New Trans-Pacific Line

Report of Two 24-Knot Vessels

THE British and Dominion Governments are still dithering with the question of subsidising the British trans-Pacific steamship line, so that it may compete on more favourable terms with the heavily subsidised Matson line.

The Imperial Chambers of Commerce Congress, sitting in Wellington, early in October, urged the Governments concerned to assist British shipping in the direction suggested.

Meanwhile, there has been an interest ing development. The following telegram, despatched from Auckland, on October 2, was published in the Sydney Morning H erald: “Mr. Brendan Dowling, a Sydney busi ness man, who is a through passenger to Sydney in the Mariposa, states that the construction of two fast modern passenger vessels of about 20,000 tons each is being considered by a powerful oversea syndicate with a view to their employ ment in the Sydney-Auckland-Los Angeles or Sydney-Auckland-Vancouver trade. ‘‘Mr. Dowling, who has been visiting England and America, says that he rep resents an Australian group interested in the project, and desirous of fostering the tourist trade between the United States and Australia and New Zealand, adding that he conferred with the oversea syndi cate while abroad. ‘‘While it would be some months before a final decision was made, Mr. Dowling said, plans and specifications of the

vessels had been prepared and details of the organisation were being discussed. It was hoped to shorten the travelling time across the Pacific and the vessels would have an average speed of at least 24 knots' They would be built to suit tropical con ditions.”

The announcement caused a stir —it seems to portend a new competitor in the Pacific shipping business.

Mr. Dowling is well-known in Sydney as an accountant and is one of the family of Dowlings which partly owns and directs the New South Wales Bookstall Co., Ltd.