N.D.L’S New Guinea Plans

Attacked

Representations to Australian and Imperial Governments

THE announcement of the Norddeutcher Lloyd Company that it intends to establish a new line of steamers running between Hongkong and Australian ports, via Salamaua, Rabaul, Sandakan (Bor neo), and Manila, has caused a rearrange ment of shipping plans affecting New Guinea generally, and a pretty stir in the shipping world.

The first vessel of the new service, the M. V. Neptun, is due to leave Sydney on December 5, and it is announced that she will call at Brisbane, Salamaua, and Rabaul, en route to the East.

It is understood that the two small N.D.L. steamers, Bremerhaven and Fri derun, which have been running between the ports of New Guinea and Hongkong for some years, will now remain entirely in the Group, and presumably will trans fer cargo to the main-line steamers at Salamaua or Rabaul.

To deal with this development, the N.D.L. Co. has rearranged its agencies in New Guinea. Messrs. Golyer, Watson & Company, of 22 Bridge Street, Sydney, traders and shippers, who have some con nection with New Zealand, have taken over the Rabaul agency, and Mr. Colyer has visited Rabaul in order to make necessary arrangements. A small staff for the Rabaul office left Sydney recently.

The Salamaua agency has been taken over by Holden’s Air Transport Services Ltd. It formerly was held by Mr. G.

Macdonald, trader, of Salamaua.

Invasion of the New Guinea field by German interests has stirred the Anglo- Australian shipping interests to very vigorous protests, and it is understood that the whole situation has been brought formally under the notice of the Common wealth Government, and that it is likely to have the attention of the Imperial authorities.

To meet the German competition, Messrs. Burns, Philp & Co. Ltd. have made a proposal to reorganise their ship ping services so that the growing port of Salamaua may have a frequent five days’ connection with Sydney: and that plan is now under the consideration of the Commonwealth Government (details of these proposals were given In the Oc tober issue).

The following letter was published in

the “Sydney Morning Herald” of Novem ber 1, and it presents in brief the argu ments which are being offered against the proposed development of the German line in New Guinea: We desire, through your columns, to direct public attention to the latest in stance of foreign shipping competition in intra-British trade.

It had been announced that the Nord deutcher Lloyd in the near future will place two 6000-ton motor vessels in the trade between Hong Kong and Australia, via Manila, Sandakan, Salamaua, and Rabaul, and will also maintain two smaller vessels in the inter-island services of the Mandated Territory of New Guinea to act as feeders for the larger vessels.

This trade, at the present time, is effi ciently catered for by steamers running regularly under the British flag belonging to the following companies:—Eastern and Australian Steamship Co., Ltd.; Austra lian-Oriental Line, Ltd.; Burns, Philp & Co., Ltd.; W. R. Carpenter & Co., Ltd.

The British lines mentioned above were responsible for the initiation and develop ment of Australian trade with the East, and have maintained their regular ser vices for periods of up to 60 years. They all employ either purely British and Aus tralian crews or Australian officers and engineers, and in addition to the wages paid to the personnel, spend hundreds of thousands of pounds annually in Australia

in ships’ stores, docking, repairs, over haul, etc.

Every port of call along the route of the new German service, with the single ex ception of Manila, is British, and the Bri tish lines view the impending entry of the N.D.L. into this trade with serious appre

hension, as they consider it will inevitably result in heavy losses which may well prove to be disastrous for the British

lines. German shipping to-day is prac tically a national undertaking, and what ever losses the German line itself suffers will no doubt be regarded as expenditure in the national interests.

It will be specially observed that the N.D.L. vessels propose to compete not only in the through trade between Aus tralia and Hong Kong, but also in the inter-island traffic of the Mandated Ter ritory. The trade of the territory is grow ing rapidly. The value of imports last year totalled £912,000, and exports £1,581,000, of which approximately £1,000,000 was represented by gold. Ger many is definitely setting out to secure a larger share of this British Pacific trade, not only by competing with British ship ping, but also with British and Australian merchandise.

From the time Australia received the mandate to govern the territory, it be came, for purposes of administration and trade, practically an integral part of the Commonwealth. Australia was entitled to a share of the war reparations, but as a set-off against her share she took the German plantations in the Mandated Ter ritory of New Guinea and sold them to individual planters, mostly on terms. The amount still outstanding on these plan tations, i.e., still due to the Common wealth Government, is £2,500,000, and, apart from anything else, this represents the Australian people’s share in the ter ritory. Australian capital has been large ly used in its development, and has also

materially assisted in the establishment of the gold industry, which to-day pro vides more than two-thirds of the total value of its exports.

From 1920 to 1925 the Commonwealth Navigation Act restrained foreign ship ping from competing in the domestic trade between Australia and the territory and the islands of the group, but in the latter year the protection afforded by that Act was removed. Under present conditions foreign shipping is free to compete un restrictedly with the British lines in this trade, whereas every other nation in the Pacific protects its domestic trade.

In view of recent discussions in the Bri tish House of Commons, which disclosed that under present conditions of competi tion from foreign subsidised shipping the very existence of British shipping is threatened, it should not be necessary fur ther to labour the need there is for Aus tralia to join with Great Britain and other British dominions in taking immediate steps to deal with the situation.

We are, etc.,

Macdonald, Hamilton, & Co.,

G. S. Yuill & Co., Ltd.,

James Burns,

W. R. Carpenter.

Sydney, October 30.

The N.D.L. Side.

To that broadside, the N.D.L. interests did not make any immediate reply. It was known, however, that there was a good deal of liveliness on the Canberra front, where both sides were making strong representations to the Government.

Mr. David A. S. Campbell, writing to the “Sydney Morning Herald” on Novem ber 7, introduced a new angle to the situ ation bv pointing out that Australia ur gently needs an extended market for her wool; that the German wool market is very important; that obviously Germany cannot buy wool unless she creates credits abroad; and that the development of her shipping services is one of the few ways in which she can create such foreign

To Canberra

The position was placed before Senator sir George Pearce, Minister for External Affairs, at Canberra, on Novemberkalian a deputation representing Australian shinning interests. It included Messrs.

Joseph Mitchell and S. E Furley (Burns, Philp & Co.. Ltd.) and J A. Carpenter (W. R. Carpenter & Co., Ltd.).