Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎223v] (449/1814)

THE STEAM FERRY SERVICE.
■ ■ —
The sudden stoppage of Messrs. Shepherd and Com
pany’s ferry service on the Ulva and Dharamter Tin*
has caused a dislocation of the traffic along the Bom
bay coast, and it has been the cause of raising ar
outcry among the poorer class of passengers who usee
to utilize the ferry to a considerable extent for goin£
to and coining from their gaums. On learning fcha
the ferry was stopped’, and the boats that used to b<
^ employed on the business were otherwise engaged
) about five hundred persons waited on Mr Haji Ismail
* a member of Messrs. Shepherd and Company’s firm, a 1
0 his house in the native town, and entreated him t(
’’ reconsider the question in their own interest. Th<
reply given by him was that the whole thing resfce(
with the Sircar and with the Lat Sahib, meaning witl
\ the Bombay Government and wich H. E . the Gover
nor of Bombay, and that cooimunications in thi
behalf were still in progress. This answer was no
quite satisfactory to the applicants who left th
i place discontented
7 Messrs Shepherd and Company, however, aver tha
[ they are in no way losers by the stopping of th
ferry, but that the public were so. On the contrary
their three boats, since they were run on other line
have been a source of increased income and revenu
. to them. The binding they had given since th
year 1885 to carry Government specie or treasur
the mails, the prisoners or convicts, and the office;
in charge of all of them, free of cost, is now r
longer in existence, and they are free from i
enforcement. With these bindings in force la;
year, and with the reduced privilege of carryin
' passengers and their baggage granted under th
amended agreement of the year 1894, they had bee
short of their passenger-traffic by near upon thirty
five thousand souls, which, coupled with the loss (
revenue arising out of making no charge for the cor
veyance of treasure, convicts, and the mails, had to!
on their legitimate and average income. Since ti
creation of the monopoly the first contracts used t
begin in the first paragraph after this fashion
“ The contractors shall have the exclusive right <
working the ferry for the carriage of passengers ar
their baggage and such other description of freigi
specified in the schedule.” This wording had throw
the country craft out of all competition with tl
monopolists. But at the end of the year 1893, M
Lamb, the Collector of Colaba, inserted the wo;
“steam'” and made the clause to run:— 14 The contrac
ors shall have the exclusive right of working the stea
ferry, etc.,'” thus freeing the country craft from t
obligation they were under hitherto, and whittlij
down the monopoly. Since that time the boats work
by steam were only debarred from entering into cot
petition with the vessels of the monopolists, who we
protected to that extent and no farther. Moreovt
the comparative facilities enjoyed.by the countr
craft in respect of harbour medical examinath
emboldened it to work on a passenger traffic on lin
far easier than the stricter search in steam boats wou
! allow of working. Messrs. Shepherd and Companj
communication made to the Collector of Colaba
May last embody some of the points on whi<
they think themselves aggrieved. They said th
when they were appointed contractors in 186
Government intended to supersede native era
passenger-fcraffie, and establish a regular stea
ferry service between Bombay and the por
across the harbour. The contract gave the
the exclusive right to work the ferries betwe<
Bombay and Mandwa, Bewas, Karanja, Dharamtt
Urari, Hog Island, and Ulva, and vice versa. I
till the year 1894 they remained in exclusive enjo
rxf thiVricrht. Lr fcViof ». ^ " '