FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS.
Having considered the effect of the Cunard Company's decision, we may recall the principal considerations which caused the directors to take it. We have the Cunard thairman's statement that lack of adequate finance was largely responsible, accompanied by his sug- gestion that the attitude of the City towards the provision of funds for completing the new ship had been affected by the large" frozen "credits which London has in Germany. The Cunard chairman, quite rightly, made it clear that in any ease the City was not to be blamed for its inability to assist the company. Seeing, however, that finance was not forthcoming, the Cunard directors were equally right in taking immediate steps to curtail their own commitments. The Company has always enjoyed the benefit of a sound financial policy, and it would have been worse than useless for it to have involved its internal finances in order to attempt the impossible task of eom- pleting the ship from its own resources. If, then, the policy of the Cunard Company, as well as the City, has been right, where does the blame lie? It must be laid largely on the uncertainty of the international financial position. Another factor which evidently urged the Cunard directors to a policy of caution was the obscure outlook for international trade and the correspondingly poor prospect for Atlantic shipping, which affect both the present finances of. the company and the prospective earning power of the new ship. (Continued on page 866.)
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