Costs, Revenue and Returns 1880–1914

We must now return to the early 1880s. John Burns had become Chairman of the recently incorporated Company and the keynote of new activity was sounded by him in his speech at the Ordinary General Meeting on 27 April 1881. ‘The steam navigation of this country’, he declared, ‘like almost every branch of industry, is carried on under circumstances of keen competition and, for any company to succeed, it must be possessed of the best boats with which to do its work efficiently … coupled with which there has to be the strictest observance of economy in details.’1 Against the background of such an objective it was proposed to apply the Company’s reserves to the building of large powerful ships while at the same time reducing liabilities and working costs. By such a policy it was hoped that more than adequate facilities would be provided for meeting likely changes in the pattern of trade. In retrospect this was a bold decision, designed as it was to offset prospective loss and increase competitive strength in those branches of the trade likely to be subjected to fluctuating conditions.