MR VOGEL AT SAN FRANCISCO.
On Air Vogel’s arrival at San Francisco he met the Chamber of Commerce there. The meeting was fully attended, and after a few pertinent remarks from the President (Air K. B. Swain) Air Vogel said : 1 thank you very much for meeting me here to-day. So m after I arrived in San Francisco yesterday morning, 1 was informed that the Chamber of Commerce, which has taken so deep an interest in the opening up of communication between this port and the Australasian Colonies, would he glad if 1 would attend a meeting, so as to he able to give to the Chamber any information I might possess upon that suhj ct. Whilst thanking you personally, I welcome your invitation with the more pleasure, because 1 regard it as an earnest that you desire to see the United States, and San rancisco in particular, connected with the Anstrala-.ian Colonies by a rapid and frequent mail communication. I speak with confidence on behalf of New Zealand, when I say that, anxious as wo are that that Colony should be so connected with San Francisco, with a view to speedy communication with Great Britain for m HI purpose?, that anxiety yields to the still stronger desire which the pcop’e of New Zealand feel that extensive commercial relations should be developed avitb SanFrancisco, and with the United States generally. It would be useless for me to attempt to enter into stain-ties of the trade which may arise in consequence of such a mail communication; because I am speaking to gentlemen who arc better acquainted with the commercial aspect of the question than I can he ; and because 1 have had an opportunity of examining the interesting memotial of the Chamber to Congress, wdiich has been referred to by your chairman, and which show’s how completely you are posted up upon that aspect of the question. I will rather, therefore, endeavor to give to you a brief history of what has taken place in the colonies upon the subject. You are all, probably, familiar with what had taken place in California and the United States on the matter—though that, perhaps, is saying somewhat too much, because there seems to have been a great deal of negoeiation going on here which I confess 1 am not altogether able to understand. THE ACTION’ OR NEW ZEALAND. In New Zealand, it has always been a point to open up communication with Great Britain through or in connection with America. Before your vast system of railways across the continent was finished —I might almost say, before it was practically commenced —New Zealand arranged for a mail line by way of Panama, at a cost of LI 10,001) a year, one half of the cost being defrayed by New .South Wales. After that line had existed some time, and when it became certain that at an early date the great work of connecting by railway the Atlantic and Pacific coasts would be completed, it was seen in New Zealand that, sooner or later, the Panama line would have
to yield to one by way of San Francisco. A considerable time before the system of railroads was finished, the New Zealand Go- i vernment commissioned Air Crosbie Ward—formerly Postmaster-General-a gentleman who was mainly instrumental in arranging for the Panama line, but who is now no more—to ascertain, while on a visit to the United States, the feeling that existed as to substituting a route by way of San Francisco for that by Panama so soon as the railway communication should be completed. Air Ward was not able to obtain much information upon the subject; but he satisfied himself that if a Hue from New Zealand to San , Francisco was established, it be au American line. Viewed by the light of after events, that was not an unimportant conclusion at which to arrive. You are, no doubt, aware, that recently there have been many competitors for the establishment of i the line : but the New Zealand Government has never been other than mindful of the conclusion to which Air Ward had come, that, to be sucoes-iul. the line must be an American one, or, at all events, that the line likely to be most succesful was one whica would receive the support of the United States Government and which, therefore, would probably require to be au American line. Here, at so great a distance from the Australian Colonies, you arc in the habit of speaking of them generally as “ Australia.” But, in fact, these Colonies have their own local interests the same as other parts of the the world, and there is amongst them a fair share of local jedousy, New Zealand, as I have said, has always taken up a somewhat distinct position in the matter, and held that for her the heat line of communicati ui with Great Britain would be by way of America. Victoria has devoted most of its attention and given most of i s sympathies to a line by way of Suez and Gallo ; whatever desire has been manifested for another route being in favor of a line of powerful and fast steamers running around the Capo of Good Hope. Consequently, the ,- e was in \ ictoria very little sympathy in favor of the new route when the Panama Hue was established. New South Wales shaved with New Zealand the cost of that li ic : but that Colony is at present a contributor to the G alleluia and it has an unquestionable st-ong sympathy in favor of a distinct line to the north of Austral! >. through Tom es Strait’. Nearly two ; yews ago a proposal was made to the Government of New Zealanl, by Queensland • and Sew South Wales, to establish jointly ■ a Hoe by way of Torres Straits and Suez, • independently of tpe iiqe Ijy way of Alel- ; bourpe and Galle. The General Assembly I of New Zealand, however, decide 1 in favqr of 3, line by *yay qf San Francisco ; it being ! uqw about eighteen mouths since a pegqlu--3 tion to that effect was pq.;se 1 by oqr Hquse : qf ](opresenfcativeg. | THE EARLY 4-llp \N(;-E.q It was in consequence of this resolution 3 that, as Postmaster-General, I entered in‘o o,q arrangement with Mr H. H. Hall, in Sydney, wVoh led to th(j initiation of the Hue to Honolulu, connecting with the beats of the North Pacific Transportation Company, , which were already running between San r Francisco and Honolulu. 'l'he contract with Mr Hall was of a tentative nature ; its objo :t , was to lead to the establishment of a line of j steamers mere capacious and powerful, which should be suitable not alone for mail pur--1 I’Oies, but for developing a large passenger j traffic and a consider..hie commerce. In the United States, and especially in this city, I the question of the expediency of establishing , a line to the Australian Colonies, was being —■' A about the same time ; but New p discusoo.. ~ ■’ , Zealand acted whilst tue t."C"“ Nloa wn - 8 l n „° K ceeding, and started such a Hue ; althou 3 . confessedly on a small scale. The last boat, under the contract with Mr Hall, is to leave , Auckland on the 7th March qexp. Dipuqg the time the boats baye been miming under that contract, frequent overtures have been > made to the New Zealand Government, with the object of establishing permanently a line of efficient steamers. The se overtures were 1 made by the representatives ot various comt panics, and by influential persons in tbeir own behalf both in the United States and in Great Britain. In fact there has been no ; lack of offers ; for steamers having been once 1 run, and the practicability of success having L been consequently shown, a good many per--5 sons were quite willing to take up the ser- ) vice aiul continue it. It would serve no good ' purpose were 1 to tell you of all the proI traeted negotiations that have taken place ; > suffice it to say that some months ago the 1 G ivernment of Now Zealand came to the con- ; elusion that it was not desirable (o continue • the contract with Mr Hall, on the ground 1 that the boats run under that contract—- ) although unquestionably they had been very 1 useful in opening up the route—were not of 1 a character that could be continued per- • manently on the line. The Government of - New Zealand, therefore, determined to make . a contract with gentlemen here who were I very anxious to carry on the service, and 1 -who, as wc wore assured, wore certain to to in aid a fair amount as subsidy from f the United States. The New Zealand Go--5 vernment has always supposed that the ser- ■ vice would be taken up with at least equal ■ zeal by the Government and the people of ■ the United States; and also that the Aust tralian Colonies, althoueh they h-td shown 1 themselves not disposed to aid in the initia--1 tion of the service, would yet lie ready to use > it, and to pay fairly toward it, when the ser--1 vice was permanently established and its 1 benefits were brought, so to speak, to their ■ very doors. Statements have, I know, been • made hero, about some division of opinion in 1 the Australian Colonies upon this subject, I and about a desire that two lines should be 1 established. I may say, therofo e, that two I or three months ago it was announced in New 1 Zealand and in Australia that an arrange- ! ment had been made here between two com- ■ peting interests, the representatives of each 1 of which were anxious to continue the service 'rom San Francisco. I allude, of course, • to the interests represented by the 'forth ‘ Pacific Transportation Company and by Air 1 H. Webb. That, of course, was regarded as : a death blow to the already existing line. RUMORS WHICH REACHED AUSTRALIA. But though the announcement had been t made most authoritatively that the union of 1 interests of which I have spoken had been effected, a rumor reached New Zealand, by the mail before I left, lhat the negotiations for such a union were at an end : and. in consequence of that rumor, as I believe, the , Australian Steam Navigation Company thought that there was still a possibility of ; the service being continued by their boats, - which have hitherto done the work as far as Honolulu, under charter to Mr Hall. Capt. 1 Trowton, the representative of the Australian Steam Navigation Company, came ■ down to New Zealand, and just before I left j Auckland he gave me to understand that his advices were that the negotiatnus between
Mr Webb and the North Pacific Transport tiou Company were at an end : and that, u such cise, the A.S. N. Co. had every pros pect of being able to arrange for a continua tion by their steamers of the line to Hono lulu. It is thus, 1 believe, that the rumon here as to a disposition in Australia t( establish a second line have gained circula tion. But I think wo may very confidently conclude that there is no prespect whatevei of a second line be : ng established. There is no possib'e chance of any steamer runuinf from Australia competing successfully witl the large and powerful boats which would have to be rim under the contract which 1 am now arranging—or which, I may say, has been to all intents and purposes, practically arranged. One of the objections raised by
the Governments of the Austral’an Colour against contributing to the service as it no exists—he ause, let it be understood, hithe to they have not enntributed—has been th the steamers omp'oyed were not of sufficie: size or power ; and those G ivcrnments hr as yet shown very little disposition to co tribute, except that the Queensland Asser hly lias voted LIO,OOO a year for a connect!* by way of Auckland or by the Fijis. As have said, however, I believe tint the An tralian Governments will sooner or lat come to see that it is to their interest fair to subsidize the line ; and the Govermne of New Zealand, desirous of adopting i narrow policy, has already intimated to the Governments, that they will he perfectly liberty to us i the new line for the couve ance of their mail?, op the understand)] that whatever permanent arrangement nji hereafter be made, shall date back to t'
commencement of that new line. Perhaps I have troubled you too long with what 1 may ca’l our local Australian questions, aa relating to this mail service ; but I believe that with you, as amongst us, rumors as to local questions arc apt to assume undue dimensions and to lead to the supposition that there are difficulties, when no difficulty really exists. My opinion is that the line which 1 hop; to see commenced almost immediately. will eommind the support of the whole of the Australian Co'onics, although the recognition of it may bo delayed for a while, in the case of some of them. I told yon at the outset why I would not enter upon the commercial details of the quest! n with which I am dealing. But there is somewhat of sentiment connected with the matter. Till’, COLONIAL FELLING TOWARD THE UNITED STATES. "Wo, ip the Colony, look upon the United States qs an elder sister—as a country sprung from the same origin, its people owning th§ same associations and the same traditions. I speak not of political Government, when X say I believe that the people of the Un ted States are ruled or actuated by much the same feelings and motives as we are in the Colonies. We, like you, in degree at least, have countries demanding population and enterprise. You have responded by effecting settlement at a rate, and making in every respect an amount of progress which has commanded the admiration of the world. We hope to progress in settlement more rapidly than we hj ive done ; and the lessons we can draw from your experience will he of the greatest value to us in that work. I will not say that we have not progressed considerably ; for indeed, the Australian Colonies, as a whole, when viewed in the light of th; small amount of outside assistance they have enjoyed—thee mpaiatively short time during which t' ey have existed—and the marve'lous power of self-relianoe they have developed—are instances of astonishing success. The progress of the Colonics has not been altogether of the same nature as the progress of the tJuuAl or if California, which, like the Colours, has had as yet but a short esiatenoe, and the means of progress have also been diflLerent. **• We Jiaye not enjoycq.as you have the immense adv.intages of labor saving machinery, which compensates yon for the high price which labor commands in the United States, But, in oU}< lu(iqhlq way, we in the Colonies have had some ex* perl■■noe which may not be without its value to you; while w’o, T am sure shall gain vastly from your experience, and from tho knowledge we shall be able to acquire when the Colonies are connected with the United States by means of powerful steamers constantly running from and to San Francisco. We shall, for a very long fine to come, if not always, he large consum rs of your manufactures ; and it may he that you will find some of onr products useful to you in the way of assisting your manufactures. When I loft New Zealand two ships wore loading with wool and flax for the United Stale! ; mil X believe that there is a disposition to take considerable supplies of those products from New Zetland. No trade could be more profitable to each party than that which involves our sending you our products, and the same vessels bringing hack to us your manufactures. All experieu e warrants my saying that it is impossible to prognosticate the extent of the interests that M’i]J he developed between tho Colonies and the United States when once there is established a perm.amut, good, and frequent means of intercommunication. I read yesterday, with very great p'easure, a passage in the message of the President of fie United States, in whicli he draws attention to the vast results avhioli may accrue to tho country on account of the extensmn of its commerce, consequent upon the acquirement of the. comparatively small territory of San Domingo. I have no personal knowledge of the details of that ques ; tion ; but if such vast results' may flow out of the additional commerce resulting from intimate relations with a small country ]ik6 that of San Domingo, surely incalculably greater results nnlst follow from the intimate connection resulting from constant communication between the United States, the Australian Colonies, and, to some ex ; tmt, the countless islands of Polynesia, when once the contemplated mail service'is regularly established. ■ ■ i A CON FED EB ATI O N" OF THE ANO LO-SA.NON' PKOPJLF. It is not for me to refer to political questions or considerations. I ain a nieihhCr of the Government of New Zealand, ’which Government exists in virtue of the laws'of Groat liritain. But I do not trench upon politics, in the o diuary sense, when 1 say that there are those, and I am one of their number, -who have for years dreamed a dream, it may he—hut which I nevertheless believe is nearer realisation than many of us may suppose—that there will in time come something in the nature of a confederation of Anglo-Saxon-speaking peoples. (Applause.) Whatever may he, or whatever we may think the probable nature of such a confederation—whatever may be the resulting political relations, I think we must all see that the spirit of the age is moving in the direction of a powerful extension of nationalities. We have a united Germany—many of us may live to see a united
Scandinavia; and, as I have said, we may see also an Anglo-Saxon-speaking confederation, owning the ties of race, superior to considerations of local or partisan irritation, recognizing certain great principles, and determined to work out certaint defined great ends—a confederation which would practically preserve the peace of the world, and which would for all time to come, afford effectual protection to the commerce of the world. —(Applause). It seems to me that in the humble beginning which we are now making in the effort to secure the union of communication between America and the Australasian Colonics, wo arc paving the Way to the proof that whatever the causes which drew the United State? away from the parent country, yet the United States, the eldest child of Great Britain, can extend the right hand of hearty friendship to Great Brhain’s youngest daughter — (applause) can pr>vc that associations of kindred and blood aie not more sentiment, but are associations capable of leading to the promotion of the best interests of peoples. At all events, the connection which we hope to see between the United States and the Australian Colonies, will at least prove that there are effectual and binding ties outside of all merely political considerations. As to the city of i'an Francisco, you will, I hope, permit me to say it is impossible for the merest stranger, like myself, not to recognise that when the trade and commerce of Australasia shall meet iu Sau Francisco the trade and commerce of Chma and the East, this must he one of the great commercial centres of the world. (Applaus s.)
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Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2528, 24 March 1871, Page 2
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3,262MR VOGEL AT SAN FRANCISCO. Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2528, 24 March 1871, Page 2
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