NEW DEVELOPMENTS OF THE UNION STEAMSHIP COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2471, 24 July 1901, Page 12

NEW DEVELOPMENTS OF THE UNION STEAMSHIP COMPANY.

ANOTHER CHAT WITH MR JAMES MILLS. (From Ovr Own Corbespoxdent.) LONDON, May 31. "No, theie are no further developments v.ith regard to the mail ser\iees," said Mr James Mills. "We are gradually getting on, but there is nothing definite to report yet." " But you had an interview, had you not, with Mr Shaughnessy, the picsident of the Canadian-Pacific railway, just before he leit England? " " Yes, that is so,' z paid Mr Mills ; " and of course we talked over various matters connected with the scheme under consideration. But the time has not yet come when any definite statement can be made. All I can tell you is that matters aie developing themselves by degrees. Also, you will of course understand that nothing can be specifically settled until the Canadian Postmastergeneral has had time to confer with the various colonial authorities, and there has not been time yet for him to have done anything. I shall probably know by cable directly any practical progress is made." "Am I right in supposing that your visit to England is chietiy in reference to possible arrangements as to a new Vancouver service?" " That is one object, certainly," said Mr Mills. " But only one of several. I may tell you that I have been in conference with Sir Edwyn Dawes with respect to the working of the present service between Vancouver and New South Wales, and so far as that is concerned we have a irtually completed the settlement, of all the details. Practically our agreement amounts to this: That we — I mean the Union Stoani "Ship Company of New Zealand— shall have a half interest in the Vancouver line, and the entire management of the service. That much i 3 settled, and we are now arranging a full scheme for future operations. "Then there is another important matter which I have been arranging," continued Mr Mills. "I have just completed a contract with Messrs Denny Bros., of Dumbarton, to build for the * Union Steam Ship Company a large new steamer to be employed in the trade between Calcutta and Australia. She will be 430 ft long, and have a beam of 54ft; she will carry 8500 tons dead-weight. That is to say, she will be somewhat larger than the boats of the British India Company which have recently been doing these trips. As you are probably aware, we have been carrying on this trade for some years with odd boats ; but now we think it will suit us better to have a new steamer r-pecially constructed for this service." ! " What freight will she carry chiefly?" "Coals," replied Mr Mills. ''Coals from Newcastle, New South Wales, to Singapore." "You do not expect them to take New Zealand coal?" "No," replied Mr Mills. "New Zealand coal is too expensu c for this purpose. Ws shall diaw our supply from the New South Wales mine.=. i\hcre it is considerably cheaper. "There is yet another matter," he continued, " about which I have been making inquiries. New Zealand imports bananas very largely from the Pacific Islands ; that is a sort of fruit which is not easily carried without spoiling, so I have been making inquiries regarding the carriage of bananas from Jamaica and Madeira to this country, in order to see if I could pick up any fre.=h irleas for the New Zealand and South Pacific

trade. I find the fruit is carried in insulated chambers in a tempeature kept well down by means of refrigerating engines, as the voyage occupies two weeks, which is too long for the fruit to travel under ordinary conditions without damage. The bananas are packed in case?, and are wrapped in cotton-wool and straw. They are landed in perfect condition without loss, but these precautions add very much to the cost, for the freight from Jamaica or Madeira to London is practically about 2s 6d per bunch. This is enormously in excess of the freight paid in the Pacific trade. Also the fruit brought to Eng'and is produced in much more temperature climate than that of Fiji, and so carries better. On the whole, therefore, I do not know that we can greatly improve our present system. "' "If it be a fair question for me to ask you, how do the steamers that are employed on the British costal and Channel services strike you as compared with those run by the Union Steam Ship Company in the New Zealand coastal and intercolonial trade?' -- " The accommodation of the British steamers," answered Mr Mills, "is not at pll up to that of the" New Zealand boats. They are not nearly so convenient, and theie is really no good accommodation as compared with that to be found on board ' the I- T nion steamers. The British boats are, j of course, faster, and no doubt the facl that they have to be made of exceedingly light draught to get in and out of the shallow harbours must hamper the designs a good deal. Still, the fact remains that their accommodation is not up to the mark. I have crossed backward and forward several times for the purpose of observing the vessels and the way they work, and there is no doubt that the case i» as I say. The i new French Channel boats, the Nord and j the Pas de Calais, appear to be very fine vessels, and that plan of having thick glass screens all round the promenade deck for the protection of passengei-3 in stormy weather is an excellent idea : but from what I can see and hear they appear to break down very frequently, and I know that the spare English boats which are kept in readiness in any such emergency do a good deal more than their fair share of such work. "Another respect," he added, "in which the British traveller is at a disadvantage is that the charges made for any sort of cabin accommodation are excessively high. When you think of one guinea being the minimum charge for the use of any sort of cabin for a journey of only about an hour's duration, wbile in some cases far more than that has to be paid, and this in addition to first class fare, it will be seen that travellers by' sea on this side of the world have not everything in their favour.' "Do you anticipate that any rise in the price of British coal which might be caused by the new expoit duty will affect the ocean mail services at all?" "Oh, no," said Mr Mill*; "practically there will be no appreciable effect : nothing, at any rate, that is likely to enter into consideration with regard to a contract." '' You would notice, I dare say, that the fact of an American firm having secured the contiact for the New Zealand and San ' Francisco mail ser\ice has excited much attention here, especially in connection with Mr Pierpont Morgan's purchase and control of the Leyland shipping line, and that it has been inferred that America is beginning to supersede Great Britain as the world's j chief carrier, and w ill gradually absorb the shipping trade?" " Yes," said Mr Mills, " but I am not at J all apprehensive on that score. All these ! great combinations and trusts and corners have a tendency to over-reach {Themselves. They overdo their efforts to secure a monopoly, and then the thing breaks down by its own weight. No, I have no fear whatever as to Britain being able to hold her own at sea in the future as in the pa«t.''