A NEW SERVICE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 27, 1 February 1912, Page 8

A NEW SERVICE.

WELLINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO TAHITI'S FIRST TRIP. OCEANIC COMPANY'S PLANS. (whom otje own coheespondbnt.] SAN FRANCISCO, 10th January. " When the Union Steam Ship ' Company's liner Tahiti steamed into San Francisco harbour last Friday afternoon from New Zealand and Australia, ehe was tho occasion of a. considerable display of excitement and interest in shipping circles. She is the largest and best equipped vessel that ever came into this port from Australasia ; and as a. matter of fact, her equipment i 6 quite equal to that of any steamer that ever entered the Golden Gate. The especial interest attaching to the Tahiti's arrival resides in the intimation' it furnishes of the spirited competition for freight and passenger business that is expected when the Oceanic Company places its oilburners, the Sonoma ana Ventura, on the. same run later this year. The Union Company has been maintaining a service with the Aorangi and Maitai. In competition with ' these vessels the Oceanic Company reckoned upon getting the cream of the business with its oilburning boats. But the Tahiti proved a surprise to the port officials, as they did not expect to see 6uch a large and elaborately-equipped boat. As the San Francisco Examiner stated the next da-y, with the arrival of 'the Tahiti "the promise of the Union Company to make the fight an interesting one appeared more than interesting." The Taniti has passenger accommodation for 168 first 'cabin, 62 second cabin, and 76 third class. Sho made the trip to San Francisco from Sydney, via, Wellington, Earotonga, and Papeete, in 24 days. Announcement has been made within the last few days of still a third steamship service between San Francisco and ports of New Zealand and Australia. A newspaper despatch from Seattle 'states 1 that Frank Ltd., is arrauging to place four steamers on tho run, replacing the five British steamers of the Weir Line that formerly were in the service. The Weir boats were withdrawn some months back. The four steamers to be used by Frank Waterh'ouee, Ltd., are the Henrick Ibsen, the Belle of" Scotland, the Strathairlie, and the Strathendrick. They will nob attempt to compete with the Union Steam Ship Company's liners for business, with •the Cook, Friendly, and Samoan Islands, Guam and Tahiti. ■ | With the re-establishment of the Oceanic Stea.a&hip Company's service between San Francisco and Sydney the company proposes to enter into -"active rivalry for mails and passenger traffic with the lines operating .from Australia to England, through the Suez Canal. Mr. Frederick t3. Samuels, of the Oceanic Company, who has been in Washington on business connected with the securing of a mail subsidy, states that with the oil-burning steamers across the Pacific it will be possible to establish a quicker route by way of San Francisco and New ifork, and thence by fast steamsnips across the Atlantic, than the present mail 1 route via Suez to Liverpool. "We will have the quickest route between Sydney and Liverpool,'' he stated to an interviewer, "making it possible to deliver mail over that route within thirty days, equalling, if not bettering, the time made by way of ,the Suez Canal. Our route will be superior in, point of time to the line running batweek Australia and Vancouver, 8.0. By the operation of our line we expect to divert to San. Francisco- a large traffic now going by way of Canada." Mr.' Samuels promises that the ttonoma and Ventura will be placed in commission as oil-burning steamers within tho next three or four months, probably in "April. Later a third steamer, probably the Sierra, will be added to the same run. San Francisco lost A/<5i50,U00 a year in trade with Australia v and New Zealand when the Oceanic Company's service was discontinued live years ago. Not only will this be regained, in the opinion ot Air. Samuels, but the amount of trans-Pacific trade will be increased. t It was, in the first place, understood that the re-established Oceanic service would include Auckland as a port of call, as was the case when these boats formerly ran to the South Seas. But this is not to be so, according to the j statement of Mr. Samuels. The steamers will, on the way to Sydney, call only at Honolulu and Samoa. The volumeof New Zealand freight is said to be not sufficient to justify the call at Auckland/ With Auckland as a port of call the coal-burning steamers formerly made the trip" to Sydney in twenty-one days. The time for the oi'burners, without a call at Auckland, is given as "less than twenty days," in the words of Sir. Samuels.