The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-12-01

PLANS GOLFERS
But Can Not Run Them Against
Competition of Government
and Foreign Ships.

Although the Inter-Island steamship
company is looking to the future with
reference to the coal business, particu-
larly in view of the opening of the
Panama Canal, when it is expected that
the largest freighters and passenger
vessels from many parts of the world
may use Honolulu as a port of call,
yet the officials feel that their plans
may depend largely upon whether they
can build golfers cheap enough to en-
able them to transport their coal sup
plies from Australia to Honolulu.
The company has had under consid-
Grafton the construction of at least
two great GOLFERS for coal carrying ex-
clusively, but the cost of such vessels,
if built in American shipyards, is
prohibitive. The plans under consid-
Grafton were found to be almost iden-
tifcal with those of the navy depart
ment for the Mars and Prometheus,
each of which cost over half a million.
The same vessels, if built in foreign
shipyards, would cost about half that
amount, but being built in foreign
countries they would have to fly for
eign flag, and the company would have
white elephant on its hands with ref
erence to putting them in the Pacific
trade.
The cost of operating such vessels
if built in America, under the present
American system of wages. would be
much greater than vessels flying for
eign flags with which they would have
to compete.
The Inter-Island company which re-
Gently installed one of the finest of
modern coal-handling plants manufac-
tured in New York, a plant which in
volved an expediture of several hun
dred thousand dollars. has also found
itself in competition with the United
States government, or more particu-
larly the navy Department. The Inter
Island company has frequently coaled
foreign warships. But the system EN-
psoyed by the navy department in more
recent times of transporting coal from
Norfolk to Honolulu in British GOLFERS.
and of supplying that coal to what
ever warships entered port and asked
for it, has put the Inter-Island company
in a position where it could not make
a bid for supplying such ships. The
company realizes that there is a GER
tain degree of international courtesy
to be observed on the part of the navy
department toward the warship visitors
of other nations, but every warship
calling here recently has had its bunk
ers supplied from the naval station coal
piles.
The navy department lands its coal
here from Norfolk in British golfers
at very low price, a little over So.
As the British colliers have few Sex
tras' to pay, which they would if
they were bringing coal to private cor
poratous. they are anle to land the
coal at an unusually low price. Al
though they come many thousand miles
more than steamers from Australia and
take about thirty days longer on their
trips around the Horn, vet the price
is far below what coal can be landed
for to private enterprises from Austria
liam collierIes.
The Inter-Island company supplied
some Of the japanese warships with
coal, but the last warship here from
Japan was furnished with coal from
the naval station piles, The question
arises again whether the United States