The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1895-11-15
No Subsidy from New Zealand
Government.
PROPOSED AGREEMENT FAILS.
Negotiations Between Hon. j. G. Ward
Representing the New Zealand Gov
ernmen and James Huddert, Repre-
senting Huddart and Company.

AUCKLAND, \. L., Nov. O.
The abandonment OF the proposed
Vancouver service ''for the pres
ent" shows that the government
has correctly read the feeling of
the country and of the Assembly
on the subject. That the proposal
if submitted TO the House by way
of resolution, as promised the pre-
vious evening, would have been de-
feated by large majority was the
opinion of all those who had taken
any interest in the subject. The
preliminary discussion on Tuesday
night, on the supplementary esti-
mates, for a subsidy to the service
for a quarter OF the year, in which
every member speaking declared
himself hostile, was sufficiently
significant, and the premier tact
fully withdrew the item, with a
promise that the question OF the
service should be submitted in a
formal resolution on the following
day. Instead of such resolution,
/ the announcement was made last
night that the question OF this SER
vice, as well as that OF the recipro-
city treaty with Canada-which had
4 been already resolved in the neg
would be deferred till next
session. 1t is safe to say that this
is the last We shall hear OF the pro-
posal, and that the wild dream of
throwing away twenty or thirty
thousand pounds a year for ten
years on a merely sentimental and
unfeasible project, has been dissi-
pated by being brought int6con-
tact with the unromantic facts of
practical life. The cross-examina-
ton to which Mr.. Lark, the official
commercial agent from Canada,
was subjected a few weeks ago in
Wellington at the hands of a large
meeting OF members of Parliament,
had elected the fact, already fully
enough proved by the unfortunate
venture of New South Wales, that
there was really no trade to be de-
veloped between this colony and
British Columbia-the only part of
Canada that could be affected at
all. 1t was doubtless the knowl-
edge of this that induced the House
to decline to discuss the Canadian
treaty, and it was as evidently the
consciousness of the futility OF pro-
posing the subsidy, in face OF the
feeling existing in the Assembly,
that induced the Government to
back down at the last moment
and to decline to even 90
through the formality of in
viting a vote of the House on the
subject of the Vancouver service.
1t appears to be an admitted thing
that the New South Wales govern
ment will not even propose re-
newal of the subsidy for the Cana
dian mail service of their colony,
the term of which expires in five or
six months, so that the abortive
attempt to force an impossible
trade with the Pacific slope OF the
Dominion through the lavish ex-
Jpenditure OF public funds may be
Regarded as virtually abandoned.
At the same time, as Canada ap-
pears to be so DESTROYS Of cultivat-
ing relations with these colonies for
whatever they are worth, and
might possibly be disposed to fos-
ter a modified service by the way
of experiment, it might be worth
the consideration of the colony,
whether encouragement should not
be given to the offer made by the
contractors for the San Francisco
service to extend the trips of their
steamers from San Francisco three
or four days further up the coast to
Vancouver. The excellence with
which that service has been uni
formly carried out, notwithstand-
ing the meagre assistance OBJ
tanned in the form OF snb-
sidy, is the best guaranty We
could have that the best would be
made of the possibilities of Cana
dian trade; and if such concessions
were made as would warrant the
two united companies putting on
superior and rapid boats in the
service, there is every reason to be-
lieve that the route across America
could be made the most popular
and the most largely patronized by
travellers, of all the tracks by which
these colonies are connected with
England. There is no other route
so charming, and all that seems
wanting to settle the line of travel
is the magnificent steamers which
the contractors offer to build if only