THE SHIPPING MONOPOLY.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume X, Issue 909, 13 May 1891, Page 2

THE SHIPPING MONOPOLY.

______ Im oar last issue we drew attention to some of tue evils resulting from the monopoly enjoyed by the Union Steam-' sbty G9®smj f w<l k tit fotewm^

attempts to maintain that monopoly. Fortunately, its ill advised action m endeavouring to cut the s.s. Jubilee out of the running, is awakening the public to a knowledge of the selfish aims of the Company, and we shall In much jrtar prised if the regult be not a yet more liberal support of the Jubilee and a corresponding boycott of the larger Company. For some time past, the Union Company has been "nursing f' the Jubilee. Whenever that veswl sails, within an hour or two the Hauroto, or the Tekapo, or both, sail *lso. These vessels take cargo and passengers at very reduced rates, leis even than those of the Jubilee,.- But. after .the Jubilee has sailed, a return is immediateh made to the usual high tariff. The restilt is obvious. Farmers and producers of all kinds naturally take the advantage ot the cheap rates to send away as n^uoh cargo as they can. , The Sydney market is glutted, prices fall, and the poor farmer grumbles at the low price his crops return him. An example will show the result' clearly. > Last Sati if day potatoes were sold m Sydney at i=2,£s 6d to £2 5s per ton. Prior to that date they, were selling readily at £$ 15s to £2 17s 6d. But on that day the Tekapo, the Hauroto, and the Jubilee arrived m Sydney, each full of .potatoes; A leading produce importer m j New Sonth Wales says that New £seial«nd potatoes should not be worth* less; than £3 if properly shipped. Another! glut similar to that of last Saturday will lower the price to half that. ■ * ' The Jubilee has now been running for some years, and is, presumably, paying expenses and something qver. If so, the profits the Onion Company is making, must be immense. They contend, of course, that they cannot run profitably at lower rates than their' ordinary tariff. If this is so, then the Jubilee must be losing heavily, and the abandonment of the enterprise can only < be a question of time.. l 4 that case why is the Union Company so eager to| oust her from the trade that they neglect the jnteiests of their best patrons m order to damage a dying rival? It rests with those pations to insist upon their; interests being looked to. The Uuion Company needs a lesson, and if shippers are not willing to be the Blares of a grinding monopoly, they will see that that lesion ia properly given ; •