THE "ALL-RED" ROUTE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 29 January 1908, Page 11

THE "ALL-RED" ROUTE.

DISCUSSION BY LIBERAL

COLONIAL CLUB.

(From Otjb Own Corbespondent.) LONDON, December 6. " - ~On Tuesday -night a dinner was given : - -by the -Liberal Colonial Club at Princes Restaurant, when" Mr Clifford - " Siflon,*"K.C., lately Minister of the Inferior in Canada, opened a discussion on the " All-B,ed .Route. ' The . chairman was Mr H. Ji Termant, M.P., and artfong - -those -present were: — Lord' Brassey, Mr v „W. Pember Reeves- (High .Commissioner -for New' Zealand)," Captain' Muirhead Collins (representative off Australia), Sir .Algernon West, Dr G. \R. Parkin, and --.- - Mr- E-. ' T. Cook* (hob. secretary of the .Club). * • - _= "-The chairman said that-~ : the idea of colonial," preference < was a very captivat- "'. ing\bne/ and some- of, them would have r-^ it if 'they had found it pracr.- As they Had not, they were ~" 'compelled to loot elsewhere for means to establish Imperial unity, a.vld where could more certain means be' found than in this' scheme for shortening the time of communication between the Mother Country, Canada," Australia, . and New Zettland ? * Our Government; as , well as .the colonial "Governments,' by the resolution passed a£ the Imperial Conference, , had conceded ' the principle of the project. " There might be difficult details to work out, but Governmeßts existed to overcome difficulties, arid the matter was in -good hands, Mr Lloyd-George being strongly imbued with a desire to promote inter-Imperial trade. On the Canadian side, also, the matter was in safe hands, Mr Sifton having been a member of the Alaska Boundary Tribunal ~and for nine yea^s Minister of the Interior. ; Mr, Sifton said that the mails between New Zealancl and London now took 38 days by Australia and Suez. By " the new route they would take less than five dayjf from London to a ,Canadian port, eight days and- a-half to Vancouver, and 25 to New- Zealand. . The route should attract a large" traffic ■ from-. Australia as well^as from' New Zealand. , The Liisitania's'best time- from Liverpool to New York was 5d 18hr 48min,' "the distance being' 3o26 knots. ■ The ~ 2439, knots from Liverpool to Halifax would be covered . by ' »■, 24-knot boa,t in 4d 12hr ; the 2633 or 2801 knots from. Liverpool to Quebec, via/Belle Isle or r Cape Race, would v take 4d 20hr,. or 5d 6hr. He had it on the best authority "that, though the new Cunarders were-of .38.000 tons, 20,000-ton steamers of the" same speed could be built '-on economic.- lines. 1 The, fog question had been "thoroughly investigated by the TJnjted , States Hydrographic" 1 Service, which', 'Showed i s , that' the, percentage of foggy days on the northern -route across the "Atlantic averaged only 3£ per "cent., against . 8 per _ cent. '" on the. New York -> route.- - A.s,&ot the 'ice,' it compelled ships to taice a slightly "more southerly route" from December, to .May,- and in'^the Gulf •> of St. Lawrence there were floating bergs at certain., seasons; -but .this was not a seriotfs danger to' careful 'navigators. The . dangers of the St. Lawrence were talked of; but from 1880 to 1907 only seven passenger vessels had stranded, and' only five "on the routes now in question. Four of these, five accidents had been conclusively shown to be due to^ incompetent . and, careless navigation, leaving only one — the stranding of "the Montreal -in 1880j —attributed by the Court of Inquiry to' the danger of the route "and extraordinary weather.- With the improved /'aids to naviga'tion^n^^greater knowledge, such an event would not be r likely now. There would very shortly be a channel lOOOit, wide and 40ft deep right up to Quebec, so that,, the fastest ship could go at full speed all" the way. From the naval and military point of view the new route was extremely desirable. For one thing, it would involve harbours handling the largest, vessels in time' of peace, and, therefore, capable of handling them in time of war. Then it should be realised that before, such a route, if established at the earliest possible date, had been 10 years in existence Canada would be ahJe to supply all the food requirements of the Mother Country, whije the United States would have finally ceased to \ export' grain. The routes now taken by grain from other British sources- of supply — India, Australia, New Zealand, the Argentine, and. Continental Europe — would be far more liable; -to attack, in war time than the route . across the North Atlantic, which might ,. mate all- "the difference .- between scarcity, and plenty /in ttte British Isle's. This- route jvould ' also be of, 'the- greatest -, service .(if a large body of 'troops had to j be sent, _to India. . When, therefore, -the Mother"' Country was spending -millions on : its -navy to maintain the supremacy of -j the -sea;- it would surely be well to spend I the -comparatively" "small sum. required for ' this route, which in time *of war might be an absolute necessity. The ships would be.^built according W Admiralty recmiremerits, and: fitted to carry heavy guns. What waa_desired was to have a. service across the Atlantic at 24 knots ; across Canada as short a railway service as possible ; and across the / Pacific, • via New Zealand, a service at an averaee of 18 iknots., That was .for freightless steahiers.. Sir Wilfrid- Laurier's suggestion. Was that Canada shjould bear half the expense of the. 24-knot boats pn the Atlantic, and a very "substantial- share of the 18-knot service • the . Pacific. The^ more thoroughly the question -was considered, the clearer- it -was : that when the" route' , had. been established a few years • it\ would be a ' solid commercial success. " * - Moreover,- continued Mr Sifton. from the poinfclof view oi -the' Admiralty .and •' the '--army it was important that the Ganadian -Toate.. shoujd be developed',- and the best' tejt was to" use the 'route and prove its cajjacity in. time of "peace. "That *»*wnght him to another point, the food I

supply of the Mother Country. Canada was becoming the great source of the food supply of the Mother Country, while the United States would soon absorb their own productions and might import foodstuffs. Where, then, would be the Mother Country? She would have to deal with many routes, which she would have to protect in order to secure her food supply, whereas Canada could supply all, and then there would be only one route to protect. Further, Canada was the great Imperial route to the East. India was the great strategical point in the East; how were troops to be got there more easily than tkxey could be transported through Canada ? Were not the arguments for the All-Red route, therefore, unanswerable ? Great Britain spent millions on the navy : could not a little be spent on such a line - — a line which could be built much as the Lusitania and Mauretania had been built. He admitted that the colonies should assist Great Britain in .maintaining her naval supremacy"; could not the colonies^ do so in the direction of these fast vessels ? The colpnies suggested this course, and there" was a chande of making a substantial beginning. The suggestion ! was not originally a commercial project, but it would become a commercial success, and he hoped that the proposal ; would be a success not only on com- ' mercial, but on political, grounds. Mr W. Pember Reeves (High Commissioner for the Dominion of New Zealand) said that it was difficult to get people to consider the future as well as the present. People asked what was to be the traffic, ' who, were to be the passengers. But . were not people who had even 20 years' j experience surprised at the advance ! made? More progress could be made, and the great advance that was possible was through improved communication. We could at least learn that lesson from t the old Roman Empire,' although that \ was -not the great matter. Sentiment « was a far more reaching source of union, \ which/ could be helped on by the im- ': proved communications. If the' All-Red ! route did nothing in the way of trade, • it could be justified on the ground of j closer inter-communication between- Anglo- j Saxon communities. The All-Red route f would" -lead through men of our own race, { free- men, with an attachment to the ,' Empire as great. as any. He strongly j supported the scheme. Even if the new ' route" did nothing for trade, it might be „ justified- bjr providing the most^ healthy and fapia i means of travel between New . Zealand and the Mother Country. He ! j had 1 - his Government's authority to say j | that New Zealand would pay a sum not ! only proportioned to her population, but ! ample, for her share in the route. No' part of, the Empire would gain more than ! New • Zealand ; but the route would also ' do a great deal for Eastern Australia^and more than nine-tenths of the Aus- • tralians lived in the east and south-east of ' that- continent. The Panama route would not affect the question ,- and the , idea that it would was one of the ' delusions fostered by maps on Mercator's projection., " | Lord- Brassey remarked that Mr Sifton ' was ( doubtless here for the 'purpose of obtaining that liberal assistance which they all desired should" be given by the Mother Country/ No step could be more ! calculated to arouse public opinion than ! such -a gathering. He fully concurred, after much experience of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in Mr Sifton's statement that it had no difficulties which could I not be surmounted by careful navigation i and such <aids as the Canadian Govern- j ment was supplying and had supplied, j .He was 'convinced that the All-Red route . would be' carried*- into effect at no distant date, and he _ suggested that the great I Canadian railway companies might ' reasonably be looked to for financial cooperation.

Other speakers followed, and the proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to the chairman.