The West Coast Times. FRIDAY APRIL 21, 1911. THE ALL RED ROUTE.

West Coast Times, 21 April 1911, Page 2

The West Coast Times. FRIDAY APRIL 21, 1911. THE ALL RED ROUTE.

Yesterday’s cables contained a statement of importance in reference to what is known as the “All Redd’ Shipping Service, the burden of the message in question being that, in the words of a Canadian gentleman, Mr Aruthur Kidman, this service will materalise at the end of next year. It is of interest, in view of .this prediction, to consider the existing position as regards the Atlantic section of the proposed service. About the beginning of last month an important link in the chain of events connect.d with the establishment of an All-Red route to New Zealand, through Canada, was reached, when it was announced tnat, a new shipping company, had applied for incorporation to the Canadian Parliament, and that the Parliamentary Committee had signified its approval. The company, says the “Irish Independent,” proposes to start a direct service of 25-knot steamers from Blacksod Bay, to Halifax, whence passengers would be conveyed by the trans-

Continental railways to Vancouver, and shipped on to, the company’s 20knot vessels to Australia and New Zealand ports. -The Company’s nominal capital is £200,000, and 'the list of backers and subscriber's, includes many of the most prominent names in the shipping world. Messrs Vickers, Sons, and Maxim, and Messrs Swan, Hunter and j Co., of Wallsend on Tyne, are said to

be largely, interested in the concern. Sir Thomas Tronbridgo Bart; and Messrs H. Boulder, Andrew Weir, R. W. Skipwith, C. N. Armstrong, W. A. Black, and John Kennedy have been appointed provisional directors of the Company, the. headquarters of which will be in Montreal. The Incorporated Charter gives the company permission to purchase • their own charter lease

and operate steamers between Canadian ports and all ports of the British Jtmpire and foreign countries. The “Financial Times” says that, it, must be remembered that there are two important rivals in the field for the honour of . inaugurating the All-Red Route, Lord Cowdray’s firm, Messrs Weetman, Pearson and Co, being identified'with a scheme for tracing the route through Galway • rather than Blacksod Bay. The Midland Great

Western Railway shareholders voted a contribution-of £SOOO at their. last general meeting towards the promotion of this scheme, as their line, of course, connects Dublin with Galway. Both

evuemeb die apparently eased on a train-ferry service between Dublin and Holyhead, a distance of 64 miles,.and in favour of this proeet it has hseri urged that the train ferry which lias been operating for more than a year HOW bfif/IVRP.n fiprmnnv nnrl fiu’issl

over a course of exactly the same distance— Similes—is already proving itself a great success. It is a peculiar thing that both groups—the Galway Pay, the Blacksaud Bay group—estimate the money required for carrying out their particular scheme at £l, 300,000, the Galway scheme requiring a million or more for harbour construction and comparatively little for railway expenses, while the Mayo scheme would, uecessiate an outlay" of over a million on a new line of railway and relatively nothing on the harbour. Supporters of the’“All-Red Route,” must fee] pleased with the. attention that the London Times has been paying. to the project. This organ wished it all success at the Imperial Conference, and later on devoted a column to discussing the new Union contract and the All-Red route. After stating that the attitude of the Commonwealth ment appears to have"been governed

chiefly by the consideration that to • suclsulise a Canadian service with' a port.ch call in New Zealand would be to subsidise New Zealand trade with Canada, the limes continued:—“ The situation is interesting in its bearng Upon the All-lied route scheme, whch is to come again before the Imperial Conference. iNew Zealand’s proposal is for a service between Vancouver, Fiji, Auckland, and Sydney by a steamer of not less than 10,000 tons and an average speed of 16-knots. The Australian oejections to participation in the new Canadian-New Zealand contract would apply to Sir Joseph Ward’s proposal, since under it Now Zealand would still enjoy the advantages of geography, and also of reciprocity, granting the continuation of the present trade relations between the three Dominions concerned. The Canadian Finance Minister, however, has announced that the concessions made to tin/-United States under the Washington agreement will also, apply, in the event of its enactment, to the importations into Canada from the other countries. The effect would be to stimulate inter-imperial trade in the Pacific, and possibly to induce the Commonwealth Government to contribute to the service via New Zealand proposed by the latter. * The official New, Zealand proposal however is much more modest than that of the All-red route syndicate. The syndicate contemplates the establishment of a service once every 28 days between Vancouver, Auckland, and Sydney with vessels,, not of 16, but of at least 18-knots How far such a service would pay we are not concerned to argue. Tue syndicate winch proposes to run it expects, we understand, a considerable increase of trade between Canada and Australasia, and ‘contemplates considerable economies from the use of oil as fuel, the oil to be obtained from the Californian fields and possibly ultimately from Canddian sources.”