DIRECT SERVICE WITH SOUTH AFRICA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12447, 2 September 1902, Page 5

DIRECT SERVICE WITH SOUTH AFRICA.

TENDERS CALLED IN liONDOtt. TO CLOSE ON THURSDAY NEXT. THE ACTING-PREMIER DISAPPROVES. The somewhat startling new* was receiml by private cable from London yesterday that the Agent-general- for New Zealand was inviting tenders in London for a South African service on., the same lin-ce as thoso under which the offer of the- eo-called Blue, Star iiilo had been received and accepted. lb was added that tenders were to close ou Thursday, 4th inst. This, of course, meant tliat 110 tendor from tho colony could be put in, as, apart from the fact that no tendors wtiro invited hore, no shipowners would: thihk of making an offer until tho conditions of the contract were known. Wβ at once forwarded the intimation to our Wellington correspondent, and requested that all information about tho proposed new sorvice ehould be obtained from tho AotingPremier. Last evening our correspondent telegraphed t *^>.

" There -is considerable surprise here a$ the announcement that tenders are to clone in a few days in London for tho new Soutli African steam service. Apparently Mr Saddon and Mr W. P. Reeves a.ro acting oa their own responsibility, and have not consulted th& Ministry. On Saturday the Agent-goneral cabled to tho Aoling-Premicr that he is calling for tenders for the South African steamship service, to be in by the 4th September. Sir Joseph Ward states that he thinks the time within which tenders are to be received insufficient, and he has cabled to London statijig so. and sviggeeting tliat tenders should be called for in New Zealand as Well ae in Britain." ' Our cOrrespondent'e telegram would imply that Mr Seddon and the Ageut-geUeral wero noting indejpendently of Sir J. G. \Ta«l and the Cabinet, and it is evidently inferred that the c&blegfhtn received from the Agentgeneral on Saturday is tho first intimation received about tho matter. It is somewhat significant, however, that an announcement appeared in tlie Melbourne Ago of August 18 stating tlfftt fresh tenders were being, called for by the New Zealand Government for a .South African service. The commercial editor of the Age is very friendly ,With some members of tho New Zealand Ministry, and in view of what hfti now transpired from London it would appear as if the gentleman in question had received special and exclusive information from somewhere as to the intentions of the Government. Oh observing the paragraph in the Melbourne Age, wo made inquiries in Dunedin, believing ihat the Union, New Zealand Shipping, Shaw, Savill, and Albion, and Tyser Companies would ha,vo received .intimation that fresh tenders had been.eallwj} for. But the contrary proved to bis the ease, and the representatives of abovd companies in Duneditt knew nothing whatever about the matter. No advertisement appeared nt tlift Age concerning' the matter. The following is the paragraph which .did • 'The' KeW Zealand Government, kos decided to discontinue its connection with the B1U& Still- line, which had previously secured'ft provisional contract fotr a direct South African service. The Government is now again calling for tenders for a direct monthly steam sferviee between New Zealand ahd South Africa, aid .for ftn alternative ewvice between New Zealand and Western Australia and South Africa, four leading ports, including Durban, Port £lifc&»beth, and Table Bny," t6 be touched 'at. , The maximum, subsidy available for the serVicfe is £ 30,000, and th& contract will be for th«& yeßis. The steamers arfe to be of liot less thftn aWO tons, and not more th&ft 400t) ; tofle capacity, and arfe to be fitted With hieat and piodufce. AccommodatiOfi for the carriage of passwigfers, mails, and live stack is-Also TequiTed. The~-steamere must have a speed of Hot less than 10 knois an, hour, and preference will be given to thoss haying the 'highest, speedand the best accbmmodationi Therates of freight feohl NeW Zealand porta are to be as follows:—Wheat, at per ton weight, 30s; flour,- at per ton weight, 30s J ,barky t at pop ton wfeight, fid J oats, at per' ten. weight, 359; bran, &t pet km weight, 40s: potatoee, in eacks, at per ton weight, 40§; 'nay, oa*eii or meadow, pressed in baloß, ftt pet ton of 58 cubic feet measurement, 3ts Gd; poisatoe*, in Wes, »er ton of 60 cubic feet 87s 6d f froaett meat and prodace, at current summer rates ruling between New 2Kaland' and London; o\ke¥ goods at proportionate rates.at. not less than those current between New USee-land and Lefldtni, frcta tiffie to .tline to be fixed ty the New Zealand (3k>vern»tent. The flotation of the Colonial S.S. Odmpffiny; ia twndon to teke over the now cancelled c««w tract appears to havt* lapsed. .'