FIJI SHIPPING

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 77, 28 September 1933, Page 9

FIJI SHIPPING

UNEQUAL TIME-TABLES

A SUBSIDY: SUGGESTED

Considerable . dissatisfaction' ha* been expressed $n Suva recently re*' garding sea transportation and-tho delivery of mails betweenrNew^ealand; and-Fiji. The altered schejdtfie of the» Matson Company means that its vessel* and those of the Canadian Australasian Lino arrive from New Zealand within four days of each other. There is an interval of twenty-four days before * further New Zealand boat arrives.

! Australian mails are sometimes ear j ried by sugar vessels, and by the Karetu returning' from New Zealand via Australia. Mails to New Zealand are carried by vessels bound from. London direct, and by occasional ships. Other-' wis» Fiji must depend for New Zealand1 mails on tho Canadian and American liners. The new time-table gives Australia Setter trade facilities, as, owing to (he Waipahi'a withdrawal and lack: of convenient space on the liners, all* livestock' imported for. killing purposes', must com© from; Australia on thw Karetu. j

As it seems improbable that the MaM son. Company will rovert to the old time-table, it is suggested that theUnion Company should be approached'1 with a view towards re-establishing,) with a suitably equipped yesselj th« service from Auckland to Fiji, Tong% and Samoa. As an inducement for th* shipping company to do so, it is als« suggested that the present subsidy o( £5000 which is paid to the Canadia* Australasian Line to ensure-the ma) boats staying six hours in- daylight i% Suva be withdrawn and offered to th^ Union Steam Ship Company as a sub* sidy for an inter-insular service. It ?4 pointed out that the mail boats arm compelled by cargo considerations t«j stay a reasonable length of time, an 4 that the Matson boats at present re«J main all day without subsidy for thaf convenience- of their passengers. Auckjj land fruit merchants have on several occasions taken up with the _ shipping company concerned tho question of an.' insulated vessel for tho better carriageof fruit, and this necessity has .also been emphasised on several occasions by Fiji shippers. This point is also urged in furthering the suggestion that tho present subsidy should be diverted in this direction. / At various times the Fiji Government has made efforts to assist New Zealand in increasing her. trade with Fiji and thereby readjusting the present unsatisfactory trade balance. Of tho vessels that arrive in Fiji at present from New Zealand and Australia, tho great majority arrive direct from Aus« tralia, and as that country places m duty on the limited amount of bananas she takes from Fiji, it would seem that, the incidenco of shipping gives her ai greater advantage in the Island tradsf than is warranted under the circunuT stances. , /' In this matter, and also arising oufej of the general loss occasioned to. Auckland merchants by tho withdrawal; of the Fiji-Tonga-Samoa service, ifr-ist; thought that support to this suggestion. will be forthcoming from Auckland business interests. In an article on tho subject the Fiji "Times and Herald" states that if this suggestion wer* adopted "it would greatly benefit the colony, help to improve tho communications between tho two countries, and help to give our best banana customeri a better sharo of the Fiji trade thaft she now enjoys." ■