THE P. AND. O.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17039, 25 June 1917, Page 8

THE P. AND. O.

"A WONDERFUL RECORD OF

• EMPIRE SERVICE." Since the outbreak of the -war there have been many important changes in tile world of skipping, but to Australia there lias been nothing more important than the recently announced change concerning the operations of the P. and O. Company. Those who have been predicting harder times lor us than wo have yet experienced Q3 a result of the war may well point to the announcement regarding the P. and O. Company as confirmation of their words. For mouths past the freight question has been a very serious one tor us, and any withdrawals of sh;ps of any kind from the Australian service wili make the position more acute than ever.

For many years the P. and O. has been engaged in a fortnightly mail' service with Australia, and we have grown accustomed to the clockwprk regularity of its steamers. As Mr Gordon Wveche once put it in a speech, " the continuity of the mail servico is a religion with the P. and 0. Company." To have that service suddenly interrupted comes as a shock. " It is a marvellous thing," said Mr Gordon Wescho to a Sydney Morning lierald representative a few daye ago, " that during this war, now going on for three years, the P. and O. Company's mail service should have boon maintained with such extraordinary regularity. Ido not say that stramers have not been late at tm.es, but whenever one ship has boon taken off, whether as a result of the submarine campaign or from whatever cause, we havo always managed somehow to put on another. As an instance of the way in which the P. and O. has fulfilled its obligations I may refer to the fact that when one of its ships was late it sent down an express steamer without cargo or anything else, just to keep up the running. That was an instanco of the company fulfilling its -mt ins to the Australian public at' a loss to itself."

The P. and 6. Company—originally known as the Peninsular Company—was founded in 1837, and its connection with Australia datfs back "to over 60 years ago, when it started its steamship' service with this country with the Chusan, a vessel of onh 699 tons. In a little book, published on the occasion of the jubilee of the company, we read: "No other shipping company has a record of the same length of public service combined with such a wide range_ of operations. Its affairs have been peculiarly open to criticism, and its accounts and financial records have been laid before the public in a fuller and more complete manner than those of most undertaings. ' Nor is the Anglo-Indian and Australian public an uncritical and unexacting one, and the company and its administration have at all times been frankly and vbundantly discussed by those whom it has bren its business to serve; but, now that the balance of its half-century's work is struck, it will haTdly be denied that there stands to its credit a record of valuable service, performed in a spirit of enterprise, with advantage to the State and to the commerce of the Empire." These words were written and published nearly 30_ years ago, and they may be quoted with added emphasis to-day (adds the Herald). For in 'the last 25 or 30 yeare there has been a wonderful expansion of the company's business, and with it a wonderful expansion of the Empire's commerce. Particularly has this been the case in- re-g-ard to Australia. Our trade has increaeed by leaps and bounds, and we are indebted to an extent we can hardly measure to the Peninsular and Oriental Company for tho enterprise it has always shown, in keeping pace with our growing trade. In that time the number of vessels entering Sydney Harbour has increased from 1500 (with an aggregate tonnage of : 1,600,000) to over 10,000 vessels (with an . aggregate tonnage of nearly 9,000,000). The figures do not relate to the war period. It was early' in 1847—following on meetings held in Australia and in London with a view to securing the benefit of steam communication between, the Mother Country and the colonies—that the directors ol the P. and O. Company approached the British Government with, the first of a series of proposals for extending its operations to Australia. This, it should be remembered, was before the date of the gold discoveries, and when the population and trade of Australia were comparatively bmall. Tha great- distance to bo traversed, the enormous cost of fuel, and the very moderato traffic that could be expected rendered the contemplated undertaking' in those days one of an arduous and speculative character. But the directors were far-eeeing men, and their vision of tho future was destined to be realised to the full. Four years elapsed. Finally, in 1851, the Admiralty invited tenders for a full fortnightly service with India and China, an express service from Marseilles to Malta, and, lastly, a line from Singapore to Sydney, in connection with the China line; but starting only once every two months—so little at the time was thought would suffice for the requirements of tho Australian colonies. The P. and O. Company got the contract, which, was to remain in force for eight years. The operation of the service, howover, was interrupted by the Crimean war, which led to 'the suspension of a portion of the China service and the discontin.ianco

of tho uetralian line, owing to the very heavy ucmands made on the company for the conveyance of troops. And now, more than 60 years after, the P. and O. service is again to be interrupted by war. And here it is interesting to quote again from the book we have already referred to. " Among the incidents of the company's history," we read, " the services rendered by its in time of war are, perhaps, not unworthy of notice. In' every warlike expedition in which the country has been engaged during the last 50 years, the company may be said to have taken a part. JFor example, in the Crimean war tho work done was enormous, as the company's vessels carried about 2000 officers, 60,000 men, and 15,000 horses. Again, in the Indian Mutiny, when the British power trembled in the balance. ■ the duty performed, although h-es extensivo than in the Crimean war, was, perhaps, still more impoitant. By means of the company's ships the Government was enabled to despatch nearly 6000 mea to the scene of conflict in' Inilia in a comparatively short period, a reinforcement the value of which can be well appreciated by those -who remember that temble time. A similar record of service continues tlirough all the subsequent wars in which this country has been engaged down to the recent expeditions to Egypt. . . It shows what can be done by co-operation between the naval and military authorities and an organisation such as that commanded by the company. The utilisation of the faster vessels of the mercantile marine as cruisers in war time is a question which has recently come to the front. In common with certain other companies engaged in mail services, this company has entered into arrangements with tho Admiralty by which certain vessels are to be employed in the capacity of cruisers in the event of war. Four of the vessels in question have been fitted with gun platforms and other necessary appliances so as to be ready for commission almost at a moment's notice if the emergency arises. These vessels are the Victoria, Britannia, Oceana, and Arcadia (built to /Signalise the company's jubilee, and amounting together to 26,000 tons). But it may also be stated that, during tho late scare about war with Russia, two of the company's ships were put m commission at Sydney and Hongkong respectively—viz., the Massilia and Rosctta. These steamers wore fitted with guns and warlike stores, and were, in fact, practising their jnins outside the ports referred to before tne Admiralty had 'completed the gun fittings on board the vessels which had been hired for a similar purpose at Liverpool." That was SO years ago, and to that proud record will have, to be added, when the history of tho present war comes to be written, tho story of tho splendid record of the P. and 0. Company in* these days. Where before men had to bo transported by thousands, in this great war they have had to be transhipped by milb'ons, and wo know that in this work the ships of tho P. and 0. have played a great part—exactly how great we shall not know till the warends. In peace and in war the P. and O. Company has been one of the Meat forces of the Empire. It has grown with the Empire While, for instance, the population and trade of Australia have been growing year by year, the ships of the Peninsular and Oriental Company have been increasing in numbers and increasing in size. The book from which we have quoted deals with tho early history of the company., It does not tell us anything of the great strides mado fe, the . company during the last 30 years. When, it was written fcho company's ships averaged only about 4000 tons. It was after it was written that the Egypt, India, Himalaya, and other fine ships were btriit; and then followed the great fleet of 13.000ton boats kr->wn as the "M" class, ft is a wonderful record "f Empire service.