OUR ISLAND TRADE

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 13, 16 July 1923, Page 6

OUR ISLAND TRADE

IMPROVED STEAMER SERVICE

NEW ZEALAND : NIUE, SAMOA.

The recent reference.in Parliament' to the present unsatisfactory steamer fiervjee between New Zealand, arid our Eastern-Pacific Islands has again brought before the public the; pressing need for better communication between New Zealand ports, and .particularly between the main ports south of Auckland! and those groups of .'Pacific Islands whoso trade should naturally be with New Zealand. This'ls a- subject to which the Department of Industries and Commerce. and the Chambers of Commerce, and manufacturers and exporters of Wellington, ChfistphUrch, and Dunedin h ave devoted a good deal of attention in recent years, ' and particularly since the important and fertile group of Western Samoa- was brought directly under our administration. Hitherto the Pacific Island trade has been almost exclusively confined to Auckland, because of its geographical position. The l ac k of direct communication between these islands and the principal Southern ports |! as ,n °V only pkced Wellington and fcoutn Island merchants and manufacturers at a.great disadvantage in trading with, the Pacific Islands communities, but ..it has also to a, large extent shutout the latter from" a very valuable market for their tropical products. In fact, the route of the present steamer service with Western Samoa, covering as it does other- Pacific groups and involving a fairly long period in the tropics, has entirety prevented planters m the mandated territory from exporting fruit of any kind to New Zealand. NIUE ISLAND. There is another New Zealand possession in the' Pacific which is very little known to a large proportion of our °vIZu IZf n?' na,melvi the Island of Niue> which lies about 350 miles south-east of Samoa. Although this island is particularly suited to the cultivation of the banana, there has been no opportunity up to the present to export this valuable food to.the Dominion, as the communication has always been by sailing vessels of one type'or another. It me also to be remembered that so long as the islanders are depend; nt on "this class of veEsel as their only means of transport, the ysuffei the great hardship ol being isolated from the outside world during the four..or five months of the hurricane season.

Last year; when the Government called for tenders for the usual mail service between Auckland and Nine, an offer was received from Messrs. George H. bcales, Pacific, Ltd., who have hitherto maintained the service with the barquentme Ysabel, to put a steamer into the trade. This offer was accented by the ■Department, and a suitable steamer with passenger accommodation has been secured, and it is expected she will be !t aYV nf Zealand on her first trip to the Islands about the end of September. There is reasonable ground for anticipating that Apia, Western Samoa, will be included in the vessel's itinerary. It will thus be Teadily understood that the new contract marks a most, important event in the history: of Niue, and opens up great possibilities for the development of trade with that island, and possibly Samoa, and our Cook group.