SHIPPING SERVICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20482, 6 February 1930, Page 13

SHIPPING SERVICE.

NORFOLK ISLAND RUN.

NO SUBSIDY FROM STATE.

"Tho Government does not seem inclined to give much in the way of a

subsidy," said Dr. E. P. Neale, secretary of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, yesterday, in commenting on the new itinerary of the Government motorship Maui Pomare, which is to leave on its last trip to Norfolk Island on March 10. Dr. Neale said that he had approached the Minister of Industries and Commerce, the Hon. J. B. Donald, regarding the discontinuance of the Norfolk Island service, and had received the reply that the Government was not prepared to subsidise a private service to tho island.

In the Minister's opinion the goodwill of the service at present would be a sufficient subsidy for anybody who might care to undertake the service on tho basis of private enterprise. The difficulty of the position was that there was not sufficient traffic to keep a vessel fully employed, Dr. Neale added. The trip would occupy about a week, and there was only sufficient trade to justify a monthly trip It followed that the Norfolk Island trade should be catered for in conjunction with some other existing service. There was a suggestion that one of the coastal vessels should undertake the service, but (hero were many difficulties in the way. In the first place a different crew would be required for the vessel on the inter-island voyage, and the coal-carrying capacity of the coastal vessels provided another obstacle. Most of them had not sufficient bunker accommodation lor the longer trip, and extensive alterations would be necessary if they were to be utilised. Apart from these difficulties, it was recognised that the run would be a profitable one to any enterprise which could see its way to undertake it.