THE HAIL SERVICES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 805, 30 April 1910, Page 6

THE HAIL SERVICES.

WHAT AUCKLAND WANTS. SUGGESTIONS TO THE PREMIER INTERESTING TELEGRAMSIANADA, AUSTRALIA AND NEfl ZEALAND. CBy Eelesranli—Proß3 Association.!! Auckland, April 29. As there appears to be no chance oJ ;he American Shipping Subsidy BiHthe passage of which would render th< of tha San FranciscoAuckland mail service practicableoassing Congress this .Bession the Auck and Chamber of Commerce ia interest ag itself in having an alternative bop rice arranged. Communications an kht passing between Mr. J. H. Gunsoi widen* of the Anckiand Chamber) Sr James.Mills, (the managing directa rf the Union Steam Ship Company) »nd the Prime Minister (Sir Josepl Ward) with a viw to the establish nent of a service of from 28 to 30 day. Irom Europe. The Auckland Chamber of Commcrci ivours a three-weekly Sydnay-Nev ZeaUnd-Vancouver service ™«i A-™* andas the port of call,, and atthougl iere are certain difficulties in the wa; iis proposal has received, and is re ;eiving,\ the close personal attention a ■he Prime JCnister. An alternative pro josal.k the establishment of a direc from Newt Zealand to Van souser. , ,-'■■..! AUCKLAND'S PROPOSALS. Mr. Guoson telegraphed' to thi Pome Minister as follows?— "We have been in tdksgrapbie communication with Si. Jamos Mflla, who, in the event of an arrangement to drop Brisbane and ■ make Sydney-the terminal point being possible,' favours a threeooover service, with Auckland as the port of call.. I <toefore re-. ■ oojnnWd ae follows: That a threeweekly service of 17 or 18 day* from Vancouver to Auckland, wa. Hawaii and Fiji, be instituted with the Union,or otter company, making Sydney .the. terminal port. Kamfcg that £100,000 bo required aa a yearly subsidy .such amount to be allocated.as follows: ..Canada, £37,000; Austeala, £26,600; Fiji, £2300 (the present respecti™ paymenta), and Now Zealand £34,100, which would bo about the same amount as Suez aloff route of 40 day* is alone costing the Dominion. The latter payment would be reduced by the sum of £4000 no* expended on the present unsatisfactory Vancouver connection. Aa the !""»*«»; tract expires in July, I trust joa will bo able to arrange so™«tiung on the foregoing lines. We tod that you now. pay m™**?™* for the main service £47,000 per annum, which payments would be largely obviated. by the proposed arrangement that would cany the bulk of our mails." THE PREMIER'S REPLY. Sir Joseph Ward replied to-day B ho following terms:— "I am obliged to you for ccaweyjdc your suggestions to me regardIdS tho ; Vancouver, servioe... the . matter ia one to which I have been riving personal attention ever since the discontinuance of the San Franservice, and ifit.ooukV be settled in the,way you suggest no, one would bo more pleased than mvsolL .-Unfortunately,;.however, at present your proposal is im- • piacticable in so far aa . regards the securing of the sernce upon the lines you name .for the reason that, apart from Canada and New SandTthe Australian Commonwealth must also agree. I haw been in. obmmnnication with, befta tho Canadian and the .Common-, ,vcalth Governments-with a to securing a call, at Auckland of the Vancouver steamers, but, though.a Bubstantial subsidy from New Zealand would be paid, . I regret that ud to now no satisfactory. arrangement has been come to. I understand also from the latest ffiforSn to hand-that the Commonwealth Government intend to extend'the present contact, wiiU Brisbane as a first and last port of call, for another year from July 1 next, after which tenders are to be invited for an accelerated vice You will therefore see that, though asked by me to agree to New Zealand, bomg included, it. has been decided to extend . the. present service, including Brisbane as a port of call, . for twelve moßthT Cffing** Bnsbane pute. New Zealand out of it. , Lm mates it impossible for Euch a proposal as contained in youis to bo given effect to at present. I note your remarks . jegiding the Suez service the cost of which you have inadvertently overstated by about £5000, having • apparently overlooked xhe fact that the £15,000 paid for the Welling-ton-Sydney service includes about £5000 for mails not sent beyond Australia. For a three-weekly service to Vancouver £34,000 would.be cheaper, provided the olass or steamer was satisfactory.; but in any case the establishment of a service would by no moans exempt New Zealand' from any payment for the Suez service. As the New Zealand people generally, excepting those withiu a reasonable distance of Auckland, would not be content with an English mail once in three . weeks only, and I am of opinion we would still have to provide for a mail between the departure of the -Vancouver steamer and another, the cost of- that would be .about £12,000 a year, but I do not regard this in any way as too large an amount to pay, or that the ■ cost of it would prejudico the carrying out of a Vancouver service at anything hko the amount you state. No effort' has been Bpared to secure the desired result .(which I' should very much like to soe) of obtaining a mail and passenger servico giving a speedy connection between Auckland and London, but unfortunately New Zealand does' not alone govern the position, as two' other countries are. concerned. Should wo not succeed in getting a ' suitable service with Canada and Australia, Hi may become necessary for us to provide one on our own account, the steamers on their inward voyage remaining in New Zealand." AttornatfßO Suggestion. To this Mr. Gunson has' replied ai ollows: — "I thank yon for your exhaustive telegram, from which I note you say a substantial subsidy-from New Zealand would be paid. This to me is rather vague, becauso, if nothing has been offered, and you have not mentioned the subsidy you are willing 'to • pay, it is obvious the Commonwealth would not favourably entertain negotiations. You rccogniso £34,000 would be cheap; therefore, why not make a definite' offer for -three-weekly

up-to-date vessels, commencing the new contract on. July 1? Tho time is now particularly opportune, in view of tho expiry of the contract, and an effort by Sir Jas. Mills, who is now duo in Australia, for an im- • proved service to Australia, via New Zealand, at the present cost to the former .and to Canada. There should be no insurmountable difficulty in closing the business. New ~ Zealand should not be called upon, to submit, whilst Australia and Canada are considering the All-Red , route, to the present slow services. The same difficulty as exists now will arise then. We quite realise this matter has received your close personal attention, but, nevertheless, kindly renew the effort to es- : tablish a service as indicated.. If the'present suggestion is finally ■•' found to be impossible owing to the refusal of the Commonwealth Government to eliminate Brisbane, we would then make the Mowing alternative suggestion:— "(l)'That Brisbane remain tie terminal and only Australian port, but tho service run from Fiji to Auckland thonco to Brisbane. • "(2) As we recognise this would entail a delay of three days extra for Australian mails, we suggest m consideration for this that the Australian subsidy bo reduced to £5000 or £6000,- such extra sum to be added.to the Now Zealand subsidy. Australia would further benefit' by what would be. a more frequent and accelerated service. Further, a direct Auckland-Brisbane connection would provide a communication which does not at present exist, and which would be very valuable to both. ""Wo are very glad to note the concluding paragraph in your telegram, but that would be much more • costly (we are advised £100,000 per annum), and may be left in abeyance pending the result of the present endeavours."