§ Mr. GOULDasked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that the sale of ex-German ships at prices considerably below the value of British ships has caused widespread cancellation of building orders; whether he is aware that thousands of artisans have been in consequence thrown out of employment, and that within a few weeks many more thousands will be added to then ranks; and if he will give instructions that no further ex-enemy tonnage be sold or operated with Government sanction until there is a revival in the shipbuilding industry?
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Colonel WILSONI have been asked to reply. The cause of the cancellation of building orders is the depression in shipping and the fall in the value of tonnage. It is much cheaper to buy than to build, and it is not easy to make shipping pay. These causes are world-wide. The transfer of a large block of existing ex-enemy tonnage to private ownership occurring at this time may have led to the cancellation of building orders in some cases; but it is not the main or only cause of the cancellations which have taken place, and the suspension of the sales, which would be open to serious objection, would not materially affect the situation. It should be remembered that the ex-enemy tonnage allocated to this country represents only about one-fourth of the British tonnage destroyed by the enemy during the War and is less than one year's output of British yards.