 100,000 tons of the larger fleet is classed as "building or on order," so that they really have on the seas at the present time 209,000 tons—less than the. Union Company at present commands. That Japan is gradually working her way up the ladder of commercial power is brought home to us by the fact that a Japanese line is running a monthly steamer to Wellington, laden with a cargo which can pass through the hand 3 of our merchants and be retailed in the shops at prices far below those of similar goods from British and other countries. A representative of the Osaka Shoshen 'lCaisha Line has visited San Francisco, and made all the necessary arrangements, says the San Francisco Examiner, and ho is to recommend to his company that a monthly sailing of fast freighters make San Francisco the American terminus and Sydney and Melbourne the Commonwealth ports of call. The 'Willingness of the Japanese to do all they cart to foster trade and meet the merchants and shippers is illustrated by the fact that they are aiming to provide more frequent communication than at present exists with the western coast of the United States. This is a thing that the Australian press and Melbourne shipping interests have wanted for a long time. The American paper previously referred to Bays that the ships are to be fitted with refrigerating space, and they are to be able to carry 10,000 tons of cargo across the Pacific. The refrigerating appliances are to be capable of controlling half the ship's capacity. It would seem from this that the Japanese owners anticipated a lifting of the embargo on meat. Of course ,suc-h a movement on the part of the Australian authorities would make the carrying of cargo on the return trip from Australia to San Francisco a profitable business. A representative of the Oceanic .Line has said that lie is not surprised that the Japanese have made this move, and he further declares that it will not be long before they control everything on the Pacific. The Osaka Shoshen Kaisha is a strong company financially, its profits for last year being over £GOO,000. An Auckland shipping man, whose opinion is worth while, said that the Japanese would 'bring ruin to the companies now trading here unless legislation were introduced to keep for Australasia the trade and money which will go abroad if the success, which loolks possible, attends the efforts of foreign traders to monopolise the Pacific.