The Press. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1882.

Press, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5361, 30 November 1882, Page 2

The Press. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1882.

Wh cannot congratulate the Government upon the manner in which they are handling the question of Direct Steam Service with Great Britain. The resolutions dealing with the subject were submitted to the House, and carried in < the shape in which they now stand, on the 28th of August. It was not, however, till the 19th of October that advertisements were issued inviting tenders. Then, it would appear that the Government had suddenly become alive to the fact that no time was to be lost. Instead of carrying out their Anginal intention of inviting tenders bfßi in England and in the Australian Colonies they determined' that the Agent-General alone should be entrusted with authority to call and receive tenders. This decision was arrived at, we were informed, in order to obviate a serious loss of time, and to prevent the postponement of the initiation of the service indefinitely. Now, however, it has been found that more time is needed. Instead of requiring that the service shall be commenced in April from London, and in July from New Zealand,, it has been thought desirable {to extend the time for the commencement of the service ,to July and October. It is announced that the first boaft is to start from London in July, and from New Zealand in October of 1889. . For our own part we think it matters very little indeed whether the time is extended for three months or for three years. The conditions laid down in the advertised outline of the service required by, the Government were such as to make it practically impossible that any company, owning a first-class line of steamers, could tender at all. Why, for instance, should the Government have stipulated that cargo for the New Zealand Government was to be carried at 24s per ton for ordinary dead .weight, and at 30a per ton for ordinary measurement t The j class of goods, usually imported by the | Government is net such as to make it a matter of urgency that it should be landed i in the colony in fifty days. Yet it has! been made a condition that the line which receives thesnbsidyshall undertake tocarry i all cargo belonging to the Government j of New. Zealand at the rates named: It stands to reason that a line of steamers whioh could go' into that kind of business would not come up to the expectations the public have formed of the kind of vessels they hope to see employed in the direct steam trade with England. Such vessels might compete with our existing means of communication —the sailing vessels belonging to the Shipping Company, and others. But we imagine that is not what Parliament wished nor what the people of NewZealand have a right to expect. If public money is to be; spent at all upon assisting in starting a direct steam service, that service should be something very different from what, we imagine, the Government have hitherto contemplated. It should not simply be a competitor for the kind of trade usually left to sailing vessels. For requirements in that respect are already sufficiently provided for without any Government assistance whatever.

, the spirited enterprise of the New Zealand Shipping Company furnishes .an excellent opportunity to the Ministry to re-consider the whole matter.' The; jAirectors have, apart altogether -from' .__> Gorenment proposals, made arrangemeiito for the commencement of monthly steam communication bjr means of large • and powerful steamers of the highest class. Theyhave, as haa already been announced, entered into contracts for the building ot steamers of _, 4000 tons gross register each! Their sea-going speed will be twelve knots, and they will be capable of performing the voyage' to England in forty-five days. The builders, Messrs Elder, of the Clyde, are, we understand, under contract, to have three, of the steamers ready before the end of the year. They are to be built of steel, are to be fitted np with all the latest appliances and I improvements, and each vessel is to have ' first-class refrigerating machinery; while ! the passenger accommodation is to be of I tho most complete and ample kind. [ Teasels such as we have just deI scribed, it can be easily understood, cannot be built in a dayBut. the Company have wisely decided [ not to wait till their own vessels are ready before commencing the service. They begin operations at once, and have chartered the most suitable steamers procurable, the first of which will leave London for Lyttelton in January next. We are not surprised to find that the enterprise of the Shipping Company in this matter has been referred to throughout the colony in terms of the highest praise. It is not easy to imagine, far less to estimate, tiio beneficial consequence to New Zealand which wiß result from the establishment of such a service. It- is- quite certain to stimulate enormously immigration of a kind which generally finds its way at present to America and elsewhere. ; And with a line

of first-class steamers, equal in many respects to the Orient line, reg—larly arriving at and departing from the port of London, this colony will undoubtedly occupy a different position in tho estimation of the English public from what she doea now. Especially, too, when it comes to be known that all this is being accomplished through the unaided enterprise of a local Shipping Company, the claims of Now Zealand will be still more strongly enforced.

In the face of the step taken by the New Zealand Shipping Company, the question naturally arises, what course should the Government now adopt with reference to the direct steam : "service." It would mani-. festly be an idle waste of public funds to; pay .£20,000 a year to maintain the line ofi steamers described in the advertised outi line of the service required T>y the Goveral

ment, when the colony will already hai got a vastly superior one for nothing 1 all. It appears to us it would not only 1

a wanton misapplication of public funds td| do anything of tho kind, but that it would| be simply disastrous to the Government. It would make it perfectly clear that it i%> something very different from first class| steamers which they want, and such a declaration would certainly not tend to add to their popularity. The best thing they can do, it appears to us, is to at once notify that they do not intend to invite tenders for a steam service at all, on the gronndthat the Shipping Company have offered the colony, for. nothing, abetter one than the Government ever contemplated, even for a subsidy of _>20,000 a year. If public money is to be spent at all over such a project—which we have always opposed—it is only right and proper that the local company should have the preference ; and if the Agent-General were instructed to make such terms with the Shipping Company as would render the line about to be initiated, in every respect suitable for Government requirements, Ministers would be doing a real service te the colony.