THE ALL RED ROUTE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 222, 12 June 1908, Page 9

THE ALL RED ROUTE.

; ■'.. - ■ i viaufiiwan;''• <" ■ '' :■ - • I STATEMEXT BY THE PREMIER. • 'In' niv interview accorded to a'''Southland Times" reporter who desired ;to obtain a .'reply,.to the many],adverse,.criticisms .lately !direc.tod' : by 'Tiritislv -newspiipcrs at tho' l ' pro-■ posed 1 "All-Red Route,''' Sir iJosoph-, Ward made 1 a' statement in- defence-'-of the proposal.' , ••• In New Zealand, bo said, tlio point to boconsidered was that there was no - direct .fast mail aud passenger sorvice with England, and it was of very .'great., importance, that this should bo obtained at a reasonable cost. The ! All-red route was tho only oiio that could get tho assistance of the Mother.' Country and of Canada at a reasonable sum. It would-not- bo of tho same advantage to Australia, but there, Sir Joseph pointed out, they have a numbor of direct services already., - ~ - i -Speaking of the-advantages of.;such a';ser-:vico:-between--New Zealand -and 'Canada, Sir Joseph'-said that it would keep us absolutely in-touch l with a country which was growing rapidly, and which presented large possibilities of-, trade..' Though the - trade Was not great at present,- there were enormous possibilities. In those times of competition between different! countries ,\vn could not, as a great producing country, afford, to stand by and do nothing,, nor could we open up a trade of. the kind without paying something for-the advantage which tho country as a ■whole would reap. The mail service -before with America, towards which this country was prying a subsidy, had been knocked oil the head, because by far the larger amount of tho subsidy came from the American Government. That had v been stopped, so that there does not seem to be any immediate prospect of the connection being re-estab-iished. As a matter of business it would be greatly to our advantage to give a. reasonable amount of subsidy for an -All-Red route between Now' Zealand, '• Canada, and England, 1 because it had the double advantage of giving a fast mail and passenger servce to England as well as giving uk a mail and -pasSengfir and cargo service to Canada also.-t Such a, steam service would re; .quire: as of, the primary essentials to'-hava refrigerated chambers, by which our frozen' moat, our butter and cheese, and our perishable products generally could lie carried, and we know tha.l; there exists iu portions of Canada a very considerable demand for these articles. We could not expect a cargo service across -tile Continent-of Canada. We don't roqtlire that. There was already a/line cargo service running direct, and at Mower rates than were possible at the transhipment rates inseparable from tho All-Red route. ' In connection with the strongly adyorso criticism of tho proposed new service, Sir Joseph said that it, was beyond all question that those who -were controlling large lines of-.mail , and . passenger and -refrigerated steamers to Australia, and were receiving very largo subsidies already from the British and Australian -Governments, wore deadly opposed to such a service from Canada and and Now Zealand to, Australia. It would mean, a very, great diversion of the passenger service as; y;,»ll as of the mails and, in short, a reduction in tho earnings, they ar<r now receiving. . , Sir. Joseph -concluded by saying: "Our insular position and .our dis. tance.-frciiji, the Old Country clearly, make it', a, matter-.of rery- grave'.concern '.tn ua that we should have an up-to-dato mail and passenger .'service to England through' Canada. ,As it is now theso are filtering very largely through Australia, and''the advantages to lis are very greatly minimised. Unless wo want to lag behind ~in the race of commerce we can't, afford, even on a pound,, shilling, and pence basis, to see our great productive neighbour, across the wafer possessing the number of. fine steamer, mailand passenger services it does. It must be remembered \thnt the sorvie'es stop (here and'give their producers and merchants a distinct advantage over that New Zealand merchants now possess. It is difficult to sav how far we are from obtaining a fast- mail arid passenger service via Canada, but film quite confident that it is ono wo Bhould work very hard to obtain."