The Globe. MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1876.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 725, 16 October 1876, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1876.

The decision of the House of Representatives to do away with the costly and hazardous portion of the San Francisco service will meet with general approval. It is difficult to see the use of it beyond affording to the people of the various ports an opportunity of inspecting the boats of the line. The conveyance from Auckland of the mails can be as expeditiously carried on by our local boats as by the mail steamer themselves. Therefore there was nothing to gain so far as this was concerned. On the other hand, the Company inform the Government that they are not in a position to risk their valuable vessels on our coast, and the real state of things had come to be, that we must either give up the coastal service or be prepared to discontinue the mail line. It is remarkable to notice that notwithstanding these facts the Otago members still cling to the coastal service. They seem to ignore the fact that there are other parts of the colony besides Otago, and in this, as in other matters coming before the House during the session, consult only the interests of their own province, rather than that of the colony as a whole. It was plainly stated by the Hon Mr. Whitaker that the Government would either have to forego running the boats to Otago, or give up the service, and yet we find the members from that province still clinging to the coastal service with great pertinacity. As we have before said, we fail to see the utility of running the boats down the coast at considerable risk, and with chances of delay, when the work could be done far better by smaller boats. The trunk service from San Fancisco is now in good working order; the boats arrive punctually, and it is only the risk of delay from a steamer being bar bound at Port Chalmers which prevents the service being more generally used. So long as the present system continued merchants and others could not depend upon their correspondence being forwarded with certainty. Therefore a considerable number prefer to use the Suez line, every letter sent by which isanadditional cost to the colony. By the decision of the House this uncertainty as regards the San Francisco line is now done away with. The mails will be collected and distributed along the coast by boats whose size will prevent any such detention as that happening to the larger ones used by the contractors. Under the new arrangement there will be no more transhipment than is at present the case. Now there has to be a transhipment at Kandavau, and with the new service there will be only the same, but at Auckland. It will thus bo seen that the colony will be a gainer, inasmuch as our share of the subsidy will be reduced by £7,500 per annum, if the boats call at Auckland, or by £IO,OOO, if they go to the Bay of Islands. The distribution of the mails to the various ports on the coast will be managed quite as efficiently, if not more so, than is now the case, and the public will have more confidence in the route, aa a reliable means for correspondence. We certainly lose nothing, and the gain is considerable.