The San Francisco call., 1898-12-25
AUSTRALASIAN
 TRADE WITH
 SAN FRANCISCO Hon. J. D. Connolly on the Situation. IS NOT WHAT IT SHOULD BE MERCHANTS ARE NOT ALIVE TO THEIR INTERESTS. The Government Should Be Impor- tuned to Subsidize Line of
 Steamers to the
 Colonies.
IS NOT WHAT IT SHOULD BE
MERCHANTS ARE NOT ALIVE
 TO THEIR INTERESTS.

Hon. J. D. Connolly, who for the last ten years has been United States Consul to New Zealand, has returned to Califor- mia to reside MT. Connolly was appoint cd during Clevelands first administration, and his conduct of the office was such that President Harrison reapponted him. He continued in office during President Cleveland's second administration, and was only relieved a few months ago by Frank Dillingham;, who was appointed by President Mckinley. Mir. Connolly made host of friends Tn the colonies, and he thinks that, next to an American, a colo nlal is the finest type of man on earth.
 The sentiment throughout Australasia during the war was all with America said MT. Connolly yesterday "The peo- pie in Australia and New Zealand were just as pleased to see the United States secure Hawaii and the Philippines as they would have been if Great Britain had got them. I know that this state ment will not be generally credited, but It is true nevertheless. Americans and American manufactures stand very high in the colonies, and every vessel that ar rives at Auckland, N. E.; Sydney, N. s. w., or Melbourne, Victoria, from the United States is laden with the products of this country, and the trade is con- stantly growing.
 The volume of trade that can be done with Australasia is not thoroughly ap- preclated here. The vast amount of ter ritory that is eager to receive our goods is not known to half our people How many of them know, for instance, that you could pick up the United States, eX- elusive of Alaska, and set them down in the island of Australia, and that there would be fringe of dry land all around glorious country? The people are demo- cratic, speak the same language as our selves, their hopes and aspirations are the same, and they are the nearest ap- preach to an American of any people on earth. The possibilities of trade with such a people, therefore, are incalculable, and yet we seem to be blind to it.
 Our volume of trade with Australasia is growing, but it is not through any in- telligent effort on our part If such an effort were put forth I can say positively that the bulk of the trade of the Austra- lian colonies would come here, and when ] say here, 1 mean San Francisco.
 Tn order to secure this trade We want more frequent communication with Aus tralasia. We want larger, faster and strictly modern vessels. By a conserva- tive move in this direction l am confident our trade with the colonies could be quad rupled in a very short time. The Pacific Coast. and especially San Francisco, should spare no effort to interest our Gov ernment in this matter. Our steamers should be subsidized. Ever since I have been Consul to New Zealand l have been l writing and urging this step upon the | administration. English, German and French lines of steamers all run to Aus | traiia. and all of them are heavily sub sidized. How. then can our vessels com pete against them in the matter of freight and passengers when the owners have to fight the battle single-handed? Private owners should be assisted by the Govern ment. and in a short time our trade with Australasia would lead all others.
 'The Oceanic Steamship Company is deservedly popular with the people of Australasia. Its vessels make their voy- rrrith 11o fl-a lrit and haxr have done yeomen'S work for California. But its vessels are not as large nor as fast but every bit as comfortable as the Subsi- dized lines of the Peninsular and Oriental, MeSsageries and North German Lloyds, all of which run 5000 and 1000 ton vessels to Sydney. You can see at glance that the competition is unfair. Nearly all the running expenses of these foreign vessels are paid by their Governments, while the American line has to stand on its own bottom. The United States reaps all the Uncle Sam should foster it.
 This much l know. The New Zealand Government is very much in favor of our line. l know that the New Zealand Gov ernment is prepared to enter into ten years contract if the United States will do the same. It wants, however in return steamers of not less than 5000 tons burden and that can average r to IS knots an hour. Now, what the Government should do is to subsidize the Oceanic Steamship Company for the ten years the New Zea land Government requires and then see to 1t that three large steamers. equal to 20 knots, with an average of IS knots, that could be turned into auxiliary cruisers in a case of emergency, are built. and then vou would see our trade with Australasia grow. Every man interested in the com merce of the Pacific should agitate and insist in every conceivable way that this result may be brought about. It is ab- solutely necessary to the expansion of our trade and the maintenance of that already established with Australasia.
 'The route from San Francisco to Syd- r7pv iG the most DtCtureSeOle. the shortest and the most desirable in the Pacific. After leaving this port the tr-veler is rest at Honolulu. Six days more at sea and then comes Samoa Five days more and you break your journey once more at Auckland. and then another four days lands you at Sydney. Compare this with the SueZ route and the horrors of the Red Sea and you can see that a little iu- dfcJoTs catering worid bring all the AiIs- tralian travel via the United States In this connection let me say that our rail- roads are making a big mistake in not having representatives in Australia. If there was some well-informed individual in each of the large towns to give infor nation to travellers. thousands of paSSen- gers who now go to Europe by the other route would cross the American continent and would spend at least $500 while here. Tn addition to this it would mean a large increase in our business Men coming this way would make inquiries and trade re- lations would be established that would greatly benefit our country So you can see that upon every ground we would be justified in putting forth our best efforts to secure the bulk of the .Australasian trade. I have pointed out the way: Let us clamor for a government subsidy for our line and once we have secured that. we will have larger and faster steamers, and then our trade will grow with leaps and bounds.
 ''The Australians are great travellers, and they will all come our way if we only make the effort America is great coun- try and Australia is growing fast. Let us make the commerce of the Southern Seas ours and 1t will pour wealth untold into California"
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