A NOTABLE5 EVENT

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 114, 18 May 1925, Page 4

A NOTABLE 5 EVENT

Full reference is made elsewhere in this issue to the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, Ltd. As a matter of fact, the Company was formed in July, 1875, but the presence of its sole surviving founder, Sir James Mills, in New Zealand today afforded the opportunity which was taken of holding the 'celebration of this notable event. This jubilee of an essentially New Zealand enterprise which has developed into one of the great shipping lines of the British Empire has a particular local interest, for Sir James Mills was born in Wellington; and so was his first lieutenant, Mr. Charles Holdsworth, who is an old boy of Wellington College. New Zealand is so situated in that everybody more or less taltes a keen interest in maritime affairs. The Union Company is considered by the native-born to be in some sort "our company." But in 1917 the Peninsular and Oriental Company acquired a holding of most of the ordinary shares in the Company, and a note of regret at the change was expressed at the time the transaction was announced. Even so, the management of the Company and the conduct of its business remain in the hands of its New Zealand directors. The establishment of the Coropany from its humble beginnings is so fully described that all that is left to do is to congratulate Sir James Mills, who has been spared to see so rich a fruition of his labours, and_his collaborators. That the Union Company has rendered valuable service to the Dominion and taken a prominent part in its development is proved by its growth from a fleet of small vessels with a total tonnage of 2126 to one of 73 vessels, traversing all oceans, and aggregating 253,988 tons.