BF-MELBOURNE SERVICE.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 July 1930, Page 8

BF-MELBOURNE SERVICE.

The financial results of the steamer service between South Island ports and Melbourne are very discouraging. When it was proposed to resuscitate that service and to support it with a subsidy 'of £30,000 per annum there were grave doubts as to whether the revival of traffic would warrant the expenditure involved. For the period from October to May the loss to the Union Steain Ship Company on running expenses was nearly £lO,OOO. If to that is added interest and depreciation the loss must be considerably greater. It is true the regularity of the service was spoilt by the loss of the steamer Manuka in December and a breakdown in the machinery of the Maheno necessitating a delay at Sydney for repairs. These accidents occurred in the best of the holiday period, when tourist traffic might have been looked for. The first essential for the development of that traffic is certainty that the timetable of transport facilities will be maintained, and there is no doubt that the mishaps to the steamers would have their effect on future bookings by the southern route to Australia. Allowing for this, it hardly seems likely that the loss to the shipping company would have been materially reduced had tourist traffic been greater in volume. It is the lack of freight for goods that has made the undertaking so unprofitable. The financial depression in Australia, with its discouragement of imports, and the tendency in this country to develop at home goods formerly purchased from Australia have had their effect on all steamer services between the Dominion and the Commonwealth, and upon the southern service most of all. There is little prospect of conditions improving in Australia in the near future, or of the demand for an interchange of goods increasing in the meantime. It would seem to be the duty of the Government to review the matter in the light of the first year’s experiences. A service that proves a loss to the country and to the shipping company operating it needs considerable justification for its continuance. That justification is for its supporters to provide, and with the least possible delay.