BRITISH SHIPPING POLICY

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21187, 9 August 1940, Page 4

BRITISH SHIPPING POLICY

While recrimination will serve no useful purpose, it is wise for the British Empire now to take note of the condition of the British mercantile marine since the Great War, and resolve, as Mr R. H. Cross did the other day in an interview in London, that it shall not occur again. Shipping is as essential to the British Empire as are gondolas in the “streets” of Venice. Yet in the period between the two wars Britain allowed its shipping position to deteriorate sadly, in spite of constant warnings that State-subsidised foreign shipping was undermining the Empire’s position. Towards the end of the period half-hearted attempts were made to strengthen Britain’s competition in the world’s trade routes, but they were not sufficient. It so happens that the fortunes of war have placed large fleets of foreign mercantile ships at the disposal of Britain, and for the purposes of the war the Empire is well served in that respect. Most of the countries which have been overwhelmed by Germany have placed their fleets in British hands because the British Navy had command of the seas. Thus millions of tons of shipping may be called upon so long as Britain rules the waves. But many of those ships are held under an arrangement by which they will revert to their original owners at the end of the war, and compensation is being paid for their use in the meantime. It is therefore necessary for Britain, while the war is in progress, to formulate a shipping policy that may be put into operation immediately the war ends. It is impossible to say what conditions will prevail in the world’s mercantile marine when the war is over, but Britain must prepare for the possibility that the nations will return to a system of Statesubsidised competition, since the whole system of world-wide commerce has now become a matter for governments rather than individuals. When individuals alone were concerned in ocean trade Britain had no difficulty in holding its own. but individuals could not meet the competition of powerful Governments. Britain has naturally shrunk from subsidising shipping lines from the coffers of the State, and indeed the practice is not desirable if it can be avoided. But the maintenance of an adequate.mercantile marine has become a matter of high politics and Britain cannot afford to be left behind. It is imperative that an effective shipping policy should be evolved before the normal course of international trade is resumed.