VANCOUVER SERVICE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 994, 8 December 1910, Page 5

VANCOUVER SERVICE.

INCLUSION OF AUCKLAND, AUSTRALIA FEARS NEW ZEALAND COMPETITION. STATEMENT BY MR. HUGHES, Oy Telegraph—Press Association-Oopytlelit. Melbourne, December 7. Tho Federal Acting-Premier (Mr. W. 31. Hughes), replying to a Chamber of Commerce deputation which asked that iu tho new contract for the Vancouver service provision should be made for the steamers to come to Melbourne, said tho Government was very whole-heartedly in favour of reciprocal trade with Canada, ' Tho situation was complicated, continued Mr. Hughes, by the position of Now Zealand, which was also anxious to have speedy communication with Canada. Now Zealand had a very satisfactory fiscal arrangement with Canada; Australia had not. "It would be an .exceedingly shortsighted policy to plnco Zealand in a much more f favourable position than Australia," added the Minister. "She would bo able, because of conditions with which wo could not compete, to supply Canada's wants. Ships would bo loaded with practically tho same class of goods from both'countries. Their origin would not bo distinguishable, but they would bear their different charges. That would to a very serious bar to Melbourne." Mr. Hughes added that Mr. Fisher would be in London next year, and would then have tho opportunity. of meeting Sir Wilfrid Laurier and other Canadian delegates. There would bo a chance of reaching, an understanding, which tho Acting-Premier had no doubt would bo approved by subsequent legislation. The noiv ' service, . continued ■ Mr. Hughes, unless it was very much accelerated, could not include Auckland, and would have to be something more than a twenty-two days' service. To como to Melbourne would mean complete dislocation of tho service—in fact, if vessels called nt Honolulu, Fiji, Auckland, and Brisbane, or Auckland, Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne, it would require an entirely new service. ■ It would be umviso to have slow steamers in order to save ■£30,000' yearly, a3 the passenger trade would bo worth nearly as much as the freight. Auckland ought certainly not- to be excluded unless its inclusion would prejudice Australia very seriously, added Mr. Hughes. An 18-day service would cost a year. 'What the Commonwealth's share would bo would depend upon whether New Zealand participated. Under any cireumstanoss, the present .subsidy would Ijd doubled.

TRADE COMMISSIONER'S VIEWS, NEW ZEALAND CALL FAVOURED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) Auckland, December 7. Mr. W. A. Bcddeo (Canadian Trado Commissioner), asked to-day for an expression of opinion on the cable ' with reference to-the Vancouver mail service, reiterated his previously-expressed opinion that there should be" no reason why a Vaneouver-Honolulu-Fiji-Anckland-Sydney-Mclbourno service could not bo run, -as not one day would ba lost as compared with the present service, which does not include Auckland. "In other words," said tho Commissioner, "the inclusion of Auckland-in tho service from Vancouver to Sydney and Melbourne, or Vancouver to Sydney and Brisbane, will, not lengthen tho time or delay tho mails one hour, but to include ■Auckland as a port of call'and then proceed to Sydney rand Melbourne, back to Sydney and then to Brisbane, returnins 'to Sydney as .the final port of departure from Australia, and thenco across to Auckland* would be a serious delay. Such a route, iu fact, would not be practicable, for Brisbane is on ono side of Sydney and Melbourne on the other. "It is a matter for regret that Canada has not got preferential trade relations with Australia, which would put Australia and Non- Zealand upon common commercial grounds. But that is not the .fault of Canada exactly, because Canada is willing to enter into negotiation's. "It appears to me," Mr. Beddoo continued, - "to be rather unreasonable to expect tho Canadian Government to ignore the just claims of New Zealand in this matter' ol' a port of call, seeing that there' exists between New Zealand and Canada reciprocal preferential tariff arrangements. The .Canadian Government is a business Government, and I am relying' upon the business acumen of Sir Wilfrid Laurier and his associates to deal with this matter equitably. Again, I say it emphatically, I cannot see why we should exclude Now Zealand as a port of call under the present com-, mercial relations, however much I regret that the trado relations between Canada and Australia are of such a character as to antagonise Australia in any consideration of the admittance of Now Zealand as a port of call."