RIVAL STEAMERSHIP COMPANIES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 87, 11 April 1906, Page 5

RIVAL STEAMERSHIP COMPANIES.

12;GCTXEAS PASSAGE: TO LQXDOXV

£Bjr Telegrapn.—rress - Association!

DUXEDIN, Tuesday. The Federal Houlder Company are advertising - the. new passenger -rates tonight.. Saloon fares are 25 guineas., and steerage fares 12 guineas.; The company also advertise a; great reduction in freights... The steamers, .will run at short and Tegular intervals. The Dorset, now- discharging cargo in Auckland, will be the first steamer to enter the trade, and will leave from Wellington. The steamers will take frozen meat, butter, cheese, wool and general cargo at "great reductions in freight," and. through bills of lading will be given to all inland towns in the United Kingdom, America and the Continent. The Federal Company alleges that the war is the result of an attempt on the part of the Xew Zealand and Shaw-Savill Companies to jockey" them out of the West of England trade.

(By TelegrapTi.—Own Correspondent.).

GHELSTCHURGH-. this day. With regard to the freight and passage reductions announced by the Pederal line, the.general manager of the New Zealand Shipping Co. (Mr Isaac Gibhs) said to a reporter: "The situation is quite clear. These people have been pin-pricking us for some time, now they are attacking us. It goes without saying that we will take the necessary steps to protect our interests, and our clients may Test assured that they will receive as favourable treatment from us as from.'any-.-ather line. The action of the Federal Houlder line necessarily entails an all-round reduction of freights and fares. "Whether this -will be permanent or only temporary remains to be seen. Beyond this I have nothing to say." The Shaw Savill representatives here say that that line -will also reduce charges. ";'. >> |

(By Telegraph.—Own CorreapoafieatJr

WELLINGTON, this day. Mr Owen Cox, manager in Australia for the Federal line, declines to make a statement about the shipping tariff war. From inquiries made in other directions it seems unlikely that the company will advertise a fixed tariff of.freights, but will dealwith shippers individually. The result of this -will probably be the creation of an open market for freights. The rates quoted by all companies are, likely to be governed by the circumstances of the moment. Commenting on the shipping war between the Federal Steamship Co. and rival companies engaged in the export trade from this colony to London, the "Times 5 -* says: "Undesirable as a. .prolonged 'cutting' -war must always be, : there ia no moral obligation upon the colony to care whether 'the various sMpping companies drive each other into bankruptcy or not provided such an issue is not to our detriment. It is nevertheless an obligation upon the people and upon Parliament to take particular notice of the fact that the present situation has developed out of an encroachment of trust methods on our r sea-borne trade. The conflict should bring home to us the menace to our producers from shipping rings and trust methods. The matter has. reached a .stags_ to raU for appointment of a Royal Conrnrissi'dfi to inquire into the whole subject."