NEW STEAMER SERVICE

Evening Star, Issue 19387, 22 October 1926, Page 5

NEW STEAMER SERVICE

FAST KAIL BOATS ENGLAND IS AUSTRALIA BIG SCHEME PROPOSED. Press Association —By Telegraph —Copyright. LONDON, October 21. Sir James Connolly, ionueriy AgentGeneral for Western Australia, associated with Sir John Biles, Sir Eustace Tennyson d’Eyncourt, and Sir Charles Parsons (British shipping exports), is issuing in tho British Press an outline of a proposed fast steamer service to Australia. It is now slated the Commonwealth Government has expressed its approval of the service in principle, subject to the technical practicability of the scheme and a satisfactory measure of co-operation by the Imperial and dominion and colonial Governments concerned. Tho published outline of tho scheme draws attention to the fact that the mail ships on tho Australian and Indian routes are no faster to-day than they were a quarter of a, century ago. Tho promoters, therefore, propose to form a company with a capital of £ll,000,000 to build and operate seven 24,000-ton liners. These will maintain a fortnightly service between Southampton and Australian ports, calling at Bombay and Colombo both ways, with a guaranteed speed at sea or twenty-two knots, compared with fifteen knots of the present mail ships. The effect will be to reduce the transit Lime of English mails picked up at a Mediterranean port and landed at Fremantle by seven days; to Bombay by five days; and to Colombo and New Zealand by four days in each case. The outline of the scheme emphasises the importance of a reduction in the time shown on the carriage of goods on all sea routes. Thus from England to Fremantle tho time will be 22 days, compared with 33 days by tho existing mail ships; England to Adelaide, 25 days, compared with 37; to Melbourne, 26 days, compared with 39; to Sydney, 28 days, compared with 42; to Brisbane, 30. days, compared with 44. • All the ships will be manned with white labor. Each ship will accommodate 600 first-class, and 1,300 second and third class passengers. The refrigerated space will be double that of the present mail ships, while tho reduced voyage will enable Australia to ship chilled instead of frozen meat to Britain, as well as to make shipments of fresh fruit. The establishment of the new lino will ho conditional upon tho Commonwealth. and Imperial Governments giving the new company a mail subsidy approximating to the present rates, and also guaranteeing to give the company tho transport of assisted migrants over and above those carried on the Commonwealth lino of Bay steamers, both contracts to bo for a fixed period of years. It is understood that the scheme will bo considered by a committee of the Imperial Conference.