FRANCE: Sea-Going Rooster

Prompted perhaps by England’s assuming part of the insurance risk on Cunard Line’s fast new trans-Atlantic liner (TIME, Aug. 11), Louis Rollin, France’s Minister of Mercantile Marine, took steps last week to make the French Rooster still more of a seagoing bird. When the Chambre des Députés opens in October he will present two bills calculated to encourage the construction of fast commercial vessels and relieve shipyard unemployment.

Bill No. 1 would increase to 250,000,000 francs ($9,775.000) the amount of money annually to be loaned shipbuilders. With particular favor will the builders of fast ships be looked upon, especially if the craft are to be placed in Algerian, Tunisian or Moroccan service. In addition to helping lines which will afford speedier communications with the colonies, the bill is designed to reduce the minimum interest rate from 3% to 2% on government loans now outstanding to shipbuilders, excepting passenger shipbuilders who will continue to pay the old rate of interest.

The contents of Bill No. 2 were not divulged last week but it was generally understood that some sort of subsidy would be provided to keep French ship construction in French shipyards, which last year worked at but 26.7% capacity.

M. Rollin might draw some comfort from the fact that British shipbuilding during the last three months was off 222,000 tons compared with the corresponding period in 1929. But no comfort came from news that during the same period Germany had laid keels for 64,000 new tons and had built 237,468 tons, while France had begun construction on but 20,000 new tons, had turned out only 186,960 tons.