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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 71

"First Direct Wool Ship for London."

"First Direct Wool Ship for London."

This marked an important epoch in the commercial history of New Zealand, for the facilities thus initiated by the New Zealand Shipping Company have since resulted in doubling the export trade of the Colony.

The hostility of the Company's competitors then remained latent until the first vulnerable moment, and no sooner had the Colonial Company incurred heavy responsibilities in contracting with the Government for the carriage of all their emigrants and cargo than a vigorous attack had to he resisted. A war of rates ensued, but the colonists were not unmindful of the consequences of surrender. The loss of many thousands of pounds only stimulated their energies. A stout front demonstrated that the New Zealand Shipping Company had "come to stay," and a tariff of rates equitable to all concerned was adopted, under which trade grew apace, five new ships being contracted for.

The advantages thus accruing to New Zealand were stated by the Chairman two years later, when he remarked that page 56 the Company had "effected a saving of at least £200,000 to the wool growers, grain producers and mercantile community of the Colony." This