NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIAN STEAMSHIP LINE.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2552, 22 April 1871, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIAN STEAMSHIP LINE.

Our Now Zealand and Australian readers will be glad to learn that tho long mooted steam-hip line from San Francisco to the Co'onies is now an assured fact, and that the lirst vessel of the new service will leave our port on the Bth of April. On the 7th instant the Eon. Julius Vogel telegraphed from Washington to the proprietors of this paper that the “ contract with Messrs. Webb and Holiaday was just signed,” and at a later dispatch from Mr. W. 11. Webb, at that time in Now York, gave the full particulars of the arrangements made. The contract signed is “for a four-weekly line between San Francisco, Now Zealand, Sydney, and Melbourne, at such a speed as to enable the mails to bo delivered in London, or vice rersn, in forty-eight days. The pioneer steamer is to soil on the Sth of April.” The magnificent ship Nevada, formerly in the Panama service, is to be the lirst vessel employed. Hhc is announced to stop at Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands ; Auckland, Lyttleton, and Port Chalmers, N. Z. : connected with steamers for Sydney, N.S.W. and Melbourne, Victoria. Returning via tho same ports, she wid leave Port Chalmers on MayiJrh, and Auckland on May Ifhh. 'J he first vc-sels employed in the service will be the Nebraska, Nevada, Santiago de Cuba, Dacotab, and Moses Taylor, all staunch, first-class vessels, the four former being equal in speed and accommodation to any on the Pacific Ocean. As will he seen above, the contract is fora four-weekly service, i.e., thirteen trips per annum, alternating with the steamers of the P. &0. line. Up to the present time Congress has blindly refused to see that the subsidy asked for the establishment of the line was a perfectly legitimate demand on the nation’s purse. But the prospects arc good for a speedy reconsideration of the subject. Unfortunately, at the time when the bill was laid before the Saiate and House, there were a number of otln-r steamship subsidies of a more or less questionable nature demanded, and our scheme, deserving of the utmost encouragement Lom any member who believes in the establishment of American commerce, suffered in their company. Sooner or later we must believe that tho necessary aid will be granted, which, with the assistance of tho Australian Colonies, will establish the line as one of tho foremost in the world.

The New Zealand Government has, by its liberal action, virtually inaugurated the line on a substantial bads, and will undoubtedly reap the reward of its enterprise. Its representative here, the Hon. Julius Vogel, from the moment of his arrival worked

steadily and persistently in this good cause. Ho addressed the Chambers of Commerce of San Francisco, Chicago, and elsewhere, on the subject, and the satisfactory arrangements just consummated at Washington are very much due to bis tact and perseverance. Wherever he has travelled, he has left an impression highly complimentary to himself, the Government he rep esents, and the enterprise and enlightenment of his fellow Colonists. His addresses have been characterized by good sense, terseness, and a thorough comprehension of the subject. Mr Vogel left for England on the Cuuar.l steamship Russia, on the Bth of March, immediately after the consummation of the contract with Messrs Webb and Holladay.— News of he World.