The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1903. DAILY STEAMER SERVICE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 238, 4 November 1903, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1903. DAILY STEAMER SERVICE.

When, two years ago, the Union and Northern Steamship Companies started a daily service between New Pjv mouth and Ooehunga, we expressed the hope that it would be a permanent service, and suggested that every effort should be mildo to secure that great boon. We urged that pressure should bo brought, to bear on the Government to increafe ihe mail subsidy, making it contingent |on a daily mail service. We were ' greatly disappointed noshing wis done, and the Companies withdrew tho daily sareiee in the autumn. The service was resumed last summer, and we again urged that it should be made' permanent, but again nothing was done, and the Fervice was again discontinued. Qn Monday, for the third time, the doily service started, and, unless something is done, will be dropped again ae sr.on as the mid-summor traffic ends If the fues were very low, or if the additional expert fo the shipping companies was very great, we should not press this matter, bus, as a matter of ! fact, the farts between New Plymouth and Ouehunga are, at any I rate in tbe summar season, out, of all proportion to those ruling in places where similar traffic obtains, while it cannot, excepting in the matter of coal and wsar and tear, cost much more for the vessels to run than to lie in Onehungi harbour. The time has come when a daily mail service should be maintained between Auckland and the rest of the colony all tbe year round. Now is tho time to agitate. It is no uso waiting till the Companies have made all their arrangements for the winter months. The Chamber of Commerce, the Tradesmen's Association, acd the lcoal bodies should all agitate. Every effort should asso be made to get an increase in tbe mail subsidy, with the condition attached that a daily mail be run. The mail train from and to Wellington also should be ran to connect with the Lyttelton steamers, and through tickets from Invercargill and intermediate places to Auckland and from Auckland southwards, with the privilege of breaking the journey. colcbssions would be a great boon to th< travelling public, and as such concessions always do, they would cau<e a very large increase in traffic, and thus lead to a largely increased business on both steamcis and railway, The time now taken in tbe journey from one end of the colony to the other is absurd, and causes great loss and hindrance to business. If there wa f competition these reforms would soon come, and in the absence of competition steady and persistent agita'ion must be resorted to. |