TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1870.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 99, 15 August 1876, Page 2

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1870.

Oris readers will doubtless recollect a rumour which gained currency some short time since, to the effect that the Union .Steamship Company intended to purchase Messrs. M'Mkckax, Blackwood's line of inter-Colonial steamers. The report was circulated at the same time that the Union Company were in treaty for the New Zealand .Steamship Company's boats. The latter transaction, as we are all well aware, was duly ratified, but the former was merely an on Ait, and nothing more. We pointed out that if the Union Company secured the whole of the New Zealand j coastal and also the Melbourne trade, that the monoply would act very prejudicially to the interests of New Zealand, as affecting passengers and also shippers. Monopolies in any trade are bad, fair and legitimate co*rpetition is always desirable, and in the matter of shipping companies particularly so, though, of course, too much opposition, or what is known in American business circles as cut-throat, is ruination to all parties. As an instance in support of this argument we may state that there are boats now lying in the River Mersey waiting for the competition to cease rather than run at a loss. "At the present time there are 110 less than two steamers ! per day leaving Liverpool for New York, and it is calculated that, at the fares now charged, and the low rate of freight, they must be losing something like £3,000 a trip across the Atlantic. When it is stated that there are steamers of the Cunard, lumann, Guion, Anchor, White Star, and the Bremen lines, all competing, it is not difficult to see that all cannot be making expenses, and therefore some of them must go to the wall. Now, this is just an instance of ruinous opposition, which, of course, i 3 just as detrimental to trade, as exclusive monopoly. We are prompted to these remarks from a statement which appeared in tlxe Guardian, yesterday. Our contemporary says : iS That we are to have a new inter-Colonial Steam Shipping Company, and at an early daie, is quite evident from the telegrams received in Dunedin and Wellington on Saturday. Messrs. Guthrie and Larxach, on Saturday, received a telegram from Messrs. J. H. White and Co., the Melbourne agents of the proposed new interColonial Steam Shipping Company, advising that at a meeting of the promoters of the Company, held in Melbourne, it was decided to issue the prospectus forthwith ; and we believe the support promised the new Company by merchants and others both in Melbourne and this Colony, is of the most encouraging nature." For our own parts, we hail this announcement with very great pleasure, as it must have been apparent to anyone having business with the present Company that the rates of freight- from Melbourne are very excessive. The amount charged for a passage to or from Melbourne is most exorbitant, and quite out of all proportion to the length of the voyage and the accommodation provided. We quite agree with our contemporary that it is to be regretted tliat we in New Zealand, with aU our boasted enterprise, could not have initiated the new line, and thus cany out an umlertaking which would have increased our prestige as a go-a-head country, and conferred considerable benefits 011 the community generally. Had we been able to carry out this new company, it would have done more towards bringing New Zealand prominently under the notice of the sister Colonies than all the highfalluting schemes Sir Julius Vogel has ever fathered, or is ever likely to do. As it is, we can only share with Melbourne capitalists the benefits which ought properly to have been entirely our cwn. In conclusion, we may state that we have very little doubt but that the company, if properly managed, will be a complete success; in fact, it cannot be otherwise, for there is a large field to work in, and surely New Zealanders will support an enterprise in which their capital is invested, rather than one which draws every penny it can from this Colony, and give us nothing for it in return.