Lord Inchcape, presiding at the annual meeting of the P. & 0. Steam Navigation Company, said that he had never known trade to be so bad as during the past few months. The disturbances in Ind the conditions in Australis civil war in China and the severe fall in the sterling value of _the Jdotlar and tael had seriously affect shipping.
Lord Incheape informed the meeting that 368 British ships, wit total tonnage of $85,000, were laid up on October 1. The prospects of shipping, he added, were far from bright.
The Chairman said that the Com-ips last year had run 760,- G00' miles less than daring. 1926, cargo, had fallen by 1,000,000 tone and the number of animals carried had each dropped: by 50,000.
Lord Incheape concluded by dwell ing on the necessity of a reduction in taxation and production costs—Reuter. federal legislature will therefore contain States? representatives who will not be concerned with some of the subjects with which the legislature deals—Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.