CABLE AND MAIL SERVICES.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15869, 7 April 1917, Page 10

CABLE AND MAIL SERVICES.

TO TTTE EDITOR OF "THE PKESS." Sir, —There arc two important subjects that have from time to time been before the local Chamber of Commerce. They aro tho telegraph servico between tho two islands find the oversea mails. It is not only Canterbury that suffers, but the whole of the South Island, and on the mail Question the greater paTt of the North Island. .For the last_ few weeks there havo been constant interruptions owing to breaks in the cables across the Strait, and I have no doubt that -when bad weather sets in the land communications will have their turn, as thero havo been very few winters in my twentyseven years' experience of North Canterbury that 'there lip.s not been interruption. The cable troublo will always bo with us while thev are located in Cook Strait, nnd this is recognised by the. postal authorities transferring tho Wakapnaka terminus to Wellington. Tho friction by the strong currents in the Strait means a continual strain, and it is fairly evident that no cab Jo can stand it for long. There is only one way of overcoming the difficulty, and that is by direct cable communication between Wellington and Christchruch. With regard to tho mail service, practically three-fourths of the Dominion arc being sacrificed for the other fourth in the Auckland Province. Wellington is the nearest port to Sydney, and is served by the best and. fastest steam service, and yet our mails are put on the inferior boats of the SydneyAuckland coastal service, with a result that the greater part of the Dominion get them anything up to throe days later than they would if distributed from Wellington. If the Wellington boats left Sydney on Tuesdays a very large proportion would ret their mails on Saturday, and the remainder at tho latest oh Monday morning: as it is at present Auckland gets its mails on Monday morniuCT and the res. of t!i 0 Dominion anv time up to Thursday. It, would be better in the interests of the whole if the Vancouver servico made Wellington < the distributing port: it would certainly arrive about one dav later, but the for distributing both mails aud cargo, leaving out the convenience to passengers, would easily counterbalance the slight delav. —Yours, etc.. MERCHANT. C'kristehurch, April sth, 1917,