THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL SERVICE.

Evening Star, Issue 3856, 3 July 1875, Page 2

THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL SERVICE.

THE PERMANENT BIRVICE The following cablegram has been received by the Sydney Government, and has been forwarded per Heto to the Sew Zealand Government: —“Loudon, June 15. —Mail contract signed by contractors, the American Pacific Company, and John Elder, of Glasgow, and Maogregor, of Leith, jointly and severally. The service to be under the printed conditions sept you. The term, eight years; each Colony paying half. Speed, eleven knots ; subsidy, L 89950. Service begins in November next from Sydney and Port Chalmers, and continues thenoe every four weeks. The boats from ’Frisco sail through from Fort Chalmers, and the boats from’Frisco through to Sydney, connecting at Fiji. The boat from Sydney to Fiji meets the boat from ’Frisco, an l carries the mails to .New Zealand ports—this boat being the next through boat from Port Cha'merß to ’Eritco, returning thenoe to Sydney, and so on. Elder supplies two new snips, the American Company three new ships, all upwards of 2,800 tons, iron, and screws of great power. There is no donbt-of the ability of the contractors. Contract forwarded by out-going mails requires confirmation at the present session of Parliament. Send New Zealand Government a copy of tue printed condition bond and the contract, and this telegram. The cable agreement signed by Vogd and Cowper awaits the seal of the Colony to compIete,—CowPER—KU3SBLL,”

WHO THE CONTRACTORS ARB. According to a later telegram on the 18th ult, tenders for the Pacific service Lave been sent in within the limit named by the late Government. Those who hare perused the voluminous correspondence placed on the table of the House, will be aware, that several of the great •steamship owners ridiculed the smallness of our proposed subsidy, and talked of the necessity of raising it to LIOO.OOO or L 120,000, It is quite obvious that the lowest tenderers had before them the information that L9O, ODD was the Government limit, as they have tendered just L6O below that sum.

Exactly what the “ Pacific Mail and Railway combination ” is, we are not fully informed, but there are intimations in the published correspondence that efforts had been made to secure a combination of the railway companies over whose lines our mails and passengers travel, and the Pacific Mail Company which already predominates in the North Pacific. Whether it is this particular combination that has thus tendered, and whether, if so, they are also in connection with any transatlantic steamboat company, and with the builders of the new vessels that Mr Forbes had ordered, or with the proprietors of the vessels that have already been in the service, we do not at present perfectly know. Anyhow, if the parties are competent, and cau give sat.sfaotory security, the Government will be entitled to close with the offer. It will be seen that there are alternative tender* for the services via Fiji, and for one via Auckland, the la*ter being L 16,600 the cheaper The contractorsproposrdta auopt the original scheme, which was knewn as the “forked line,” so that the vessels coming from San Francisco should go alternately to Otago and to Sydney, the Colony not served by the direct line being on each alternative , occasion served by the branch line. Great objection were made to the complication of this system, and a modification was afterwards proposed which may be called the “ forked scheme” No. 2, or the alternating scheme, which was to be worked as follows t —The main steamer to leave Sydney and go always by way of Vtago and the . ew Zealand ports, calling at Fiji to pick up a branch mail from Sydney, but coming buck direct from San Francisco to fiydney, and dropping the New Zealand mails at Fiji. The effect ox this scheme is that New Zealand would always have the trunk line to San Francieoo, and New South Wales would always have the truck line back; so far this would be an equal division of the advantage, aud it Was said that the arrangement woiild suit the traffic, inasmuch as New Zealand would be likely to have most cargo ,ln the shape, of wool to. send; to. ban .Francisco, and Sydney most cargo to receive from there. As this arrangement was one

the plan* agreed upon between Mr Russell and Mr Samuel, and as it is easier for the contractors than the first forked service, it is probably the one referred i o That being so, wo have to consider whether it is worth while fo pay L 15.000 a year more for such a service than for one by the route in force via Auckland. As New Zealand bears half the expenditure, the extra cost of the alternative service will be to New South Wales L 7.500 a year. The New Zealanders would doubtless prefer it. because it gives them their much desired, coast service, which merely calling at Auckland does not Tn judging as to which of the two arrangements will be most suitable for New South Wales, we re uire to know what is the speed stipulated ? Hitherto, no doubt, the Pacific service has failed as an alternating rival to that vift Brindisi, but it has not failed as an alternating rival to that vi& Southampton, and the greater portion of our mails take the cheaper route. The contract taken up by Mr Hall has been estimated at about LIO,OOO a year, and therefore the new contract is LIO,OOO a year mere, that is to say, 1.6,000 to each Colony. On Hie whole, that is not a great increase considering the way in which the line has been disparaged in the eyes of contractors, and the way in which capitalists have been frightened by jthe real er pretended ruin brought upon Mr Forbes and Mr Debouche. —‘S.M. Herald.’

OTLATS IK PMJTBRT. The last English mail sboul 1 have left London on May 4, and ban Francisco in May 24th. It should then have arrived at Auckland on June 20th, at Wellington on June 23rd. at Lyttelton on Jun® 24th, and at Port Chalmers on June 25th. As it happened, the Cyphrems (the steamer whose turn it was to carry the mail from San Francisco) did not leave till May 25th, the mail from London being a day late. This, by the way, is the gte»> drawback of the American route, that so very much of it, including the portion where delays are most frequent, is not affected by any contract entered into by the Colonies. However well tho service between Sydney and San Francisao is . carried on, there will always be a risk of loss of loss of time in the conveyance of the mails across the continent of America and the Atlantic. To resume however. Although the Cyphrenes, as we said, started a day late, she made so rapid a passage that she net only picked up the lost day but gained two more, and arrived at Auckland at 11 p.m on Friday, the 18th instant, two clear days before contract time. This was a highly creditable performance. Had ordinary expedition been used in the interprovincial part of the service, the mails would have been delivered at each port down to Port Chalmers two days in advance, and the Californian line would for once have gained “a Colonial reputation” for smartness. But of course this was not to be. The authorities seem to have thought that, as the mail was before' its time, there was plenty ,of time to spare. The Ladybird, with the Southern letter bags, came leisurely jogging along the c®ast ; and the result was that the maibwhich, according to the timetable, should have reached Lyttelton on Thursday the 24th, did not arrive till it was already due at Port Chalmers, on the afternoon of Friday the 25th. The three days the Cyphrenes had gained between San Francisco and Auckland were frittered away between Auckland and the South.— ‘ Press.’