New Zealand Times. THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4126, 11 June 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 1874.

It is somewhat incongruous to ho informed on one day that a company is flourishing, and on the next that to enable ifc to carry on its trade it requires a larger subsidy than it had previously received. This, however, is the case with the Auckland Steam Packet Company. It was only on Tuesday that wo learned, through the medium of an Auckland contemporary, that the company had not only been able to pay a dividend of ten per cent, for the year, but to place to the reserve fund a sum of £5,000, and that the reA'enuo which enabled these satisfactory things to be done had been earned in the most legitimate way. Dut wo had also learned, a few days previously, that a now steamer for the company was on its way out from England, and had reached Melbourne on its voyage to New Zealand. The dividend, the handsome addition to the reserve fund, the new steamer, and the purchase of a handy steamship in the port of Dunedin only a few' months ago, all pointed to a very happy state of matters financially. Then, again, wo were told by another northern contemporary that the trade with Eiji had grown so rapidly that the company’s only steamer engaged in that trade had, on her last trip from the islands, been obliged to leave behind forty tons of cargo which she Avas too full to take on board. We had no sooner been placed in possession of these pleasing items of nows, when another A'oico was heard, uttering a very different sound. Some doleful A’aticinations appeared in the Xorthem press on the supposed probable withdrawal of the Auckland Steam Packet Company’s Fiji ship, on the ground that the trade did not pay. These paved the way for sundry correspondents, who became quite eloquent in pointing out the social if not the commercial advantage of maintaining trade relations, by means of the Auckland company’s steamer, between New Zealand and Fiji, It was urged that it was the duty either of the General Government or that of the Province of Auckland ‘‘ to prevent the stoppage of so important a communication between this Colony and those Islands.” To this was added an appeal which would have been reckoned in the ad misericordiam class if it had come from the company itself. The “ spirited manner” in which the Company had “endeavored to facilitate the opening up of fresh business in the Pacific,” was dwelt upon pathetically, and in the face of the clividona, the addition to the reserve fund, the purchased vessel, and the new steamer, it was put forward that the trade with the Fijis had been opened up and carried on at a loss. The business men of Auckland were appealed to, to bring pressure on tho authorities to recognise substantially the efforts of tho company; “surely the commercial men of Auckland will not allow the steamer to be withdrawn without an effort to induce the General Government [for tho Piwincial Government Avas now overlooked] to oiler a sufficient subsidy for its continuance.” We pass over the inconsistency between the statement that tho steamer employed was unable to carry all the cargo offered to her, and yet that tho trade did not pay. Wo must presume that the dividend, the revenue, &c., came from tho profits of tho Company’s one steamer in the Coromandel trade ; and assume —however hard the matter may bo to understand—that the trade between Auckland and Fiji must have been abandoned but for help from Avithont. That being the case, we observe with satisfaction that the necessary aid has been rendered by the General Government, and that it has been given in a manner which will not concentrate the business of tho Fiji group in the port of Auckland, but spread it over the Colony Avhich grants the subsidy. Had tho assistance asked for, whether it was needed or no, been given by tho Provincial Government, Auckland alone Avould have benefited by the service. As it is, thewholo Colony will participate in the advantages of a trade which is described as growing rapidly, and Avhich Avill undoubtedly grow Avith still greater vigor when the Fijis pass into tho Protectorate of the British Government, to say nothing of tho extension of those ramifications which Avill inevitably folio av. Tho Premier, in a speech delivered in the early part of the recess, laid some stress on the future importance to Now Zealand of tho trade of the numberless islands of tho Southern Pacific. In tho arrangement he is understood to hfwo made with the Auckland Steam Packet Company ho lias taken care that no port shall possess exclusively tho advantage which may be derivable from a moderate subsidy for tho encouragement of tho Fiji trade. There is to bo an interim service—a northern contemporary informs ns—consisting of four trips, one to bo inado every six weeks. Tho price to he paid for tho first trip is £4.00, and for each of the throe following trips £BOO. For this subsidy the Star of tho South —tiro vessel the Auckland Company have hitherto employediu the trade—istocommenco her voyage at Port Chalmers, calling at Lyttelton, Wellington, and Napier, making her final start from Auckland ; and on her return visiting tho ports named in succession on her way down to Port Chalmers. There is no doubt tho arrangement is an advantageous one for the Colony. We shall not stop to ask

whether such a subsidy was really required, or whether the cry of ‘‘wolf, wolf ” was raised when no “ wolf” in the shape of loss was to be dreaded. If it had not been given, the Star of the South would probably have still journeyed to and fro, between Auckland and Levuka, but the other ports would not have advantage of direct communication. The benelit to them is obvious. It is probable, also, that tho encouragement the Government’s subsidy will give will load to tho employment on tho lino, at no distant date, of one or more vessels of greater power than tho little pioneer which has hitherto done tho business. It is also reasonable to indulge tbe anticipation that tho trade of that company, or of some other, will soon extend its lines beyond the Fiji group. New Caledonia may readily bo reached from Fiji, and so may the Samoan, tho New Hebrides, and other groups on which more or less white settlement has taken place, as well as many other groups which now have no regular communication with any country or colony. That these islands will hereafter form important customers to this Colony for goods, tho demand for which will grow tho more tho Natives become accustomed to articles of European manufacture or trade, there can bo no question. We place no great stress upon the reported discovery of gold in lai’go quantity in quartz reefs in Samoa, and think tho reported three thousand ounces to the ton from those reefs will turn out, as many others have done, an enormous deception, intended to cause a “ storekeepers’ rush.” Mining in Samoa may bo pleasant enough. A swag will not bo wanted. The traditional moleskins and thigh boots will not ho required. Even tho tout may bo dispensed with, though tho billy may still bo necessary; and a Now Zealand digger may find a winter under the coooanut trees and palms of Samoa very much more tolerable than a December among the snows of tho Shotovor. A number of miners may bo tempted to go there, and if they are successful so much tho better. But whether the auriferous reefs of Samoa are a myth or a reality, that group of islands will soon attract attention ; and not tbo least important result of the subsidy now accorded to the Auckland Steam Packet Company, small as it is, may bo tho speedy opening up of steam communication from New Zealand via Fiji to the interesting groups of islands already named.