THE NEW CALIFORNIAN MAIL CONTRACT.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 841, 7 April 1871, Page 2

THE NEW CALIFORNIAN MAIL CONTRACT.

The following is a summary of the contract recently concluded by the Hon. Julius Yogel for the conveyance of mails to and from San Francisco : —

The contract is between Messrs Webb and Holladay on the one hand, and Mr Yogel, Postmaster-General of the colony, on the other. The line is established for a term of ten years, terminable, however, at the end of three years. The service is to be performed by three first-class steamers, the Nebraska, Nevada, and Dacotah ; a smaller one, the Moses Taylor, is to be kept as a reserve ship, and is only to be used in cases of emergency. There are to be thirteen services in the year, a steamer of the line leaving Auckland and San Francisqo respectively every twenty-eight days, calling at two convenient coaling places in the South Sea Islands ; and in New Zealand, calling at Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, and Port Chalmers, The time allowed for each trip between San Francisco and Auckland, and i>iee versa (Including stoppages) is twenty-four days. Tl\e contract provides for the establishment of a branch service to Sydney, New South Wales, by ships of the same size and equal in every respect to those employed on the main line, and may also, if Victoria is willing to pay a sum of L 25,000, which is to be equally divided between the contractors and this colony, run the branch vessel on to Melbourne. The time allowed for the branch services is — Auckland to Sydney, four days and three-quarters ; Sydney to Melbourne, fifty-five hours, or thirty-two d,ays from San Francisco tq Melbourne. Tor'the new service the New Zealand. Government has to pay L 50,000 per annum, aud if the branch steamer to Sydney is not run during the first four months of the contract, the Qovernine.nt fop tha.t period has only ' v to pay ait^the. rateof L 40,000 per annum, The contractors reserve a right to run during the ouurse of the first year of their oontract, if they so wish, the main steamer from Auckland to Sydney, instead of down the New Zealand coast, that service to be performed by one of the steamers provided, for the mail service to Sidney., which must then on returning & Anckland'gb on to, San Francisco.' Jd subsequent years the contractors are only \$ ha^e tjie. right tO $PJI4 S n § °t %. PMPtRaI boats on to SJydney twice in each\ year, The. Pqs.tma.Btt?r-Qen§ral m,ay make a contract with the Government* of New

Caledonia, or with any of the Australian Colonies, the profits, as in other cases to be equally divided between the colony and the contractors. The contractors are rigidly bound to run no mails or branch steamers except from New Zealand ports without the consent of the Postmaster-General.. The PostmasterGeneral is to fix dates of departure, the penaljby for delay in starting with or delivery of mails to be ajt the rate 6f L2> per Kour ;- on the other hand, the contractors are to receive a bonus at the. rate of L 2 per hour for as many hours as the mail may be delivered under the contract time. On all the steamers a proper" sorting room is to be provided, also accommodation for a mail agen 1 ; and assistant. No chftTaes-are to be made in any New Zealand ports for light and harbor due 3, wharfage, &c, and the Government is *o use its influence to get similar concessions made by the Australian Governments. In order, to encourage trade between New Zealand and, America, the contractors pledge themselves to use their influence with the American Government to induce them to admit plwrmium tenax and wool produced in the Colonies contributing to the line duty free.. The contractors are liable to a deduction of LIOQO per unuum if the mails are not, in terms of the postal convention existing at present between the United States and New Zealand, carried across the American continent free of expense. For any breach of the contract, the Postmaster-General can determine the contract by giving three months' notice. The contractors are bound in a sum of L25,000t0 ! commence their contract, and are to be bound in a penal sum of L 25,000 for its due performance. / \