OVERSEA MAILS.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17109, 2 April 1921, Page 9

OVERSEA MAILS.

THE SAN FRANCISCO SERVICE. (By Cable—Press Associnlion—Coprri?ht.) (Australian and N.Z. Cablo Association.) SYDNEY, April 1. An announcement has been- mado that the Union Steam Ship Company's vessels are resuming the San Fran-cisco-Svdnev service, commencing on April 26th 'with tbo Tahiti. [This nioang- that tho San Francisco mail steamers will make Sydney their terminal port on their voyages to and from the American port, via Wellington, instead of "turning round" at the latter rjort.] THE VANCOUVER SERVICE. »

(rnESS ASSOCIATION' TELEGRAM.') AUCKLAND, April 1. In a letter to the Chamber of Commerce, replying to a suggestion that in the new contract for mail services with Canada, Auckland should be the lerininalport instead'of Sydney, Mr. MasFey said that although Australia did not contribute towards the subsidy, the passenger traffic between Vancouver and Sydney always exceeded that between Vancouver and Auckland. The cargo carried between Vancouver and Sydney was also considerable, and the. value'of the Australian business had been one factor weighing heavily with the company carrying the mail service. It was to "be anticipated, if Auckland were made the terminal port, that many .advantages would accrue to New Zealand merchants, who would bo able to cater for trade with "Western Canada and Hawaii without competition by Australian shippers on the same vessels. Under such an arrangement it might be. expedient to send vesesls south as far as Lyttelton, enabling cargo from that port-and Wo"ingt.on and' Auckland to be shipped :0 a flat rate of freight. . . . Other contingencies that required cpnsideration, Mr Massey said, would be 1 dock accommodation and fuel oil for steamers of the Niagara class or of a iarger tonnage. • Was Auckland equipped with the necessarv accommodation in these respects? Ho would be pjad if the Chamber would go into.the whole matter and give him. its opinion whether sufficient cargo could now he obtained from New Zealand, and Vancouver to fill these, vessels, also whether the transhipping of passengers at Auckland would have a detrimental effect on the passenger traffic now carried by these steamers. . The letter was referred to the Shipping Committee of the Chamber.