STEAM SHIP SUBSIDIES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 94, 19 April 1872, Page 4

STEAM SHIP SUBSIDIES.

Frow the N--Y'',Tribuue„ Jan. 20. , We do not favor the subsidizing of any line of ocean steamers to run from our own port, :to those of Western Europe. The: people of Great Britain, France, and Germany, having the start of us in arts and 'manufactures, are only too 'happy to exchange their wares and manufactures for our food,; cotton, and other raw, bulky staples. Tbe advantage in such a trade is all on their, side, aud they may be trusted to furnish as many steamships as the trade will warrant. - But 'in trading with countries whose industry h ruder arid more 'primitive than ours — those of Spanish America i and Australia, China and Japan, for example — the advantage is on our side. We sell them axes, saws, sewing machines, serviceable fabrics, &c, and receive iv exchange raw materials and the precious metals. It is" and long will be our own interest to cultivate, foster, and extend thia trade, which -depresses none of our own industries, but stimulates and expands them all. We look, therefore, with favor on the proposal of a subsidy to the line of ocean steamersto Australia which private enterprise has established. That line is not yet self-supporting, because the trade which ' supports it is small, though rapidly growing;; Werare Australia's nearest civilised neighbor, and her wants, in many respects, are such as our artisans can best supply. Her people have done their part toward the good work in hand j we trust ours may do likewise. It may be that the sum asked for is too large; if so, reduce it, but let. us not repel the warm hand which the young giant of the Southern hemisphere has stretched across the 'Pacific to grasp our own. We ought to have a line of steamships hence through the West Indies to the Spanish main, at or near the mouth of the Magdalena ; we ought to run another from Panama down the coast to tbe chief ports of Peru and Chili. If these must wait, let us at least maintain that which already connects us with Australia.