STATE-OWNED STEAMERS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1742, 6 May 1913, Page 5

STATE-OWNED STEAMERS.

AUSTRALIAN POLICY. lii the course of a policy speech' in Sydney last .week, Mr. Andrew Fisher, the Commonwealth Prime Minister, outlined the intentions of his Governm<pt with regard to the establishment of a State-owned steamship line. Mr. Fisher said his party proposed to establish a lino of steamers between Australia and oversea ports, and on tho Austrian coast. It' was a development of a national function that, in his opinion, was absolutely necessary at the present day. (Hear, hear.) The tinio was. near at hand, ho hoped, when both the States and the Commonwealth would not only have a lino of steamers trading in the names and on behalf of the people of tho Commonwealth, in the same manner and in the same degree as the railways were run by the States, to the advantage of the people directly concerned, and to the advantage of the nation as a wholq. It was true that on land tho States could .protect themselves against any competition by not allowing, railways to compete with tlieir own railways. On the sea the strongest competitions would have to be faced. "If we cannot compete successfully on the open sea against private enterprise, wo shall certainly not continue it, and wasto the people's money, but we are convinced that by tho establishment of such a service we shall givo a better service to tho people, and so conservo your money., The shipping laws of Australia under'our new Navigation Act is unparalleled in tho world. What are the troubles besetting tho primary producers besides tho secondary producers in this country? That they do not get a failreturn of the produco that comes from their own labours. It should be possible, with 'State railways and with the Commonwealth steamers, for the State and Commonwealth to co-operate so that produce could be taken from tho wool sued, farm, forest, and niino by tho functions of State and tho Commonwealth and landed in tho best market in tho world, whether in Australia or out of it. (Applause.) By that means j;pui would boiablo through the State and Commonwealth to make immodiato advances on tlie produco taken possession, say,-from'so to CO per cent. of tho estimate# value.