THE SOUTH AFRICAN SERVICE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2667, 26 April 1905, Page 21

THE SOUTH AFRICAN SERVICE.

As beaming out ilr ZtJas^ey's contention that the- subsidised s>t earner service to South Africa is .iot worth 30,000 .shilling's to tho colony, we append the following" analysis taken fiom the Wellington Trade Review: —

The South African and West of England service has been running now for over a twelvemonth, and attention ha.s been drawn to ths poverty rf the results for which the colony pays at the iatr» of £30,000 per annum. One great drawback js the hregularity of the despatch of steamers from Xew Zealand, and another the length of time occupied by the voyage. Following is a list of ships desisatched in a twelvemonth, with the dates of departure from New Zealand and of arrival in England, s! 1 owing also thn intervals between the dates of despatch arrl tho length of vojage to (Jieat Britain .—. —

These figures show clearly the irregularity in despatch and the length of voyage, which together make this service of so little value that the subsidy of £.30,000 per annum is quite out of proportion to the benefits received. Practically, the length of voyage is increased for many of the shippers by the time consumed in going from port to port m New Zealand to gather cargo : but, apart from this, the length of voyage exceeds by about 30 claj-.s the time occupied by the direct steamers to London. Of course, this j s caused in a great measure by the fact of the steamers calling lit several ports in Australia and South Afiica on their way to the United Kingdom. Eve-i the service to South Africa is affected by botli these factors. Buyers of butter in South Africa do not care to enter into contiacts to be carried out by means of a service in winch there is no certainty as to dates of shipments or intervals of supply. The consequence is that the steamers" leave New Zealand with considerable unfilled space in their holds which Australian shippers are allowed to make use of, thus corning into competition with the products of this colony that pays the subsidy to which Australia does not contribute a penny

We give below a summary of the total shipments from A'ew Zealand for South Africa by the 1-2 steamers enumerated above . — Butter £7,557 boxes Pioduce 69.5H& sacks Cheese 533 cas-s Bacon .Incases Mutton 46,5)35 carcases Merchandise 297 pkgs Lamb 4,233 „ Tallow 30 casks Beef 300 quarters Biscuits 8 crates Poultry 3,284 cases Live Sheep 732 Rabbits 160 crates Live Pigs 4 Fish (542 „ - "Timber 770 ?p. f t Meats 1.68-spkg3 Machirery 7 pkg3

The above is the whole of our exports to South Africa in 12 subsidised steamers, the total being scarcely more than enough for one full cargo. There is. of course, m addition, cprgo for West of England ports, but the above is the full result of a- twelvemonth's efforts to establish trade with South Africa, under such unbusinesslike conditioiiS.

Steamer. Devon l)o r set Suffolk Uuteikire Kss j x Kent ->urrey Banftshire Jswestry Grar>#e Ayrt.liiie ... Suffolk Dray ton Grange Sail-d. Mar, h 31 April 19 June 2 June 22 AuRU-fc 7 Angi s' 25 Ocfc 3 Oct. 19 Nov. £5 Dec. 15 Jan. 20 Feb. 2S uterval Voyagt Pays. Aniv'dDays. — June 13 74 39 June 28 70 44 Aug. 11 70 20 !■ ept. 6 76 4tJ Oct. 16 70 IS Ngv 13 SO 41 Dec 21 77 14 Jan, 5 7S 37 F.ib. 13 80 20 Feb £8 75 3t> April 2 72 30