STEAMER SERVICE TO CANADA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12239, 7 April 1903, Page 5

STEAMER SERVICE TO CANADA.

A LINE 0"F CARGO BOATS. MARKETS FOR NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE. AiiEAXGEukN-TS are now being made for the starting towards the end of the present year of a line of cargo steamers between Canada,. New Zealand, and Australia, which should prove of great importance to New Zealand in the way of opening up markets for New Zealand products, which hitherto have practically been untouched. Mr. T. H. de Scliryver, of the Canadian Manufacturers' Association, who has for some time been interesting himself in the matter of a line of steamers between Canada and Australasia, introduced a representative of the Herald yesterday to Mr. R. A. Alley, a native of Hawke's Bay, who has for some time been in Canada and America, and returned to New Zealand for the purpose of arranging for cargo for the new line of steamers, which he hopes to see started about September next. Mr. Alley stated that he represents the Australian-Puget Sound Steamship Company, which has already arranged for four steamers, two of 8000 tons and two of 6500 tons, to run from Vancouver, calling at San Francisco, from thence to Auckland, and probably some other New Zealand ports, and then to some Australian ports. Ha has been in Auckland far about a week, and has already received sufficient encouragement from the merchants of the city to ensure Auckland being a. port of call. The remaining ports of call in the colony will, of course, depend on the inducements held out to Mr. Adley, who proceeds from here to the South before sailing for Australia, to complete' the arrangements for the steamers on this siae of the Pacific. Speaking with reference to the railway connections in Canada, Mr. Alley said the new steamers would not run in connection with the Canadian-Pacific railway, arrangements having been mads with the Great Northern and Northern Pacific railways, which run into the Eastern part of Canada, to carry goods at through rates, so that the company could issue through bills of lading from New Zealand and Australian ports to any part of Canada, or could collect goods in any part of Canada or America, and deliver in New Zealand or Australia at through rates. The first steamer, Mr. Alley added, will probablv load at Tacoma, taking cargo from the Northern Pacific railway, and till the Great Northern railway has been completed to Vancouver, the cargo from that railway will be shipped at Seattle. Asked as to the dale of the commencement of the service Mr. Alley said he expected to get back to America m August, and the first steamer would probably start immediately after. On the question of cargo, Mr. Alley mentioned that his company would have the support of the Canadian Manufacturers' Association, and there would be ample cargo coming this way, while for the return cargo the company would endeavour to stimulate trade in New Zealand and Australian products in the Canadian and American markets. There would, _he was confident, be no difficulty in opening up markets for New Zealand wool, hides, and tallow, as for all these things the rates would be lower than by any other route, and even if the rates were the same, there would be an advantage in the delivery being from four to six weeks earlier. Mi-. Alley was also confident that New Zealand would find in Canada and America a splendid market for butter and for fruit, as the opposite seasons in the two countries would give the best market on the other side of 'the Pacific at a time when the article was most plentiful on. this side. The wool market alone, Mr. Alley pointed out, would be a great thing for' New Zealand, and on this subject he mentioned that he is president of the Australian-American Woollen Company, which proposes to import all its Australian and New Zealand wools through the Pacific. The woolgrowers of Australia and New Zealand have, he said, heretofore been shipping their wool to London, a distance of from 13,000 to 15,000 miles. It is there unloaded, warehoused, and later sold at auction. That, part which is consumed in the United States is then reshipped and consigned to brokers and commission houses, landed at the Atlantic coast ports in the United States, and warehoused —then sold to the mills, and shipped _by rail to the various destinations. This costly process will be stopped by shippine the wool across the Pacific, and he was confident there will be a big market for it in America. Before closing the interview, Mr. Alley assured our reporter that the enterprise was a British one, and that the steamers chartered would be British steamers, flying the British flag. ______