DIRECT SERVICE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 55, 6 March 1937, Page 10

DIRECT SERVICE

BLUFF^AUSTRAiIA

MINISTER SYMPATHETIC

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

INVERCAKGILL, Marcla 5.

A request that the Government qIo all in its power to institute a direct ping service ' between South IsSand ports and Australia was made to\the Minister of Industries and Commerce (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan) by a deputation at Bluff this morning.

Mr. J. Hargest, M.P., in introducing, the subject, said he had seen the pas-1 sibilities of a direct service between, Bluff and Tasmania and Melbourne.. The lack of such a service was a serious, handicap to Southland, he saidi and instanced the case of South Aus-j tralian fruit growers who were will-] ing ■to . take Southland timber if it , could be imported direct.

"As a representative of the Bluff Harbour Board, I firmly believe the service should be a continuous one," said the Hon. T. F. Doyle. The Marama, he added, was an old vessel, and the accommodation was not perhaps of the best.- The Government and' the Union Company might be able to do something in the way of putting a modern vessel on the service. It had been well patronised in the past, both from the passenger and cargo point of view, but Southland was at a serious disadvantage through the lack of continuity in the service. PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES. "I find myself substantially in sympathy with the request and understand the difficulties afflicting the South Island through the lack of a direct shipping service," said Mr. Sullivan. It was not only the service, but there were other difficulties, too. The island was outside the circle of international communication, and this must contribute largely to retarding its development.' He would like to see this rectified. Of course, there were practical difficulties from the viewpoint of the shipping companies regarding the value of the trade they were already doing, and the companies said the service was uneconomical, but he had not had the opportunity of studying the figures they had supplied or whether they could be substantiated.

"I appreciate the position, and I have been interested in it for many years," said the Minister. "Now I have the figures I will ask my Department to investigate them thoroughly and report on the effect a continuous service would have on trade. The Government hesitates to burden itself with subsidies, for you never know where they will end."

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