South Island Shipping Services

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22389, 30 April 1938, Page 14

South Island Shipping Services

The request by the executive oi * the South Islands Travel Association for a State subsidy to enable a continuous shipping service to be run between Melbourne and South Island ports deserves the sympathetic consideration of the Government. Lack of such a service is the greatest single factor retarding the development of South Island tourist resorts. From the point of view of the shipping company concerned, a continuous service is possibly an unattractive financial proposition, but from the point of view of the country as a whole the money spent ,on subsidising such a service would probably be a sound investment, since it would be a means not of diverting toiirists from the North Island to the South Island, but of opening up to New Zealand a new source of tourist traffic. Ten years ago, when the subsidy was last paid, the annual cost was about £36,000. But the volume of tourist traffic has increased so heavily since then that the present cost, even allowing for increased overhead charges, would probably be much lower. Moreover, the next two years would be a favourable period in which to inaugurate the experiment, since the service would catch some of the additional tourist traffic which will be brought to New Zealand by the centennial celebrations.