COMMON ACTION WANTED

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19626, 21 October 1933, Page 4

COMMON ACTION WANTED

COUNTERING UNFAIR COMPETITION GOVERNMENT MOVING IN MATTER By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON. October 20. In the House of Represent®lives to-day, Mr P. Fraser (Lab., Wellington Central! asked whether any substantial progress had been made in the negotiations with the British and Australian Governments in the matter o£ common notion to counter the unfair competition with New Zealand chipping—whether the Government, of the United States had been approached with a view to arranging a treaty or maritime agreement, which would provide for New Zealand ships being permitted to carry passengers and goods between the ports of Honolulu and San Francisco, or other ports similarly situated in United States territory, in return for the privileges now enjoyed by American ships which are permitted to carry passengers and C 50ds between ports in New Zealand Australia and Fiji, and whether, in the event of the United States failing to agree to such an arrangement the Government would intimate that it would be compelled to take the necessary steps to enlist the co-operation of the British and Australian Governments in withdrawing the privilege of trading between British ports in the Pacific, at present extended to American ships. The Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates said the Government fully recognised the inequity of the position which had arisen in respect to competition by subsidised foreign shipping, and communications on the subject were passing with the Commonwealth Government. Communications had also passed between the New Zealand and United Kingdom Governments on the subject. The Federal Minister of Commerce (Mr F. H. Stewart), who is to cooperate with the New Ze.-land Government in action against the unfair competition of the American-owned steafhship companies trading between tile United States and the Antipodes, is one of the most interesting men in Federal politics to-day. “F.H.,” as he is known to his friends, was bom at Newcastle and was educated at a State school there. At the age of 16 young Stewart was a railway clerk in the locomotive department at Newcastle, and received 12/6 a week, payable monthly, a form of payment which would not be tolerated by the railway employees to-day. In this employment Stewart remained until 1919, by which time he had reached the pest of audit clerk, and was in charge of all arbitration matters affecting the locomotive department. He acquired a valuable interest in lands at Chullo: ~ which were then being subdivided, and left the Department to attend to this subdivision. He created Chullora, which to-day Is the great centre of the railway works of New South Wales, some miles outside Sydney, and soon after that his genius in transport matters began to manifest itself. The commencement of the great transpe.; industry which he was to build up was when, as president of the local pro-* gressive association, he waited on the Railway Commissioners to ask them for an extension of the tramway from Enfield. The Commissioners did not think the extension justified, .nd refused the request. So Mr Stewart determined to operate his own transport service. It was from this decision that the Metropolitan Omnibus Company, which ultimately was operating 90 buses, came into being. What a large business was doing until the State Government ended It unurr a new transport law, may be gathered from the fact that its fares ultimately reached the total of £300,000 a year. In the space of 13 years Mr Stewart succeeded in building up the biggest private transport system in the Southern Hemisphere. He is also interested in air transport, and has been chairman of Australian National Airways, it having been reported that he held a larger financial interest in aviation than any other man in Australia. He was, too, the man who made possible the building of the car in which •'Wizard" Smith was to attempt to lower the world's speed record on Ninety-mile Bsuch. Mr Stewart is not only a successful man, he Is a considerate one. His concern has always been great that his employees should enjoy good conditions. The outcome was that when he stood for Parliament thousands of them worked day and night for him. At Curl Curl there stands Stewart House, which has accomodation for over 70 undernourished children, and is managed by the Teachers’ Federation, The first £IOOO given to the Crippled Children’s Society of Sydney came from Mr Stewart, For that he was made a "life governor" of the society. He helped to establish a school at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, and built the Stewart Hospital on the mission field in New Britain.