THE SHIPPING MONOPOLY.

Evening Star, Issue 3038, 13 November 1872, Page 4

THE SHIPPING MONOPOLY.

Prom our last Auckland files we learn that the Freight Company started at Auckland has decided to proceed with its operations, notwithstanding the colorable desertion of some of its originable promoters. We are informed that the company intend to carry out the purpose for which it was formed without any reference to any concessions which Messrs Shaw, Savill and Co. may now be prepared to make. A special meeting of the company was held on the 25th instant, and the determination to proceed with operations was strengthened by the opinion of the agents of the company in England, who wrote that if the importers would only stick to each other, “ a line of vessels can be put on at once, and the contest with Messrs Shaw, Savill and Co. be commenced with every prospi ct of a successful issue.'* It would appear from what transpired at the meeting that the success of the company was not likely to he attained by competing with the present monopolists of the carrying trade with New Zealand by such large chips as those now

employed, but by vessels of sufficient carrying capacity to convey the normal importation of merchants in the Colony. The meeting rescinded a resolution passed upon a former occasion to th; effect that if certain concessions were m, da by Shaw, Savill, and Co. with regard t® I reight charges, the company would desist from further operations. Certain concessions have been offered by Shaw, Savill and Co., but they are considered to be insufficient, and it was agreed to prosecute the purposes for which the company was instituted. A very sensible remark was made by Mr Stannus Jones. He said that any attempt to establish a firm company for the New Zealand carrying trade must, to be successful, be a Colonial institution, and not confined to any particular port. Although this opinion did not receive much support from the meeting, it is tolerably evident that the course Mr Jones recommends is the proper one. If the merchants of the various ports would combine, there can be no doubt that an association could be formed against which no private lirm could compete, and the charges for freight would be brought down to the lowest practicable minimum.