VANCOUVER STEAMERS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1424, 15 June 1899, Page 13

VANCOUVER STEAMERS.

There is a feeling of satisfaction in -Queensland at having the Vancouver steamers again calling at Brisbane. When the R.M.S. Aorangi, from Vancouver, was lying at the railway wharf, Pinkenba, Brisbane river, at the end of May, she was visited by the ■Governor and Lady Lamington. Later on the same day a largely-attended 1 luncheon was held in tho saloon of the liner. Several interesting speeches were delivered, in which references were made to trade prospects between ■Canada and the northern colony of th Australian group. The Premier (Mr Dickson) said it was a matter of satisfaction to the Queensland Government to see that what had been left undone in the past had now been accomplished. He thought that the Aorangi was but the forerunner of faster ships to be laid on to connect Australia with Canada. The line would ■open up increased commercial -relations between Australia and Canada and other ports of North America. He had been informed that already 10,000 tons of sugar had been booked for transport by these steamers. Captain Hopworth, commander of the Aorangi, said that when last in Vancouver he learned that a great part of the meat shipped from Australia to Canada was being sent away to the United States. Mr James Forsyth said that this year, he thought, Queensland would have from 25,000 to 30,000 tons of sugar available for oversea export. If business continued as at present, the Canadian-Australian Steamship Company proposed to make its service a three-weekly one, instead of a monthly one.