AMERICAN TRADE.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14985, 4 June 1914, Page 7

AMERICAN TRADE.

NEW STEAMSHIP LINE TO AUSTRALIA. (FROM A CORRESPONDENT.) SAN FRANCISCO, May 13. Further proof of tho growth of trad* between tho Pacific Coast ports and Australasia is afforded by the announcement her© of a new and. important" | steamship service which will shortly be inaugurated. I Five up-to-dato steamers will bo requisitioned on a 90-day sorvice. thereby giving a departure, at periods •of eighteen days. The company will operate under the British flag with a start-ing-point at Seattle, and thence to Sail Francisco. Honolulu,. Apia, Suva, Noumea, Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. The return trip will follow tho isamo route. Considerable secrecy is being observed at San Francisco, which will bo. the headquarters of tho new company^'and until definite plans aro completed tho personnel of the new concern will bo withheld, as rival steamship companies have been gazing with expectant eyes on the new trade which is being opened up in tho new route. Mr R. K. Smith, formerly of Brisbane,' a well-known fignre in the steamship world at San Francisco, chatting with a Press representative, confirmed tho statement that tho company was practically ready to launch" its "plans to tho public. ''Full cargoes are assnred outwards from the Pacific Coast,-' said Mr Smith, -•lumber from California and Oregon,, with Californ-a fruit products iv season, will provide the chief itoms of export from the Pacific seaboard. Tbo Chambers of Commerco at the various ports along the Pacific Coast have been interviewed for prosEccts of securing return cargoes. Wo avo not the slightest, hesitation that we can secure full cargoes for the outward trips, nnd tho only difficulty is in obtaining some guaranteo that the steamers will receivo a full complement in their hold, on returning from Australasia to the Pacific Coast. Some of the principal wholesale lumber merchants of California aro behind the now steamship concern. As soon as tbo results of tho interviews with tho different Chambers of Commerce have been placed in the hands of the backers of this prospective new steamship line, definite proposals will be mado. Refrigerated meats from Australia would be supplemented by "butter and fruit for the ,months in tho year when California's supply is scarce, and Australia's is plentiful. Quantities of Australian wool will find their way to tho American market over this new route, with nickel from New Caledonia, sugar from Fiji Islands to British Columbia, and .copra from the various Pacific Ocean islands."