BRITISH SHIPBUILDING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9644, 9 November 1909, Page 4

BRITISH SHIPBUILDING.

In announcing last year's shipbuilding figures in connection with the Mercantile Marine, "Lloyds' Register" tells us something which is calculated to cause a considerable amount of thought. Britian's position has been largely won and very greatly maintained by the trading vessels which fly her flag, the numbers of w„hich exceed those of any other nation. In maintaining that supremacy, it is obvious that it is requisite there should be no decline in the construction of British tonnage. But last year Lloyds classified only a little more than half the tonnage it did the year before. The decline may, of course, be only a temporary one, but the fact that it has been steady for a period of three years makes one fear that the slackness may become more permanent than is agreeable. The news is the less welcome when it is remembered that the German Mercantile Marine is increasing by leaps and bounds, while Britishers living in the Pacific have to remember that Japan is putting up a similar performance. The disappearing British seaman causes anxiety enough, and the decline in British shipbuilding does not tend to make the outlook any better.