THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, MARCH 15, 1909. JAPANESE COMPETITION WITH WESTERN SHIPPING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3138, 15 March 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, MARCH 15, 1909. JAPANESE COMPETITION WITH WESTERN SHIPPING.

The very rapid progress which Japan has made in shipbuildig and in the shipping, industry has caused British shipbuilders and shipowners some very serious thought as to their future relations with the Japanese with regard to those industries. These relations will, in great part, be decided by economic conditions, including under these, of course, the cost of materials and of wages, and the efficiency of labour. In an interview Mr Clark, who, for the past twelve years, has been naval architect and adviser to the Mitsu Bishi Dockyard at Nagasaki, says that he has no fear whatever of either Japanese or of Chinese competition in either the shipping or the commercial field as these nations will have quite enough to do to hold their own. He admits that the Japanese may for some time compete successfully upon the Pacific v ith British shipping, and perhaps in European waters as well; but he questions if that will continue, as labour is going up all round. He, however, gives them great credit for their workmanship, for the Japanese, as a workman, is a very perfect worker in iron, and makes a very skilful engineer. He is careful in point of detail, although it takes more men to accomplish the same amount of work, as, man for man, they are not at all equal to the skilled European; but when placed against the European for good and thorough , workmanship they can hold their own, tor they are exceedingly careful, and extraordinarily good in j their handicraft, although they are j not originators, nor are they invent- | tive. Mr Clark thinks that where the Japanese fail is in their management, owing to their lack of long experience in these departments; but, of course, that is a defect which time will remedy. At the present time all their superintendence is entrusted to young men who come from the colleges, and while these men are very clever draughtsmen, and are perfect in theory, their great lack is impractical experience, a matter which tells very seriously indeed in the cost of their work. Mr Clark thinks that until they train men to undertake the general management of their works, as we do, they will never compete successfully with us in our peculiar fields, and he does not think that this will happen for a long time to come, and he has not the slightest fear that they will eventually drive us commercially from the seas. Not only is the cost of labour increasing, but taxation is also becoming heavier, and/ so far the Japanese have not been able to manufacture all the raw material which enters into the construction of their vessels, and all the plates and parts have come for the most part from Scotland and the North of England, although the Government foundries at Wakamatsu are to supply material for shipbuilding purposes.