Sir Edward Beatty, president and chairman of the Canadian Pacific Railway Co.—of which the Canadian-Australasian Line is a subsidiary—arrived in. England yesterday. So great was his hurry to consult the Imperial Conference delegates that on disembarking from his liner at Ryde he entered a speedboat and|- hastened up Southampton Water.
He stated that his visit concerned the future of the Canadian-Austra-asian Line.
"Tf the necessary financial guarantees are forthcoming from the Dominions and Imperial authorities," he said, "I shall place an order for two new ships for that service. They will be approximately 22,000 tons each, and have a speed of about 22 knots.
"We want the ships to be in service by the winter of 1939-1940. We have either to build new. tonnage or lose an essential and vital link in Empire trade."
It is understood that the Imperial Conference has also had under review the question of Japanese competition, which has become extremely severe in the Indian and Australian Este Due To-day trades.
NEW BRITISH LINERS
This morning, the s. Este, cargo vessel of Norddeutscher Lloyd, is expected to arrive in Shanghai from Germany via Suez, Singapore and Hongkong with much cargo for local discharge.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.