SALE OF THE N. Z. S. COMPANY'S STEAMERS.

Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 137, 17 June 1870, Page 2

SALE OF THE N. Z. S. COMPANY'S STEAMERS.

'While the Superintendent *of Auckland, has been lecturing the inhabitants of thatp'rovince. on'their want of :publici spirit, we are'gladtpbo able to make a comparison in favOur of pur. fellow-citizens. By a notice '.in our columns elsewhere, it will be seen thut-the property ..of the New Zealand Steam Navigation Company, has been withdi awn frdm sale, the liquidators having received a. private offer which they have felt justified in accepting; The private offer is from a Wellington company, which is prepared to give, as we are informed, the sum of £18,000 for the plant. The steamers will thus remain in .our waters, and as .we learn, the new company have also purchased the s.s. Taranaki, thi»y will start with a fine fleet of five boats specially adapted for the New Zealand coasting trade. We understand that the new company proposes to raise a capital of £50,000 in 10,000 shares of £5 each. It is also proposed to make a considerable reduction, in the. passenger fares, and to try the system .of allowing passengers to pay only for the meals they consume on board—a concession which' no doubt will be appreciated by many of the voyagers whom necessity and not inclination compels to. travel. The s.s. Ladybird having already been sold for £850, the property of the defunct company will have realised £18,850, a sum which, added to the balance of the undivided profits in the liquidator's hands', allows of a distribution of somewhat less than £3 10s per share to all the shareholders; £1 per share has already been paid by the liquidators, and we understand that the new company propose to accept the old shares at the rate of £2 10s. in the purchase of shares in the new company. It is a matter of congratulation that the citizens of Wellington have, achieved this success, and it betokens no little public, spirit and enterprise on their part, for many of the men who have come .forward to support the newly formed company have been considerable losers in the other. It only now remains for Wellington to provide a slip or dock for the accommodation of these vessels locally owned, as well as for those others which we hope soon to see plying in these seas.— Wellington Independent, June 14.