DIRECT SERVICE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20669, 6 March 1937, Page 8

DIRECT SERVICE

SOUTH ISLAND TO AUSTRALIA REQUEST TO GOVERNMENT By Telegraph—Press association INVERCARGILL, March 5. A request that the Government do all in its power to institute a direct shipping service between South Island ports and Australia was made to the Minister of Industries and Commerce (the Hon. D. G. SuUivan), by a deputation at Bluff this morning. Mr J. Hargest, M.P., in Introducing the subject said he had seen the possibilities of a direct service between Bluff and Tasmania and Melbourne. The lack of such a service was a serious handicap to Southland, he said, and instanced the case of South Australian fruitgrowers who were willing to take Southland timber if it could be imported direct. “As the representative of the Bluff Harbour Board I firmly believe that the service should be a continuous one,” said the Hon. T. F. Doyle. The Marama, he added, was an old vessel and her accommodation was not perhaps of the best. The Government and the Union Company might be able to do something in the way of putting a modern vessel on the service. It had been well patronised in the past both from a passenger and cargo point of view, but Southland was at a serious disadvantage through the lack of continuity in the service.

“I find myself substantially in sympathy with the request and understand the difficulties afflicting the South island through the lack of a direct shipping service,” said Mr Sullivan. It was not only the service, but there were difficulties too. The Island was outside the circle of international communication and this must contribute largely to retarding its development. He would like to see this rectified. There were practical difficulties from the viewpoint of the shipping companies regarding the value of the trade they were already doing and the companies said the service was uneconomical. He had not had an opportunity of studying the figures they had supplied or whether they could be substantiated. “I appreciate the position and I have been interested in it for many years,” said the Minister. “Now that I have the figures I will ask my Department to investigate them thoroughly and report on the effect a continuous service would have on trade. The Government hesitates to burden itself with subsidies, for you never know where they will end.”