§ 40. Colonel GOODMANasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the abandonment of regular British shipping services in the North Atlantic between this country and the United States of America; whether such abandonment is due to the impossibility of unsubsidised British services competing with American subsidised services; and, if so, whether he proposes to take action to prevent British services being relinquished for such reasons?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANI presume that my hon. and gallant Friend refers to the disappearance of the services under the British flag maintained by the Atlantic Transport Company and the Leyland Line. These lines were under the control of an American corporation, and I do not think that the change supports any inference as to the ability of British shipowners to maintain their services in the North Atlantic.
§ Colonel GOODMANAre we to understand that the Board of Trade does not intend to take any effective action to keep British shipping services on the sea and to prevent their being chased off the sea by unfair foreign competition?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANNo; my hon. and gallant Friend is not justified in that assumption.
§ 61. Mr. STOREYasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he has considered the decision announced at the annual meeting of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company to withdraw the service of Empire ships between Australia, New Zealand, San Francisco, and Vancouver, on account of highly subsidised foreign competition; and whether it is the intention of His Majesty's Government to initiate action with the Dominion Governments concerned so as to secure that passengers and mail between Australasia and North America may be carried on Empire ships?
§ 70. Sir PERCY HARRISasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that there is a probability that both the mail services from Vancouver and San Francisco to New Zealand and Australia will be withdrawn, though they have been established over 30 years; and whether, seeing that this will be a serious loss to the trade and commercial interests of Great Britain, he proposes to take any action in the matter?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANI am aware of the statement that the British service between Australia, New Zealand and San Francisco is to be withdrawn and of the further statement in the Press as to the possible withdrawal of the British service between Vancouver and those two Dominions. The position of the British 1542 lines concerned has been under discussion between His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and His Majesty's Governments in New Zealand and the Commonwealth of Australia. The understanding is that in view of their special interest in the subject, the Governments of those Dominions should consider what action they could take to deal with the position. The matter is receiving their consideration.
§ Mr. STOREYWill my right hon. Friend give the House an assurance that every effort will be made to maintain these Empire shipping services?
§ Sir P. HARRISIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the All-Red route from Vancouver has been carrying mails to New Zealand for over 30 years, and does he not realise the grave inconvenience that will be caused to commercial interests if it is stopped?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThat is one of the facts that we are taking into consideration, but I can make no statement at present.
§ Mr. HERBERT G. WILLIAMSWill my right hon. Friend consider denouncing the most-favoured-nation under taking with the United States so that we can discriminate against their goods as long as they discriminate against our shipping?