THE PROPOSED NEW STEAMBOAT CO.

Auckland Star, Volume VII, Issue 1975, 8 June 1876, Page 2

THE PROPOSED NEW STEAMBOAT CO.

Tbz prospectus of the Auckland, Thames, and Coromandel Steam Packet Company (Limited) has now been before the public for some weeks. As it is an enterprise of considerable importance, it will not be lost space if we devote a place in our columns to setting before the citizens of Auckland the objects of the proposed company, and the claims which it has to public support. The projesfe ia remarkable, as being started for the purpose of building one steamer which is to remedy the present admitted lack of communication between the places mentionrd in the title. It is also stipulated that Messrs Fraier and Tinne, the well-known engineering fiim, should be the builders of the boat, at a cost of £11,000, which, plus £1,50 for contingencies, is to be the capital of the new company, and is to be raised by 2,5C3 subscribers of £5 each. Believing as we do, that no good enterprise suffers from its true character being thoroughly known, the apparent cccentilcity noticeable in these restrictive features of the Company may be at once explained Mews Fraser and Tinne are themselves the proprietors. Owing to the present depressed state of trade, the members of this firm have been looking about them for some legitimate work on which to keep their large s^aff of hands employed. With more consideration for their employes ths-n is exhibit'd by a'l firms, they resolved not to reduce their complement unless absolutely obliged, and thus have extended their business so c h to embrace iron-ship-building. The firm have already commenced upon a screw steamer nearly ai large as the lona, which they intend to carry through entirely independently of the Company. They have had so large an experience in connection with manufacturing ship's machinery, that they could hardly be said to be new to the business, if the sf3am launches which they lately built for the four large ports of the colony were not taken into account. The propi led boat has been designed so as f■> be in all respects bast sir.t.i for the passenger traffic between Auckland and the Thames, and will afford even better accommodation than the Golden Crown, with the additional advantages of having a ladies' cabin on deck, to mitiga'.3 the pr.ngs of seasickness, and having a lighter draught of water, at the same time not being inferior in point of spesd. The projectors undertake to guarant-e a twelve-knot boat, and as proof of their bona fides in this important d' 'uderatum, they bind themselves to forfeit £1030 of the price for every knot below that spaed, while on the other hmd they very proporly stipulate they sha 1! receive £1,0.10 more for every knot above ; the bonus to be taken up in shares of the Company over and above £ICC3 worth, which this fiim rake up under any circumstances. At the Thames, the scheme has met with considerable favor, and the provisional directory in that district embrases the leading business men, while a large number of the residents have express: i their intention of becoming shareholder. There are several reasons why business men should have their attention particularly directed to this company. In the first place it is int3nded, and ttiJl certainly act nan incentive to local industry. The traveller to Parneli about five o! clock each evening cannot fail to come across the long str'og of artisans which about that time knock off work at the Phoenix Foundry and wend their way homewards. No one can doubt that Messrs Fraser and Tinne, in giving employment to such a useful section of the community, are doing a good public service. The addition of iron ship building to this extensive engineering depot will of course necessitate a still larger body of pssistants, and will besides inaugurate, with us, the most modern branch oi marine architecture. And this it must be borne in mind will not necessarily interfere with our already well-established industry of wooden ship-building. The march of progress requires that iron ships should be built, and if they are not produced here, they will have to be imported from other countries, and the money paid for them will be sent out of the colony instead of be'Dg expended in it. It is acknowledged on all sides that a serviceable and comfortable passenger boat for the Thames is much wanted, and, if the revival in mining ventures, which at present appears imminent, comes to pass, the want will become a necessity. Some people are m favor of sending home for an iron steamer for this purpose, and they argue that a cheaper and better boat can be obtained in this way than by having one built here. If the prices of the two. boats are estimated and compared, no doubt the result will, so far as the actual figures are concerned, appear to prove their argument. But tha advocates of local industry have a very good answer to these figures. The money paid for a foreign boat, say they, although it may be less, goes right away, and other people reap the benefit of its circulation; the money paid here remains to supply the means for further entarprises, pud thus to furnish the city with attractions that, will draw the best class of settlers, every one of

whom'will help t-> lighten taxation and mak<6 business more active. They instance the case of the North Shore Ferry Co. There is no disputing the fact that a steamer brought from home will h-i actually cheaper r.a far as figurcT are concerned than one of the same ola«s bought here : but is not the Ferry Co. directly interested in the encouragement of the trade of Aucklmc 1, and will not the pockets of its shareholders suffer mote ultimately by discouraging local industry than they gain on the moment by going ekswhere for their boats ? These arguments are worth consideration, and those who use them havo the further advantage of being able to point to past experience as having uttsrly failed to prove, even by figures, that imporf-d steamers are batter than those ! produced here. We sha 1! in a future article deal with the ki'^dof steamer which Messrs Fraser and Tinne gflarantee to produce.