VANCOUVER MAIL SERVICE

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 19

VANCOUVER MAIL SERVICE

CANADA'S SUBSIDY STOPPED. OTTAWA, December 13. The Canadian subsidy of 180,000dol, which has been paid since 1891 to the steam line" from Vancouver to Australia, has been discontinued. This is regarded in Ottawa as Canada's reply to the Commonwealth's hostile tariff. LONDON, December 14. Although the Ottawa Free Press describes the cancelling of the mail subsidy as retaliating against the Commonwealth, the Times' Ottawa correspondent declares that this opinion is not endorsed, for it would be absurd for Canada to retaliate against her sister colony when Mr Deakin had promised v,to negotiate for better trade arrangements after the Commonwealth tariff has been settled. MELBOURNE, December 16. Mr Ross, the Canadian Commissioner, has received a cablegram from the Canadian Government stating that the subsidy to the Canadian-Australian line was not included in the Estimates. The contract, the message states, has not been cancelled, but the fear is expressed that the Cana-dian-Australian line is of doubtful value under present conditions. Shipping and commercial circles were considerably perplexed Jjy the Ottawa cable, published on Saturday, to the effect that the Canadian subsidy of 180,000dol, which has been paid since 1891 to the steam line from Vancouver to Australia, has been discontinued. At present the Canadian-Australian line is under the management of the Union Steam Ship Company, which rune the Moana in conjunction with the New Zealand Shipping Company's Miowera and Aorangi. Steamers leave Sydney for Vancouver every four weeke, calling at Brisbane, Suva, Honolulu, and Victoria (8.C.), the journey occupying about 24 da-ys. Maile arrive in New York four to five days after arrival at Vancouver and in London in about 11 days from Vancouver. The Canadian Government subsidises the line to the extent of £37,000 annually, while Australia, contributes £26,000 and Fiji £2280, or a total subsidy -of about £66,000. The present contract expires next July, and only recently Sir James Mills, managing director of the Union Steam Ship Company, arranged for a renewal for % period of two years from July next. It was also arranged that the Mioxsera. wae. to be withdrawn in March next and be replaced temporarily by the Marama, and Ultimately by a larger steamer which is now being built on the Clyde by the Union Company. Tho intelligence cameras a surprise to the Union Company, and Sir James Mills, when interviewed on the matter by a DailyTimes reporter, stated that another interpretation of the cable was possible, as the company was in receipt of advice from London to the effect that the information in the* London papers from Canada was that the subsidy did not appear in the Canadian Government's Estimates. This being so, it may be that, in view of the agreement to renew the contract, the matter was regarded in Canada merely as a departmental one, and if co the omission of the subsidy from the Estimates would not justify the cable that had been sent to the colony. The Hon. J. A. Millar (Minister of Customs), who has followed the passage of the Tariff' Bill in the Commonwealth Parliament very closely, informed our reporter that one of the proposals in the tariff was to place a heavy tax on agricultural and other farming machinery- . The information in the cable regarding the' stoppage of the subsidy was meagre, but he was of opinion that, if the cable was correct, the Canadian Government was in this way retaliating on the Commonwealth. It would appear that at the last moment the Federal House of Representatives, with an inkling perhaps of the intention of the Canadian Government, reconsidered the question of a heavy duty on agricultural machinery, as a message from Melbourne, published on Saturday, etated that the old rates on harvesters and strippers of £12 and £6 had been reverted to. Further information on tho matter from Canada will be awaited with interest, as the subject is of great imjxutance to thi<? Dominion*