The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1870-06-01
Australian Line.


readers of the" -1dce1iSer, that Fair
Play" in commenting on your leader of
last week, has labored hard to convince
himself that he has a grief" and prob
ably viii need to labor much harder to
prove TO our community that it has any
grief" in what you said regarding the
Australian Steam Line 1t is apparent
that the media through which he viewed
your article was not the positive injury
to our port :" that 1t might cause; but the
suspicion that exists in his mind, and per-
haps IN the minds of some other mer-
chants, that the agents of the steamers
which now centre here have the ears of
the Government to an extent not enjoyed
by Others" Facts" he says, might
be stated to prove that facilities are
granted them which tend to throw bust
ness in their way, to which all our mer-
chants have an equal claim" 1t NAV be
interesting for those whose line of bust
ness embraces agencies, to weigh and
discuss the reasons why one house rather
than another should be able to secure
agencies, but the mass of the community
can not reasonably be expected to be ex-
cited by, or divided into parties upon
such special cases.
What part the Government has in the
selection of agents is not quite clear, or
how, in the matter of agents for steam
lines, 1t favors one more than another, as
there Is but one agency here, is still more
Of a muddle, and must remain so 30 news
paper readers, until Fair Play" brings
out those facts upon which he bases his
case.
There are those" he says, "who be-
lieve that the large, swift and commodious
steamers of Webb's line, which it is de-
signed win make the through trip to
Sydney from San Francisco, offer induce
ments which the present lines do not"
So are there those who do not believe
So in that they believe whatever COM
pany may eventually secure the route,
viii find it necessary and profitable to
run 2,OOo-ton steamers, and that Mr.
Webb, possibly, has not the monopoly
of steamers of that tonnage
But in whatever direction belief NAV
run, no one in these Islands would object
10 see two. three or more lines in opera
ton, although in view of the travel and
freight, it is hard to see, with ''Fair
Play" that " the more lines established,
the more abundant will be our harvest"
seeing that if only one line can be sup
ported, and that by the aid of large sub
sidies,-an opposition line without sub
sidy. or an insufficient one, must fail alto
gether of being kept up.
The competition that has arisen, among
steamboat men, for the possession of
the Australian route, has not arisen
from calculations based upon the gain
to be derived either from the trade
or the legislation of these Islands The
controlling inducements come from the
two great countries that are to be the ter
mini of the route, and therefore when all
parties interested know that all the priv
Ieges and immunities granted some years
since to the Pacific Mail S. S. Company,
have been rendered, publicly, to whoever
NAV run Australian lines, there can be
very little harm in your lauding line
in actual service, as something with which
our community may be well pleased.
Possibly, Mr. Editor, your leader was
not expected to influence Congress on
their subsidy question, but rather to show
up how much our merchants and people
are indebted to California journalists
how helpful our neighbors have been, and
are, in everything that touches our public
welfare and progress. 1t was noticeable
that not one of their journals had a word
of encouragement for the Colonial line
that, by actual service, had shown the
practicability of the route They did not
even damn it with faint praise They
held out no hope that it would receive
support from their public; but, on the