P. AND O. STEAMERS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 73, 29 March 1910, Page 7

P. AND O. STEAMERS.

♦ EXTENSION OF SERVICE TO NEW ZEALAND. THE "M" CLASS OF VESSEL. By Teletr»ph.--Pre»» Association.— Copyright. (Received March 29, 9 a.m.) LONDON, 28th March. Tho Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company intends extending tho voyages of certain of its "M" class of steamers during the ensuing autumn, providing New Zealand with direct communication by way of Suez during the outward and homeward ieabons. NEW ZEALAND TRADE. HOW WILL FIWJE AFFECTED! The cablegram above set out is a little ambiguous, in that it does not maka it quite clear whether the P. and O. steamers will take direct departure I from New Zealand (Auckland) to Colombo and thence to Suez, or whether they will, as recently, go via Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, as usual. The view in local shipping circles appeals to be that the extension of the voyages of the "M" steamers is the outcome of what was an experiment ; in abort that, the P. and O. must be considered as tow iv Ihe New Zealand trade. So far as thn direct steamers of tha Shaw, SaviU and Albion, and the New Zealand Shipping linen are. concerned, coml.itition in the passenger trado ii not feared, and for two principal reasons, (1) that passengers by the Cape of Good Hope nnd Cape Horn routes avoid the heat of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, and (2) that seekers after the rest and quiet which a long sea voyage ensures will naturally avoid the bustle and traffic of frequent ports of call. These reasons, it is thought, will influenco passongers both out and Homo. Again, the direct steamers to New Zealand are and have been for a long time past fully taxed as to passenger accommodation. In fact, certain of Wie White Star steamers have had to close passenger booking long before their departures for the Dominion. Thoso travellers who wish to include Aut^ralia, Colombo, the Suez Canal, and tho Mediterranean in their itineraries, who detiro to go sight-ieeing, in fact, will, as heretofore, join steamers at Sydney. They would not be deterred by transhipment from the New Zealand steamer at Sydney. They may, of course, find Joining a P. and O. steamer in New Ecaland much more agreeable than having to do 90 in Sydney. The Malwa, Mantua, and Morea, each of 11,000 tons and 18 knots speed, arc the newest and largest mail steamers in the company's service, making with tho«e already in conimisxion, a total of eight lister ships known as tho "M" class. So far as cargo-carrying is concerned, it is held that the direct New Zealand steamers wi'l have nothing to fe»r. Early in the wool season freight rates for wool for London are higher in Australia than they are in New Zealand. Moreover, the P. and 0. vessels havo all the cargo they cau carry, and mora 11 available than they can carry from Australia at the time of year the mail boats would be in New Zealand waters, according to the cablegram. As for the carriage of New Zealand dairy produce and frozen meat, contracts with shippers here, extending over some years, are already in existence. Besides, the present P. and O. time from Auckland to London averages 50 days, whereas the direct steamers from New Zealand, via Cape Horn, carry their dairy and meat cargoes in cooler latitudes, and get Home in 42 days from Wellington, which is considered a very important point in the case of th« carriage of perishable^ cargoes, such as meat and butter. It is through its entry into the colonial trade that the competition of the P. and O. Company may be most keenly felt. Under the United States Navigation Laws not a pound of cargo can be carried betweoi. 0110 American port and another— say irom Manila to San Francisco—oxceiit in United States vessels. But it is different in. the British trade. No foreign company could, if Australasia were American, trade between theßO Islands and Australia and the Home land. But it is felt with the P. and 0. carrying passenger* and cargo between New Zealand and Australian ports, manned as the vessels are by coloured crows, that the competition resembles that which America has sought to de•tvoy. For shipping purposes the intercolonial trade might be regarded as coastal, inasmuch ai tho rates of pay and generally restrictive regulations on shipping and seamen are about the same iv Australia as in New Zealand. Thu New Zealand ships, registered in New Zealand, and largely manned by New Zealanders, already form tho nucleus of a great New Zealand mercantile marine, carrying tho New Zealand flag into all ports ou the ; but this hope cannot be realised, it is urpied, if the trude is to be cut into by ships manned by Las<urs.