A Gift of Trade to Germany It is quite impossible
to understand the Government's attitude to the proposed use of Red Star liners in a new trans-Atlantic service, and nothing that has been said by its spokesmen in the House of Commons makes its position intelligible. The declared ban on the new service was stated to be due to the fact that the Govern- ment, having acquired an interest in the Cunard-White Star Line, could not tolerate fresh competition. But now negotiations are far advanced for transferring the vessels to the German Arnold Bernstein Company, of Hamburg. Will the competition be any the less acute because it is directed by a German instead of a British company, and will the British nation or the British taxpayer gain any- thing when a German is substituted for a British personnel on the liners, and the profits are diverted from British to German pockets ? It is impossible to see any single reason for the high-handed attitude of the Government.
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