SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1875.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 420, 16 October 1875, Page 2

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1875.

Whatever may be thought of the wisdom of paying a large subsidy for a postal service via Sail Francisco, it must he acknowledged that the gentlemen to whom the negotiations were entrusted appear determined to place the service on a more satisfactory footing than has hitherto been the case. The irregularity in the delivery of the homeward mails has in many cases arisen from the fact that the mail bags have been sent from New York by the first available steamer, without regard to the number of days she wmuld be likely to take in crossing the Atlantic. The proposition of Sir Daniel Cooper and Mr Thomas Eussell, that no boats except those of the White Star, Inman, or Cuuard line should be employed in carrying the Australian and New Zealand mail, is a very good one. The boats of these three celebrated lines make the passage between New York and England with the same regularity as is observed on an ordinary line of railway, and there will be no fear of any delay in that part of the trip. The chance of any delay occurring between San Erancisco and New York ought to be but small, and the question is if the time between San Erancisco and New Zealand can ho accurately kept. Some of the boats at present employed in the service can do the work under the stipulated time, and with new and more powerful vessels on the route there should be no chance of the contract time being exceeded. If the route answers its purpose as a postal line, it will attract more passengers than it does at present, though we must confess to a belief that New Zealand passengers will not appreciate American steamers. The memories of the Nebraska and Nevada are not pleasant to those who had to travel in them, and the complaints of the conduct of the officers and stewards of those vessels were many and deep. The accounts of a voyage in one of the new boats of the line which is to start from Auckland on November the 22nd, will be looked forward to with much interest by those meditating a trip to England. If there is a repetition of the treatment experienced in \Vebb’s boats, when uncivil stewards provided the most indifferent provender, the popularity of the route will suffer. It is easy enough to drive passengers off any particular line, but it is not by any means easy to work up a good reputation for a passenger service. All the conditions of the present line, from New Zealand to San Erancisco, have been those of a more or less temporary service, and the public have a right to expect that, now the present contract is entered into, the convenience of those who may travel by the route should be consulted. The number of travellers between England, America, and New Zealand, is increasing every day, and the returns from the passenger traffic will form no inconsiderable item in the Company’s books. It will be to their advantage to attract as many passengers as they can, and, if they wish to hold their own, they must be prepared to offer the same accommodation and fare as can be obtained on vessels of other lines now running from the Australian Colonies to England.