" ALL-RED" ROUTE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 148, 19 December 1907, Page 7

" ALL-RED" ROUTE.

«o___ COMMONWEALTH AND CANADA. A HOPE EXPEESSED. THE QUESTION OF SUBSIDY. By Telegraph.— Press A«sooifltion.~CopjTigb«, LONDON, 18th December. The Times discussing the projected negotiations between the Commonwealth and Canadian authorities at Ottawa regarding the "All-Red" route, expresses the hope that the matter will be considered in a sufficiently liberal spirit to remove any temporary ill-feeling which Mr. Deakin's tariff policy may have excited in official circles in Canada. Proceeding further in its discussion of the "All-Red" route The Times estimates that the total annual subsidy for som? years will bo from £700,000 to £800,000, or more, nearly one-half of which will be contributed by Great Britain. It is calculated that the building of the necessary fleet to carry on theservice will cost six millions sterling, and this amount cannot bo raised at low rates of interest without engaging the British Government's credit, according to tho precedent established in connection with the building of the two subsidised Cunard liners. All these difficulties, howover, are matters of detail, and will probably be overcome by tho exercise of a little goodwill. Tho Times emphasises the fact that the Imperial Government, which was unable, to meet the colonies on the subject of preference, has pledged Great Britain to the principle of the "All-Red" route, and that only its proved impracticableness will justify the abandonment of the scheme. HIGHLY EXPENSIVE. HEAVY CHARGE ON BRITISH / GOVERNMENT. (Received December 19, 8.30 a.m.) '' LONDON, 18th December. The Pall Mull Gazette says that an "All-Red" route would prove highly expensive, and involve a ' heavy annual charge on the British Exchequer. There is no chance of compelling the foreigner to pay such a form of pi'eference. The paper adds : "Tho higher the bill is the more conspicuous the inconsistency of a Frootrado Government."