Union Steamship Company of New Zealand: Pioneers of Pacific Trade, Tourism, and Innovation (1875–1970s)

The Royal Mail Express Steamers of this Line are dispatched from Sydney every fourth Monday and proceed via Auckland, Samoa, and Honolulu to San Francisco, taking passengers for all European Porta on through tickets. Passengers have the privilege of stopping at any ports en route and traveling to or from Samoa by the Company's Regular Island Steamers.

Discover the history of the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand, one of the largest and most influential maritime enterprises in the Southern Hemisphere. Explore ship histories and maritime innovations—an essential resource for genealogists, historians, and maritime enthusiasts.

The Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, Ltd., was established in Dunedin, New Zealand, in July 1875 to take over the business and plant of the Harbour Steam Company, a small local proprietary that had existed for some years and whose trade initially confined to the carriage of passengers and cargo between Dunedin and Port Chalmers, had afterward been extended to ports of the Middle Island.

The steamers taken over consisted of three boats of small tonnage, "Maori" (118 tons register), "Beautiful Star" (146 tons), "Bruce " (460 tons), employed in the coastal trade of the Middle Island, and two steamers, "Hawea" and "Taupo," of what was then considered excessive tonnage (720 tons gross register each), which had been ordered some months previously, given the Company extending its operations to the North Island.

The policy that the Union Company's directors adopted at the initiation of their services and which they have consistently carried out until the present time was to look ahead and make provision for all probable requirements. They also had reserve plants available for unforeseen emergencies or new trade channels that might offer employment for tonnage.

The company's business was initially confined to the coastal services of the Colony, with occasional extensions to Sydney. During the following year (1876), the Company took over the plant and business of the New Zealand Steam Shipping Company, a Wellington proprietary that had for some years been engaged in the coastal trade of the Colony.

The next important step the Directors took was the purchase of 1878 of the intercolonial fleet of Messrs. McMeckan, Blackwood, &—Co., which then ran a weekly service between Melbourne and New Zealand.

This acquisition strengthened the Company materially, as it completed the communication chain between Melbourne, New Zealand, and Sydney. It practically placed the entire coastal and intercolonial carrying in its hands.

Seeing great possibilities in the development of the intercolonial trade, more particularly between New Zealand and Sydney, which was, to no small extent, a free port and offered a good market for New Zealand produce, the Directors decided upon procuring a steamer superior in every way to anything hitherto seen in The Colony, the result of which was the appearance in these waters in September 1879, of the splendid steamer "Rotomahaua," soon to be known as the "greyhound of the Pacific," a sobriquet which she has enjoyed to the present time. However, in size and accommodation, she has been surpassed by subsequent additions to the fleet.

It is worth noting that this steamer was the first trading vessel built of mild steel, and this material enabled her to escape severe damage in one or two mishaps in her earlier career. The fact was widely chronicled and led to a revolution in shipbuilding, with mild steel now almost universally employed in constructing the most valuable steamships.

The directors' courage was rewarded by seeing the fleet fully occupied. In pursuance of their policy of keeping well ahead of the Colony's requirements, they continued to order steamer after steamer, each more luxuriously fitted than its predecessor.

Every scientific improvement, either in the machinery or the fitting of vessels, was brought into requisition for their construction so that from the modest beginning already recorded, the fleet of the Union Company has grown to be the largest and most powerful in the Southern Hemisphere.

The company's connections have extended with its fleet. In 1881, it embarked on service in the South Sea Islands trade, beginning with service between New Zealand and Fiji. This service has gradually been extended until it now includes regular monthly connections between New Zealand and Australia and the Island groups of Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Saratoga, and Tahiti.

In 1885, in conjunction with the Oceanic Steam Ship Company of San Francisco, it took up the mail service between the Colonies and the United States and has retained it ever since.

In 1891, the Company purchased the plant and business of the Tasmanian Steam Navigation Company, which had for many years carried on the trade between Tasmania and Australia.

This acquisition completed the natural circuit of the Company's Australian trade. The later absorption of a small local company working in close connection with the Union Company's business enabled the latter to make provision for the increasing trade brought about by the rapid development of the mines in the Western districts of Tasmania.

It is unnecessary to record in detail how, year after year, the company's fleet and trade have grown to their present dimensions. It need only be stated that at the present time, the fleet engaged in regular employment numbers 55 steamers, with an aggregate tonnage approaching 74,000 tons, and of these, fourteen register between 2,000 and 4,000 tons.

The passenger arrangements in these steamers are all of the most modern kind, and nothing has been spared to make travel by the sea smooth and comfortable.

While the newer boats are fitted with all the luxuries that the skill of the shipbuilder has made possible, many of the fleet's older ships have been modernized by the introduction of improved machinery, electric light, and other arrangements that add to the pleasure of a voyage.

As examples of the growth of the Company's business, it may be noted that at the close of 1876, the fleet comprised nine steamers, and it now numbers 55. In 1876, the number of passengers carried was 25,000, and the cargo was 95,000 tons. In 1897, these figures had increased to 173,330 and 1,131,535, respectively.

The fleet steamed 171,000 miles in 1876 and 1,819,680 in 1897. The number of the Company's employees, i.e., those afloat and those on the permanent staff ashore in receipt of monthly pay, apart from casual laborers, in 1876 was 223, and in 1897, it was close to 2,500.

The Directors take a particular interest in the welfare of the Company's employees. Their crews enjoy peculiar comforts and privileges. A Benefit Society has been established in the interests of their men afloat, to which the Company contributes an annual subsidy. Also, it provides a considerable proportion of the annual premiums of its officers' life insurance.

Although the Company's progress is mostly the result of the prosperity of the Colonies, and the latter's state of trade has a barometric effect on the Company's operations, it could not have attained and held its present position without wise heads and sound judgment to direct its affairs.

It has always been fortunate in numbering amongst its directors men who hold leading positions in the commercial community and whose energy and judgment are mutually recognized.

The Chairman of the Company, the Hon. George McLean, M.L.C., has filled that position since the company's formation. At the same time, the general operations of the Company's business have been continuously controlled and administered by its first and present Managing Director, Mr. James Mills.

The remaining members of the Board, Messrs. E. B. Cargill, J. R. Jones, A. W. Morris, and J. M. Ritchie, are all well-known men in business circles who have devoted their energy and ability to the development of the Company's business and the administration of its affairs for many years.

In the company's regular trades, the Annual Excursions to the West Coast Sounds of New Zealand may be included. These have been run without interruption since 1877 and, from small beginnings, have developed into trips that attract excursionists from all over the world.

During January and February of each year, the Company runs two, and occasionally three, trips, each occupying nine days from Port Chalmers, during which the most attractive of the Sounds are visited.

The steamer remains in Milford Sound for two days to give excursionists an opportunity to visit Sutherland Falls. The government has been steadily improving the track to the Palls over the last few years, so they are now easily accessible.

These excursions are distinctively characterized by passengers' social enjoyment, with the whole trip taking the form of an extended picnic.

In January 1899, the Company planned to make a new departure from its West Coast Sounds trips. It has been asked on many occasions to extend its trips to include Stewart Island and the beautiful Sounds in Cook Strait, Queen Charlotte, and Pelorus Sounds.

Besides their natural attractions, these possess a particular interest because of their connection with the great navigator, Captain Cook, who spent some time in Queen Charlotte Sound on each of his visits to New Zealand. To meet this generally expressed desire, the Company proposes to utilize its splendid new steamer "Waikare" in making a complete circuit of the Middle Island, calling at Half Moon Bay and Paterson Inlet, Stewart Island, proceeding thence to the most attractive of the West Coast Sounds, and afterward to Pelorus and Queen Charlotte Sounds.

The round trip from Dunedin and back will take 15 days, and the journey from Sydney to Melbourne, including the New Zealand excursion, will take 30 days. Passengers will be permitted to break their journey at any port en route.

In addition to the Special Sounds Excursions, the Company has organized several excursions to the Coral Islands of the South Pacific. The last of these, made by the "Waikare" in July and August 1898, was a brilliant success and created great interest in these islands.

It is proposed to repeat the excursion in July-August next year and to vary the route slightly to break new ground for excursionists. The "Waikare" will leave Sydney about 1 July 1899 and will visit Auckland, Tonga, and Samoan Groups, Wallis Island, Fiji, Rotuma Island, New Hebrides, and New Caledonia, arriving back in Sydney about 10 August.

Advertisement: Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, Ltd. (Ship at Bottom Left) Canadian-Australiasian Royal Mail Line's Oil Burning R.M.S. "Niagara," 13,500 Tons. (The Blue Peter: The Magazine of Sea Travel, October 1924) | GGA Image ID # 22550375e9

Transcription of October 1924 Advertisement

AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND SOUTH SEAS
CANADIAN-AUSTRALASIAN ROYAL MAIL LINE.
Via Vancouver, Honolulu, Suva, Auckland to Sydney.

UNION-AUSTRALASIAN LINE.
Via San Francisco, Papeete, Rarotonga, Wellington to Sydney.

Monthly sailings (alternating at fortnightly intervals] by each route.
Through Bookings from U.K ports.

Passengers may travel from U.K. ports by any Atlantic Line and by
direct optional routes over Canadian and U.S.A. Railways

For Fares, Itineraries, etc., apply :
W. L. JAMES, General Passenger Agent,
P. A O. House (first floor),
14 COCKSPUR STREET. LONDON, S.W.1,
or to any Agents of the Lines.

The Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, its routes, steamers and hotels are of prime significance in the round-the-world traffic system. The more intimate working arrangements recently created with the P. & O., British India, Orient and other lines, serve but to amplify the public facilities of communication which the Companies, working individually, formerly offered.

Thus, passengers from Europe or Australasia purchasing a Union Company's Return Ticket by the Canadian-Australasian Line (" The All-Red Route ‘‘) via Vancouver, or by that Company's alternative route via San Francisco, may return via Suez In an Orient or P. & O. steamer, by a steamer of the New Zealand Shipping Co.. Ltd., via Panama or by Blue Funnel Line or Aberdeen Line via the Cape, on a slight adjustment of passage money.

For visitors from Europe or voyagers from Commonwealth or New Zealand ports the Union Company's local itinerary has especial interest, by reason of the variety, range and frequency of its inter-colonial, New Zealand and Tasmanian coastal services, and because of its South Sea Islands Lines from Sydney and New Zealand ports, which provide three departures a month each way. variously serving the island groups of Fiji, Samoa, the Tongan Archipelago and the Society and Cook Islands. The value of these local facilities is enhanced by the fact that at Suva, in Fiji, the Union Company possesses one of the most attractive and up-to-date hotels of the southern hemisphere.