NEW SERVICE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9857, 27 July 1914, Page 3

NEW SERVICE.

Ig- BYDKJE,. ' j| ' »*SQSf fITEAKWS. '% : ia» miles in « hours. T(a travfllHog public, am eapecialty that »«w6n whfchpatronises the intercolonial steatrier service, wiHbe Shortly provided, it is rumoured,, with all ,f «>*pras" ferry Service between Wellington and Sydney, in place of the existing fleet of passenger steamers that do the round trip train Sydney to Melbourne, via Wellington and the southern New Zealand ports. The new service, it is understood, will be similar in mkny respects to the Wellington-Ly ttelton ferry serried, and the terminal ports will be, of course, Wellington and Sydney. Such a proposal has been before the Board of Directors of the Union Steam Ship Company for consideration during the. last few months. During the past few years the growth N of the passenger traffic between the capital cities of the Dominion and New South Wales has been very steady, and in order to meet the demands of this travelling section of the community, the Union Company has built and placed on that servico 1 several larger and more up-to-dute steamers 1 than was the case seven or eight years ago. While this particular section of the intercolonial run has made marked progress, there has been little or no improvement in the traffic between Melbourne, Hobart, Bluff and Dunedin. Sea voyagers are quick to discover the quickest and less boisterous trips, and naturally the northern journey between Wellington and Sydney i« muoh more in favour than the southern one, which, besides being considerably longer, is often accompanied by bad weather. Almost the whole of the passengers travelling to Australia to join the English mail steamers and those returning to New Zealand, transnip St the New South Wales port. In most case*, too, tourists and holiday makers either to or from Australia prefer the direct route between Sydney' and Wellington.

INCREASING PASSENGER TRAFFIC. The passenger steamers in the intercolonial service, that is the nine-days trip from Sydney via Wellington, JLyttelton, .Dunedin. Bluff and Hobart to Melbourne, have, with the expansion of the passenger traffic, equally increased in size and speed. Eight or'nine years ago the Moeraki and the Manuka, then the "crack" steamers of the fleet, were easilv the bfcst steamers on the route. Later, however, thev were superseded by the Mahentf (later' to be placed on tne Auckland-Sydney service), which put up some fast times. The latest addition to the inter colonial service is the Maunganui, of 7527 tens and 10,000 horse power, quite capable of doing her twenty knots per hour. But in the southern portion of the route, that is, between the Bluff, Hobart and Melbourne, these larger steamers do not pay their way. Only a week or so ago a message from the Bluff announced that unless the Maunganui received more patronage she would be taken off the southern run. The Maunganui has recently been running between Wellington and Sydney, transhipping her passengers and cargo to other steamers at the former port. Even the Maheno did not pay on the whole trip, and was subsequently employed on the direct service between Auckland and Sydney.

SIXTY HOURS' TRIP. Sydney is some 1229 miles distant from Wellington, and the average sailing time is about three days twelve hours, although that time has often been considerably lessened by the faster 6t.eamers. Under the new scheme it is intended to educe the steaming time to sixty hours, practically a whole day shorter than the present trip. The probable schedule will be a sixtv hours run across the Taaman Sea, with thirty-siv hours' stay in Sydnev and twelve hours' stay in Wellington. The Union Company, at the present time, is building three steamers, each, 10,000, 12,000 and 15.000 tons respectively, and it is resumed that either one or two of these will be used in the new -scheme. They will be purely mail and passenger steamers, carrying very little cargo. They will probabiv be fitted with geared turbines, with oilconsuming engines. Although no official notice has been made bv the directorate of th© union Steam Ship Company in respect to the establishment of a WellingtonSydney "express" service, it i* understood that there are good prospects of such a proposal eventuating in the near future. SbCh » service will no doubt necessitate connic'erable expense, with the running « f ite highspeed steamers, and it is probable that the •New Zealand and Commonwealth Governments will be asked to subsidise the service.