The Globe. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1876.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 673, 16 August 1876, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1876.

We trust that the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce at the meeting to-morrow will take some action regarding the San Francisco mail service. Some modification in the existing contract cannot be much longer delayed, and it would be well that the united opinion of the mercantile community of Canterbury should be made public, on such an important question. The present arrangement has proved impracticable, and unless the contracting Governments are prepared to modify it, the contractors may decline to carry out the service altogether. The series of mishaps which have occurred to the steamers while doing the coastal service must be fresh in the minds of our readers. Not only have there been danger and delay in connection with Port Chalmers, but more than one boat has failed to call

at Napier on account of the state of the weather. The coastal service from the first was a mistake, and would never have been included in the contract at all, had not the influence of Mr. Macandrew and his followers, been too powerful in the House. But the colony cannot longer go on throwing away money to flatter the vanity of the people of Dunedin. Were there no other boats on our coast capable of performing rapidly the work of distributing and collecting our mails, it would be a different question; but when such Jexist, it is short-sighted policy indeed to contribute largely from the public chest, to enable an outside company to compete for our local trade, to the injury of vested interests in the colony. To our mind it is a doubtful question whether it is worth while to continue the contract any longer, if, as it is said, the contractors would be glad to get out of it. It is a luxury, and one which after all might very well be dispensed with. The Suez route has hitherto, and is likely to continue, we are afraid, the more reliable one, and were we to depend upon it alone, a very considerable saving could he effected in the cost of carrying our mails. Of course it is a very pleasant position to occupy, to have our enterprise and pluck made the theme of universal remark in England and America. But the saving of a good round sura per annum is at the present moment considerably more important to New Zealand in the present state of her finances, than such an empty honour.

If, however, the contract is to be continued, the coastal service in New Zealand, and the calling at Kandavau must be abandoned, or else New Zealand must be content to rurf a branch boat to Fiji, allowing the large steamers to run between San Francisco and Sydney direct. This arrangement would enable our mails to be carried as quickly as at present, and it is said that the subsidy payable by this colony could then be reduced by £20,000, while New South Wales, getting the exclusive benefit of the main line, might properly contribute £SOOO per annum more than she does now. Were this proposal not acceptable to New Zealand, the alternative left would be to make some place in the colony the port of call. The Bay of Islands has been suggested, and is we believe looked upon with some favor by the contractors themselves. But such an arrangement would not suit the town of Auckland, and if that city could be made the New Zealand terminus without any great increase in the coat, it might be well so far to yield to the wishes of the people. The Auckland Chamber of Commerce, at a recent meeting, adopted a report on the mail service, in which the faults of the present contracts are fully set forth, and the claims of Auckland to being made the port of call, urged, It is pointed out that were the Bay of Islands selected, trade with America would not be developed, only a few hours’ steaming would be saved ; nor is the Bay at present a desirable rendezvous, nor could any engineering work, of however trifling a nature, be performed there. For these and other reasons the Chamber is of opinion that the terminus should be at Auckland instead of the Bay of Islands. We think the Chamber is right. For the sake of a few hours’ steaming, if the cost is the same, it is hardly worth while aiding, to divert to the Bay of Islands a trade which Auckland, in virtue of her position, has some right to claim.