2 JANUARY 1932, Page 6

The Prime Minister and the Cunarder A letter from the

Prime Minister to Mr. Will Thorne, M.P., confirms the suggestion made in these columns last week that the real trouble about the new Cunarder is not to find the money to Complete her, but to find a way of making her pay once she is completed and put -into service. Mr. MacDonald says explicitly that the -money for completion can be raised without difficulty if the Cunard Company wants to see the vessel finished -and can give reasonable guarantees regarding interest and repayment. The company is now clearly called on to define its position. If it is the fact that the directors do not want another express liner at present they would have done well to say so earlier, instead of silently watching the progress of an entirely creditable agitation for the completion of the vessel, based throughout on -the assumption that the liner -was wanted and would be put into service as soon as finished. It is noteworthy that the largest American liner, the ' Leviathan,' has this week been laid up indefinitely.