THE AUSTRALASIAN ROYAL MAIL CONTRACT.

NZ Truth, Issue 66, 22 September 1906, Page 1

THE AUSTRALASIAN ROYAL MAIL CONTRACT.

HOW IT AFFECTS NEW ZEALAND.

The Australasian Royal Mail Line, .to commence operations early m 1908, should be closely watched m Australia and New Zealand. People long actively exploiting Australasia's oversea trade have apparently secured the new Australian mail contract. The Commonwealth Government, m fact, has evidently hopelessly entangled itself m monopoly's web, spun, spider-like, by ' a coterie of cute capitalists, meat piagnates, and shipping seigniors, who operate through a Melbourne legal luminary, Mr W. H. Croker, of Victorian Butter Royal Commission fame and fees. The. Federal Ministry's lack of business acumen seriously concerns the; Australian people, who, for. 10 years at least, must pay ttibute to a mail line engineered tiy astute. Anglo-Australians' . directly 'or indirectly associated with the Federal-Houlder-Shir^Bucktoall shipping and meat mopopoly, so. ; notorious, m New .Zealand- ,■ VA»ywayV ■report g&ys Birt, Potter and Hughes, Ltd., London, Mcllwraith, McEacharn and Co. Proprietary, Ltd., Melbourne, and Birtl and Co., Ltd., Sydney, secured ttie new Australian mail contract. If so, , it reeks of the F-H-S-B combine. Mr Alan Hughes, of Birt, POtter and Hughes, Ltd., is the Chairman of the London F-H-S-B "Pool." Mcllwraith, McEacharn an«t<>o. Proprietary, Ltd., are the F-H-S-B monopoly's Melbourne agents. That Is, ' they communicate direct with the 'Australasian Freight Committee, .which, under Mr E. Owen Cox's chairmanship, meets daily at Birt and Co.'s offices, 7 Mtacquarie-place, Sydney. Nor is this aIL Mr E, Owen Cox is a director of the Federal Steaih Navigation Co., London, and Birt and Co. : , Ltd., which latter firm is represented on the Sydaey freight committee that decides the F-H-S-B 'pool's"' Austral&sß&n policy. Therefore, a truculent trust is evidently behind the new Australian mail (-oritract. Yot the Commonwealth Government, forsooth, says it has made an excellent bargain ! This is very 'questionable. Certainly, the successful tenderers have dome weH. So well, m fact, that their success suggests they possess powerful political friends within and without the Federal Cabi.net. The F-H-S-B "combine's" departmental and .' governmental "pull" m New Zealand is palpable. Now, apparently, it talks m the Commonwealth Cabinet also. If so, it is infamous. Briefly, this is what hapr pened. Sir J-ames Laing. aiid Co., Ltd. (Sunderland) through their agent, Mr W. H. Croker (Melbourne) have contracted to convey ttie Ans-. tralian mails to and from Great Britain for 10 years, at an annual subsidy of £120,000. The new service will alternate with the P. and O. Company's, and, 'from January, 1908, replaces the Orient-Royal Mail Line's existing service. Some people think the Orient has been badly treated. They need not, however. fThe F-H-S-B combine's policy was to work with the Orient and P. and 0. Company's against the Aberdeen and Liverpool White Star. Lines. Therefore, the Australasian Royal Mail Lines simply readjust the Orient Co 's interests. High-powered steamers, of large tonnage, will be employed, and quicker mail transit assured tinder the new contract. This sounds satisfactory. Yet, apparently, Mr W. H. Croker and James Laing and Co.,' Ltd. were just the Federal-Houlder-Shire-Bucknall shipping and meat monopoly's Australian and British intermediaries. Anyway, report says the übiquitous Mr E. Owen Cox en-?i-neered the entire business. Indeed, innor has it, that Mr W. H. Croker. assisted by Mr Cox's confidential clerk (lent for the occasion), conducted the new mail contract negotiations through Sydney. That is, it is said Mr Croker telegraphed the proposals from Melbourne to Mr Cox m Sydney. The latter than cabled them to the British principal, whose replies, counter-proposals "et hoc genu's omne" circulated through the came medium. If this was the actual modus operandi, it is aft object lesson m trust tactics, and the Commonwealth Government apparently contributed to the successful tenderers' s"6eming efforts to hoodwink thc 'Australian public. Certainly, strance Kecretiveness characterised the lodement of tenders. Highly important Srablic interests, a 10 years' con-

tract, and excessive expenditure were [involved, yet the Australian P(?st- | master-General (Mr Austin Chapman); allowed agents to tender without disclosing their principals' names. This extraordinary and secretive procedure was monopoly's opportunity. Indeed, the Australian public must have the matter probed. The Post-master-General probaMy knew all along precisely who was at Mr Croker's and Sfr James Laing and Sons' bask. Anyway, that is the Australian public's impression. Mr Austin Chapman and Sir, J. G. Ward journeyed Romewards together. They also probably visited London m company. The Premier's predilection for the F-H-S-B combine js well known. Therefore, it seems likely both he and Mr Austin Chapman discussed the new Australian mail contract with Mr Alan Hughes,, of Birt, Potter and Hughes, Ltd,, London. In fact. the., situation suggests that the Australian Postmaster-General was fully primed with what might happen when tenders were invited for the new service. Of course, Mr Austin Chapman may have known absolutely -hotbrag. If the public thinks otherwise, he has to thank the curious conditions under which the tenders were submitted. The unsuccessful tenderers should scrutinise the circumstances closely. It will probably repay them.

There is a doubt -about the new* Australian mail line's Australian .ports of call, It is said the steamers will touch at Adelaide, Meljiourne Sydney, and perhaps at Brisbane. Fremantle is not mentioned, but. .-calling: there, both inw-ards and out-' wards, is doubtless obligatory. Con-: fusion, however, has been created by •rumors current, stating the steamers..will proceed direct to New Zealand from Adelaide. That is, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane will beomitted, the mails being rail-borne jfrom Adelaide. Certainly, it is most significant that the new contract will be conducted by, The Australasian; Royal Mail Line, to be registered m Melbourne with some £4,000,000---capital. Tohe contract, however, is. purely Australian m its inception iand incidence. Why "Austraiasaftn" Royal Mail Line then? Do : the contractors contemplate carrying NewJ ..■Zealand mails and cargo, via Suez T. If so, asfc what subsidy? This wants ,_ closely watohiJiJ.. Our Government's r weakness for ladling out steamship subventions is notorious. Then a-. ;gain r the people apparently behind the new Australian mail contract are associated with the Federal-Houlder-Shire-Bucknall combine, strangely, favored by the Premier. This provides food for thought and emphasises the heed of ceasless watchfulness between now and January,. 1908, when the Australasian Royal .Mail Line sflarts operations. Sir J. vG. Ward, when delivering his financial statement significantly said :— "The advantages of having a line of steamers trading fortnightly from Great Britain to New Zealand via Suez are considerable, and tho High Commissioner will be instructed to enter into negotiations m order to arrange that the steamers which are now being built to carry out the contract with the i Commonwealth shall come direct from Adelaide to New Zealand, j Should these negotiations result m j tangible proposals, they will, as m j all such cases, be submitted to j Parliament for ratification, before I any commitment on the part of thp colony is made." * _■ • * Mr Chapman (Australian Postmaster-General and Sir J. G. Ward's companion de voyage when he weiit to Rome), however, denies that the new mail steamers will come to New Zealand direct from Adelaide. What is the Premier talking about then ? Do his remarks veil a threat ; against the Direct London Lines ? Evidently, there is no love lost be- j tween the Government and the New : Zealand Shipping Company and the Shaw, Savill Line. These companies ■ arc fip-htine the Ministerially favored Federal-Houlder-Shire combine m the direct London and West Coast U.K. trades. Further, it was press : references to this shipping war that exposed the Government's apparently , remarkable ' relations with the .'F-... . J S-B steamship and meat n. v *jj<Yjnj;

Then, again, the Chairman of the ] ;i New Zealand Shipping . Company's -,| London Board was particularly and publicly severe upon the F-H-S comibrnation. Possibly, therefore, Sir X iG. Ward's financial statement .utterances were armed at the Direct London Lines, which, oi course, would be greatly affected if the new Australian!) mail-boats come here from Adelaide direct. However, the Australian Postmaster-General says they w-ill not, and; of course, his disclaimer is i : entitles! to. respect. That is, as. far as the steamers coming here direct' from Adelaide is concerned. However,. Mr Austin Chapman is careful.; not to say tod much. Is he a, .'trust.-- 1 • tactician too? What is to prevent .the mailboats calling at Adelaide, i .Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and i then, crossing to New, Zealand ? The P aad O. Company's fast boats are tied-up m Sydne^ for 16 or 17 days. The new mail steamers are to land Australia's mails 3£ days quicker than at present. , Therefore, if they remained at Sydney, they would lie at their moorings three ( weeks. Imagine a cormorantic combine allowing this ! When will the j public compel politicians to take their tongues out of their cheeks when dealing with momentous public propositions where palm oil is' a highly useful lubricant ? Of course, the Australian mail contract is 'absolutely above- suspicion. The Commonwealth Government knows nothing. An excellent (sic.) bargain has. been made. That ends it. But does it ?. Evidently, the Australasian Royal Mail Lines objective is : Freejmantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, then across to New Zealand (gay to Auckland and Wellington), and to Adelaide again. The British mails would be picked up at t^e latter port, Fremantle called at*, and the Australasian Royal Mail Liners •clear for home crammed to the combings with cargo and thronged with: passengers. Remember, the Brisbane call will probably carry subsidy m, addition to the £120,000 already arranged, and, of course, Sir J. G. Ward would see that our Government did the right thing as regards a substantial siibvention. Apparently, the Premier loVes subsidising steamships. The foregoing supposititious statement gathers verisimilitude from ;w£.at the "Shipping Gazette" (London) said on August 2 last :—

"The curiosity which has existed m shipping circles as to the identity of the firm of London shipowners mentioned by Mr Deakin, ttie Commonwealth Premier, as concerned m the new Australian mail contract, is at length satisfied, We understand that it is Mr John Wilson Potter, of" Messrs Birt, Potter, and Hughes, Limited, to whom approach was made by Sir James Laing and Sons, Limited, and that , his association with the enterprise is definitely settled. The firm.; in question occupy a prominent position m the Australian trade, and as the owners of extensive refrigerator works' in Australia control a large amount of homeward \cargo. The firm is also closely connected with ttie Federal Steam Navigation Company, one of the most successful of modern steamship enterprises. If a knowledge of what a trade requires, and pf the best way of meeting those requirements, is essential to a successful management of a steamship company, there can be . no doubt that the new Australian mail service, at the back of which the Commonwealth Government stands, should start under the very best auspices. New Zealand is one of the colonies interested m the new mail contract. Certain propositions m this connection were discussed m London with Sir Joseph Ward, the New Zealand PostmasterGeneral,, and it may be expected. • that Sit Joseph Ward will shortly make a public announcement on the subject m the New Zealand Legislature. It will be the first time that Australia and New Zealand have so closely co-operated for the purposes of a fast mail service to the Mother country."

This definitely states New Zealand is interested m the new Australian mail contract. In fact, the Premier discussed the matter m London. Yet, on his return, when interviewed respecting rumors persistently current lin Sydney shipping circles that our own and the Commonwealth Government are negotiating regarding the mail steamers to be employed under the new Australian mail contract coming on here, Sir J. G. Ward is thus reported :— He knew nothing of any negotiations that had bpen going ph. There i was no record of an offer made to the New Zealand Government, and j he had not been approached on the subject. At a meeting of the Cabinet he had asked his predecessor m the Premiership and other members of the Ministry if they had any knowledge of the report, and all replied that the cablegram conveyed something that was news to them. Neither'had Sir Joseph any information which would go to show that tli? late Mr Seddon had been apt .roac?»cd jju the subject. At any,

rate, there was nothing to that ef- . feet on record. A statement had been made that the movement for the service was initiated by the Postmaster-General of the Commonwealth and himself when m London just after the Postal Congress,. ' but that statement • was without foundation. He knew of no negotia- '< ■ tions on the subject with either the premolars of the proposed service .or the. Federal Government. "If such fine liners came pn to New Zealand," said the Premier, ' "of course I will be delighted to see them, and so would the colony, but ■ I repeat that I know nothing of the ■ proposal," Is. the London "Shipping Gazette" -correct or Sir J. G. Ward ? Perhaps the public will decide. . Anyway, it is palpably evident the Commonwealth Government has caught a Trust Tartar with its new Australian mail contract. Did the Postmas-ter-General (Mr , Austin Chapman) know what h, as been. detailed ? Perhaps not'- Certainly, if, as rumored, Mr E. Owen Cox engineered the , contract, then Mr Chapman would probably learn just what was necessary; no more. Anyway,' the Australian public will yet revile the new mail contract* if the Australasian Royal Mail Line comes /to New Zealand as suggested. Trust tactics are talking. This may give the people their chance. Anti-trust legislation should be.introduced. But, better still, let the Commonwealth Government exercise its alleged purchase option, aha" nationalise the new maiL service. Monopolies must go. Commercialism's cursed cult, with its sweating, cheap labor and sordid self interest, is working its: owii destruction. . May the end come qiqickly.