PORT OF ONEHUNGA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6148, 1 August 1881, Page 4

PORT OF ONEHUNGA.

arrival. ■Wanaka, s.s.. McGiHivray, from tha South. Passengers : Misses Grey, Wood, and Bavin (2), Rev. T. Buddie, Messrs. D. Hean, King, Ford, Harker, Austin, Callaghan, Daubeny, Parser, Leathesby, fountain, and 7 steerage.—Union S.S. Co., agents.

The Union Co.'s s.s. Wanaka arrived at One-, hnnga from Southern ports at 11 s.m. yesterday. We are indebted to the purser for latest files and report:— Left Port Chalmers on the 25th. at 4 p.rn M and reached Akaroa next morning at 10 a.m.: left again at 10.40 a.m., and arrived at Lyttelten at 3.30 p.m. Pushed on from there at 10 p.m, and made fast to the "Wellington wharf on the following day at 3.10 p.m. Left the latter port again on the 28th at 1 p.m., called at Picton, and arrived at Nelson at 7 a.m. on the 29th, leaving agaiu at 11.30 a.m. Ax-, rived off Taranaki at an early hour next day, landed passengers and cargo, and at 3.15 p.m. pushed Northwards, and came in as abovementioned. From Port Onalmers till arrival a.# Akaroa experienced thick, foggy weather j from thence, fine, with light variable winds. .

THE P. AND O. qOkPANY. The 81. t h»lf-yej>r' eeling of the Peninsular and 'gteam Navigation Company waa „,id on June 2, and a dividend of 5 per cent, declared. We make the following extracts from the chairman a speech it mmi be satisfactory to you to find that we „'een i enabled to held our and CTven ■ somewhat to improve it, notwithstanding the fact that we have been compelled- to work a more extensive mail contract, and not only a more extensive,but a much more expensive mail contract for a lower snbsiuy by the amount of £70,000. The company entered at the end of thc yoar 1868 on an inheritance of 85,000 tons of ships which stood at a very high cost, aDd that was the sole cause of the high value at which your fleet stood for many years. But lam not sure that I stated with the same distinctness, although I believe I have impressed the fact on you many times and in different ways, that we j not only inherited the fleet at & high cost, but that it became apparent to us within a year after wo had done so, that it would be necessary to dispose oE tbe greater part of it, as the opening of the Suez Canal demonstrated finally that it was impossible to maintain your position by means of the ships you -then had. Now, as a matter of fact, I may tell you that out of 85,000 tons, which we inherited at the end of 1868, we have disposod of fully 65,000 tons. If we had sot taken the measures we have taken, there is no donbt about it, you would long ago have had to view the end of the P. and O. Company. We have built during the last three years, I may say, about 10,000 or 15,000 tons, and we have at present contracts running for 40,000 tons, so that you will see we are building in three or four years a fleet of 00,000 tons. Why, lam not wrong in saying it is constructing a navy, and nothing less. Within the last six months it has been brought home to us that we shall have to cope not only with a larger msasure of English competition but with a larger extent of foreign competition. When I say foreign competition I mean protected competition. I dare say you are mostly aware of what has taken place in France since I addressed you six months ago. You probably know very well that the French Government . has entered upon a system of protection with regard to shipping, and that ships are to ba granted bounties for every ton thas is built in France, and for every mile that is navigated under the French flag. As far as you are concerned, the first effect of all this i?, that the Messageries Maritime Company has obtained a contract for the conveyance of mails to Australia, and that, I am sorry to say, is one of the competitions you will have tocontend with. I will direct your attention for one moment to the class of vessels which we are constructing, though these vessels vary somewhat in type and character, they are all intended to be improvements in some way or other upon the fleet which we at present possess. The points to which we have especially directed our attention to of course are in the first place greater speed, as speed appears to bo one of the requirements of the age. They have of course a large cargo capacity, because in every vessel built during the last ten years we have kept this in yiew, viz.—to give in proportion to the nett tonnage of the ships upon which we pay dues for passing through the Suez Canal, and at nutaerous ports at which we call, a larger amount of carrying capacity. That has been our object. Besides these two points ot speed and capacity, there i 3 one other point which we have kept most conspicuously in view, and that is the necessity of affording the finest passenger accommodation afloat. I venture to say that no Bteamers anywhere, I do not care in what trade, in the world will equal those vessels which we are now building, for luxury and comfort for the passengers whom we propose to carry—l speak more especially with regard to the first-class passengers. I might mention incidentally, as a matter of public interest, that one of the novelties being introduced into the § vessels is that invention which has become lately popularised to a certain degree, viz., the freezing machine. We shall cany in each of these ships a freezing machine, by which in the very hottest parts of the tropica we shall be able to supply eveiybody on board ship with an unlimited quantity of iced water, and we will also be able to carry our beef and mutton out from England away to the furthest point in tho Eastern regions.