AUSTRALIA TO AMERICA.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13350, 7 April 1914, Page 6

AUSTRALIA TO AMERICA.

THE NEW CARGO SERVIpE.

ENTERPRISE OF UNION COMPANY SYDNEY, March 25. The Union Steamship Company ha? announced an important development^ in connection 'with- its cargo trade with America. The managing director of the com pany (Mr C. Holdsworth), who recent lj succeeded Sir James Mills in that office, left by the Zealandia on Saturday afternoon.' Before his departure he stated to a reporter that the company had de cided to initiate a regular bi-month!y cargo service between Australasia and the Pacific coast ports of North America — that was, to Vancouver, San Fran eisco, and what were known as thr Pugct Sound ports, Seattle and Tacoma. "The ships," he proceeded, "wil' carry refrigerated cargo — moat, butter dairy produce, eggs, and ao on, and alsc fruit. Wo have during the last nine months been doing pioneering work and have despatched four st&imers froir. Australian ports, but wo have now decided to make the service a regular two monthly one and to extend this to •■ four-weekly service if. the trade war rants. So far we have provided ample space for all that has been going; in deed, we have not often secured full cargoes. The steami-i) Kent, now under charter to us, has visited Queensland ports, and will leave Sydney this month for the Pacific Coast,* with from 80C Ito 1000 tons of space unfilled. We arc satisfied that the trade will develop, and have arranged to charter suitabk steamers to maintain the new service. We are convinced that with some nursing a permanent trade will be developed, iri thia direction, and we are bnildine two very fine steamers in Great Britain one by Sir Raylton Dixon and the othei by Swan and Hunter. These ships will represent the latest word in refrigerated cargo steamers. "It might be of interest to mention,'' said Mr. Holdsworth. "that tho Ihiior Steamship Company has been associated with the trans-Pacific trade for about 30 years. In tho first place, thero way the San Francisco service, from wdiicrwo were forced to withdrawn when the Hawaiian Islands were annexed by America, and the trade thence to .Sa'r Francisco was restricted to Americanowned ships. The company then bought into the Vancouver trade, and has developed this from a very small beginning to the- substantia) line that is nbw operating. Some four years ago, anticipating that America must reduce its tarijff. we re-entered the San Francisco trade by another route, namely, from Sydney, via Wellington (N.Z.), ' Rarotonga and Tahiti. The two lines to Vancouver and San Francisco now furnish practically a fortnightly connection with tho Amen can continent. All the steamers are fitted for refrigerated and general cargo. s\r well ns passengers, and the present extension in the direction of the cargo service referred to is a natural development." r