The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1907-10-25
HUTCH|NS TELLS
OF PACIFIC MAIL

"Mr. Schwerin, the vice president
and general manager of the Pacific
Mail Steamship Co.," said Clinton J.
Hutchins who returned on the last Ala
media, "showed me the letter which he
had received from the Chamber of
Commerce, asking for boat of so
many knots speed, and able to carry
three hundred passengers. He told me
he was going to answer the letter in
full detail-the cost of the ship and
the cost of maintaining and operating
her. He seemed to think that such a
scheme was impossible on the lines laid
down by the Chamber of Commerce.
being too large as to size and passen-
ger accommodation.
''The Pacific Mail has been hit hard
by the new rate bill. The laws of the
rate bill are such that it makes it i'm
possible for the Pacific Mail to COM
pete with the Suez route on the
tHiouSH buSihcsS W view 1OTh-
Previous to the passage of the rate
bill, the company acted in conjunction
with the Southern Pacific, and made
rate of seven dollars a ton, from Cleve-
land to Kobe, on nails.
''The rate bill provides that no
through rate can be made by steam
shipeompany in conjunction with a rail-
road, or vice versa, which is less than
the railway charges to the connecting
point. The rate on nails from Cleve-
land to San Francisco is sixty cents
hundred pounds or $12 ton, or, in
other words, five dollars a ton higher
than the rate previously quoted from
Cleveland to Kobe, Japan The result
if this is that very little through
freight is going to the Orient at the
present time. The Manchuria left with
$50 tons of cargo, so 1 was informed
''Another blow to the company by
the new rate bill is the inability to
pick up freight from the Orient at a
point which is not one of their usual
points of call.
"Some time ago, small tea mer-
chant, at a shipping port of Japan,
had a thousand tons of tea to ship.
He requested a rate from the Pacific
Mail on the cargo, to New York, but
inasmueh as the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company had not given the Interstate
Committee thirty days notice, it was
for them to make the rate
until this notice had been given. The
result of this was that French line
got the business.
"The company is being operated, at
The present time, at tremendous loss,
With no immediate prospect of change
'or the better, and inasmuch as the
Subsidy Bill introduced at the last ses-
ion of Congress distinctly exempted
rom the action of the bill any steam
hip lines already established between
lima and Japan, this did not aid the
company any.
As the japanese have been and are
low attempting to negotiate the pur-
base of the Pacific Mail, in view of
CONTINUED from Page One.)
he conditions, it would not be sur
rising at all if the sale should take
lace. In which case, what would be-
ONE of Honolulu's passenger servicei
at seems to me that unless some
hing is done quickly to improve the
ervice, it will get no better very fast.
81 also had talk with J. d. Spree
els Jr., and it is impossible to say just
ow what will become of the Oceanic
teamship Company. An effort is be-
1g made to get the bondholders to
axe over the steamers and operate
hem, but number of them do not
-ish TO.
E'It is probable that they will be sold
nder foreclosure and the Oceanic will
tire from business entirely. Looks as
the Hawaii Promotion Committee,
the matter of getting tourists, is
ping wrong end first.
con the Alameda coming down, there
ere at least dozen passengers who
anted to stay over, but they couldn't
ford TO take chances.D