LOSS OF BRITISH SHIPS.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 March 1918, Page 6

LOSS OF BRITISH SHIPS.

OWNERS GREATLY CONCERNED London, March 0. Speakers at a meeting of the Chamber of Shipping urged that the Government should bo more candid concerning the elitet of the submarine war. Lord Inchcape, chairman of directors of the P. and 0. Company, said that many parts of the country showed a curious lack of sense as to the realities of the position. The sinking of vessels was going on at a rate of which the people had no conception. ."'ouimenls on the speech of Sir Eric Geddcs dwell on shipbuilding. Tim Times, which describes the position as exceedingly grave, believes that the flagging output is not duo to the failure of labor in the ordinary sense, but perhaps to the system which substituted oiTicial control for individual initiative. It suggests a searching inquiry by a body representing the trade unions and the employers. The Daily News says that the main responsibility for the mercantile marine situation rests with the Government. Tne policy of secrecy lias haen disas-:r-nis. If tho public is allowed to see ard understand the naked facts, it will not be slow to- act. The Morning 'Post remarks: Tho trouble in the shipyards is more serious than the submarine war. We believe that if the men in the shipyards had been honestly and fairly treated from the first by the Government and tho hniOea of Government officials, they would cordially have responded. The Government must deal with the situation immediately. Tlse Daily Chronicle thinks that tho only way to get the workmen to realise ' how much depends on them is to give greater publicity as regards the progress of the German submarine war anil the progress made in British and allied shioynrds.