Socialist-Controlled Sea and Air

Transport In the Pacific

THE importance of sea and air trans portation in the future of the Pacific Territories cannot be exagger ated. General economic conditions to-day throughout the South Pacific, and the particular muddle in the Aus tralian Territories in the South-west, show what happens when transporta tion is withheld, or is limited, or mis handled.

There is a tendency, clearly seen since September, 1945, to remove Pacific transportation facilities, both sea and air, from the hands of private enterprise into the control of Social istic Governments. If that becomes a recognised policy, and is persisted with, the economic effect throughout the Pacific Territories will be bad. In trying to escape from one evil— monopolistic control —the countries concerned almost certainly will create another, and a worse one.

There is no escaping the fact that the shipping lines which served the Pacific Territories in the 20 or 30 years prior to World War II were more or less controlled by combines and cartels; and no one can defend a monopoly.

Our young Communists will present a hundred reasons why trading for orofit is an undesirable thing—and two or three of those reasons do hold water. But “production, distribution and exchange” by private enterprise is an old as man himself, and the sys tem is permanently embedded in humanity’s way of life, Anyone who

argues otherwise is a visionary, blind to history and deaf to science. Pri vate enterprise—another way of de scribing individualism, or personal freedom —must be subject to some sort of check, however; otherwise, liberty becomes license, and freedom, oppression. In our system, trading for profit is supposed to be controlled, and human greed and selfishness checked, by open competition. Re move that competition, and the evils that are created by greed and selfish ness appear.

We are all familiar with the evils created by monopolies in trade. But how many see exactly the same evils, in another shape, in the industrial troubles which are convulsing the post-war world?

For the present, there are far more jobs than there are workers. Conse quently, workers do not value their jobs. Consequently, for every worker who is naturally- conscientious and diligent, there is another who is lazy, inefficient and undependable. Lack of competition for jobs has destroyed industrial discipline and created, among the workers, exactly the same evil as was created among the em ployers by lack of competition for custom —namely, indifference to the welfare of the people as a whole.

THE pre-war shipping services of the Pacific were always efficient; but the absence of competitive freight and passenger rates created the belief —

practically universal —that the ship ping companies had combined to pro tect themselves against competition, and that the protection and mainten ance of their profits was a paramount consideration in all their relations with the public. The shipping com panies did nothing to remove that impression; and so they now must face a widespread attack upon their interests by Socialist Governments.

The leader of the attack here is the Socialist Government of Australia, whose influence is paramount in the South-west Pacific. Burns Philp & Co., who normally maintain services between Australia and adjoining Territories, are not allowed to run their ships to New Guinea and Papua.

The “Montoro” carries on the service; but, under some wartime regulation, the Australian Government is the nominal owner of the “Montoro,” and the ship is run by BP’s as agents for the Government.

Burns Philp & Co., as the big ship owner right at hand, is being attacked and harried by Socialism. The fact that Burns Philp & Co., as the eager instrument of Australian private en terprise, probably did more than any other factor between 1860 and 1920 to bring the South-west Pacific under the British flag, does not count at all, in these days.

New Guinea inter-island shipping is now a closed State monopoly. No shipowner may run a vessel of more than 25 tons within the wide Austra lian-Pacific Territories; and private owners of smaller vessels may not carry passengers or goods for hire.

The result is almost incredible con fusion and hardship within the Terri

tories of Papua and New Guinea—see article elsewhere in this issue. Goods cannot reach the people in the Terri tories who are awaiting rehabilitation; planters and their families cannot get out to their plantations; the few native labourers available cannot be moved to the places where they are wanted; and —worst of all —the copra which is being made under great diffi culties in outlying places cannot be shipped in to the collecting ports.

Lack of shipping has gravely em barrassed the Territories of Papua and New Guinea; and has practically paralysed the British Solomon Islands, once a rich copra-producer, and now doing nothing.

BUT it is in the development of the new system of air transportation that the interference of Socialist Gov ernments is likely to most gravely affect the Pacific communities. The Governments seem determined not only to keep out private enterprise, and run the services themselves, but also to use their territorial landing rights to cripple any possible competi tion from United States interests.

For the fact that the Socialist Gov ernments have gone so far with their plans, without any active public pro test, private enterprises interested in aviation have only themselves to blame. When it was seen, 15 years ago, that trans-ocean aviation was likely to become a competitor of the hitherto unchallengeable shipping lines, the shipping interests got very busy, and obtained a commanding share in all aviation transport com panies which seemed likely to affect their operations. The result is that to-day practically every private trans ocean air-trancport company is dom inated by capital provided by shipping interests. There is little possibility that air competition will force any substantial cuts in sea freights or passenger rates.

These facts are quite well-known to a cynical public; and when the people put Socialist Governments into power, it is only natural that the Socialists should be ready to challenge the shipping companies’ plans to dominate the private air transporta tion companies.

BUT the Governments, having the Socialistic approach to such mat ters, have proceeded to organise their own airlines, instead of insisting on free enterprise and fair competition among the private air transport com panies. The Socialist Governments of Britain, Australia and New Zealand, led and largely directed by the Aus tralians, have launched a new airline between Australia and Canada, under conditions which clearly cut out any possibility of competition from any other British airline, and which aim at crippling the. Pan American airline, over the same route.

Thus, in trying to get away from certain of the evils, of the private en terprise system, we are presented with a system which opens the way to the creation of other and greater evils.

State-controlled monopolies have

never been of any use to the public; and, in the nature of things, they never can be. The best service to the public, judged on efficiency and cost, is that supplied by private enterprise, on a profit motive, in a free and com petitive market. In cost of running, and in efficiency, State-controlled railways cannot be compared with railways privately-owned and oper ated. The collapse of the Australian State-owned shipping line, in the ’twenties, merely emphasised the fact that overseas shipping never has been efficiently controlled by Governments.

TRANSPORT is a thing vitally im portant to all communities, and especially to Pacific Islands communi ties. In that respect, the Islands, in the two decades between wars, handicapped by the appearance of shipping monopolies. The appearance of air transportation gave ground for hope that, with the provision of increased facilities and the return of competition, we should be incalculably better off.

The advent of British Common wealth Airlines Ltd., crashing into the Pacific transportation field with a State-owned monopoly, is a bad augury for the future. The first thing that we learn about the new service is that the single fare from Australia to Canada is the excessive amount of £A2I4. The next is that PAA may not undercut that figure. The next is that the Co., as part of its policy of fight ing private enterprise, cannot set down or pick up passengers in Ameri can Territory, like Hawaii or San Francisco. The whole set-up is wrong and ridiculous, and promises to be of little direct benefit to the Pacific Ter ritories.

From the point of view of Pacific Territories development, Australia is the outstanding sinner in all these things. That is because of extraord inary political conditions in Australia itself. The New Zealand Socialist Government plays a busy second fiddle for Australia. A general elec tion is pending in both countries.

Changes of government would at least open up new avenues of hope for the South Pacific Territories.