RED AND BLACK FUNNELS: THE GREAT “UNION ” LINE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 884, 4 October 1933, Page 6

RED AND BLACK FUNNELS: THE GREAT “UNION ” LINE.

To-day’s Special Article

Remarkable Chapters in the Story of New Zealand’s Mercantile Marine.

(No. 1.) Red and black funnels are well known to-day at both ends of the earth. Along the Atlantic steamship routes they identify the famous Cunarders; here at the Antipodes they mark what Australians and New Zealanders dub a “ Union” ship. Familiar enough to be numbered among the great commonplaces of New Zealand commerce, the red and black funnels of the Union Steam Shin Company of New Zealand, Limited, are the emblems of a great business romance, which has pulsated through the life of the Dominion for nearly sixty years.

in the annals of British mer-

cantile marine is more remarkable than the rise to fame of this New Zealand company, whose first ships appeared nearly sixty years ago. In those early days rail and road communication was but a faint shadow of what it is to-day, and traffic, both passenger and freight, was carried on almost entirely by sea. Along the east coast of the South Island trade was conducted by a number of small vessels belonging to different owners, and the position generally was not such as to help the progress of the Dominion.

Modest Beginning. It was one of these small concerns carrying part of the Dunedin-Port Chalmers trade that formed the seed which later was to start the remarkable growth of the Union Line. In 1861 a Mr John Jones, one of Otago’s earliest pioneers, interested himself in the steamer Golden Age and other small vessels engaged in the passenger and cargo trade between Dunedin and Port Chalmers. This small fleet was styled the Harbour Steam Company, and the manager a few years after Mr Jones first became interested in it was Mr James Mills. In 1869 Mr Jones, who owned three-fourths of the fleet, died, and it became necessary to .sell up the Harbour Steam Company’s tonnage. It was then that Mr Mills, although a man only in his earl}' twenties, decided to embark in the coastal trade, and a new proprietary was formed. Although in no way connected with the original Harbour Steam Company, the new proprietary was carried on under the same name.

The operations of the new Harbour Steam Company were gradually extended, and in 1875 the concern owned three steamers of a total tonnage of under 700., In the year previous, Mr Mills, later to became Sir James, had gone to the United Kingdom, where he had arranged, on behalf of the Harbour Steam Company in conjunction with a British syndicate, for two larger steamers to be built in Scotland. It was while these two vessels were on their way to New Zealand that the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, Limited, was formed to combine the interests, Mr Mills being managing director.

A Vision Exceeded. It will be seen that the rise to fame of the red-funnelled fleet began with the enterprise of one man, although even his optimism, which reached out from the odds and ends of a harbour business to a vision of coastal trade and inter-island connection, could hardly have contemplated the marvellous expansion of the company’s, activities. The mana of the company is represented to-day by Pacific mail liners, transTasman passenger and cargo carriers, ferry flyers, utilitarian coasters, fruit tramps, grimy colliers, tenders and tugs. The original tonnage measured in hundreds has swelled to nearly 300,000, and the erstwhile little coasting shipping concern has been deemed worthy of affiliation with the great Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation

Company and its associated companies, the New Zealand Shipping Company, the Federal Steam Navigation Company, and the Hain Line. Age-worn records in possession of the company show that the first meeting of the provisional directors was held on May 31, 1875, and that the certificate of incorporation was issued ’on July 12 of the same year. The nominal capita\ of the company was £250,000 in 25,000 shares of £lO each, but during the first year of the company’s existence the paid-up capital did not exceed £IOO,OOO. It may be mentioned that when the company was originally contemplated it was difficult to obtain finance for the venture, and that at the first attempt the money was returned to those willing to hazard what at that time appeared so unpromising an investment. Confidence in the Dominion. Down through the years the company has steadily progressed, its advance, covering more than half a century, being represented in the splendid fleet of ships that proudly carry its flag to-day. In all the achievements of the company there have been demonstrated business foresight of a remarkable degree, and also unlimited confidence in the future of the Dominion. To anyone reading the romantic story of the company’s growth it would almost seem as if the early directors of the company were inspired by a vision of New Zealand as a veritable “ Britain of the South,” and pictured this small country as a controller of the southern seas. In 1877, only two years after the formation of the company, the red and black funnels—actually they also carry two narrow black bands on the red —first crossed the Tasman. The original route was from Port Chalmers via ports to the Manukau Harbour, and thence to Sydney. the steamers called at Auckland, coming up the East Coast instead of the west, and from the time when the first Union vessel first called there, the port has been a favourite rendezvous for the line. From small beginnings there have radiated well-defined lines of ocean transit which have connected the Dominion with the rest of the world. The steady building up of the fleet and the capturing of new trades will be dealt with in detail in future articles. At the present it will suffice to say that once the inter-colonial service was established the company entered the south and western Pacific trades; that in 1885, in conjunction with the Spreckels Line of San Francisco, it obtained the charter for the San Francisco mail service and carried its flag right across the broad Pacific; that two years later the New Zealand-India service was inaugurated; that later years saw it purchase the Canadian-Australasian Royal Mail Line, involving fast and regular services to and from Vancouver; that in 1912 the company became interested in shipping trading direct with the United Kingdom; that during the dark years of the war it performed yeoman service for the Empire. (To be continued.)