THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1147, 2 April 1872, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 1872.

In a recent article on the San Francisco Mail Service we ventured the opinion that the mission of Mr Yogel and Mr Webb to Melbourne-would be successful in inducing the Victorian Government to join in subsidizing the service, and so far as events have gone, we have been correct. We then said that the subsidy asked by Mr Yogel, in order that Melbourne should be made the terminus of the line, was too much, and that, it was likely to be cut down, but still we could see plainly by the nature of the negotiations that the arrangements would be completed, that the subsidy would be granted, and that thereby New Zealand would be materially assisted in carrying on the important, and, at the same time, very expensive Mail Service it had inaugurated, and to which in good faith it was at least for a time, pledged. There was a natural jealousy in existence concerning this new mail route, as it interfered with the old Suez line so familiar to old Victorians, but gradually the feeling has come round, and we are glad to say that the Victorian Government has at last resolved to subsidise Mr Webb's line of steamers .to a limited extent. At a dinner recently given in Melbourne to Messrs Webb and Yogel, when nearly all the members of the leading mercantile firms in that town were pre.

sent, Mr Webb announced his entire satisfaction with his visit to that Colony, and with the amount of success which had acC'onjpanied his efforts- to establish a> Mail Service between America, New Zealand, and Australia, andhe went so far as to say that when the preliminaries were settled between Mr Yogel and Mr Duffy, it would be. found that they had all been anxious to come to an amicable arrangement, so that the steamers might continue to run, v and that Melbourne and not Auckland should be the terminus of the line. There are many reasons why this should be agreeable to all parties, and we have previously referred to them. The principal one is that while it will be a positive gain I to New Zealand shipowners by keeping I the coastal trade within, the Colony, it will, at the same time, relieve the colonists from the payment of many thousands of pounds annually in the way of subsidy. The precise amount which the Victorian Government has agreed to pay annually has not yet transpired, because we believe the contract must be ratified by the Victorian Parliament, still there is very little doubt that the contract will be accepted, and that New Zealand will be relieved from the payment of some L 15,000 or L 20,000 a year, while the service will be continued in all its entirety so far as the conveyance of mails and passengers round the ports is concerned. Only the other day we referred to the face that the large steamers of this line, which for.-Wnths ran home empty, had now established a trade for themselves, and were not only fully loaded but that the last one which left Auckland had to refuse a shipment of flax. .The secret of this has been told by Mr Webb tp the business-men of Melbourne, and it is well worth repxiblishing. It is a very instructive lesson to those who are continually calling out. against anything American, because the very men against whom this colony have been cautioned, are the men who have proved its best friends, and who have recently assisted by their exertions in imparking a value to colonial produce. At the dinner referred to Mr Webb said :-— " When starting the line, notwithstanding the very short time available for advertising, we found a few passengers ' patronising the line, but little or no freight offered in either direction. 1 therefore found it necessary to take some immediate and decided action to set in motion some trade in the leading commodities produced in the respective countries, especially the wool andflaxof the colonies, and thus secure for our steamers the freight on such shipments. I therefore offered to those parties, if they would purchase in the colonies at the approaching wool' and flax sales, that I would freight their purchases not only to San Francisco, but deliver such on through bills of lading at the railroad stations in the cities and towns where their mills and warehouses are located in the Atlantic cities, and at an unprecented low rate of freight,jthusrelievingthemandtheshippers of all trouble and responsibility from the time of shipment until delivery at their own doors. These offers of mine, with still more onerous conditions attached, were accepted by some, and large purchases of wool by American buyers' immediately followed, competing with the home and European buyers, and thus very greatly advancing the market price of wool throughout the whole season in mucnacfyance; perhaps the sensibilities of your own pockets have already determined. This .brings me to, the, present time, when our line is better known ; passengers and freight begin to increase, and the prospects for the future brighten, more especially when I can say that I am assured this Government is ready to join New Zealand in the permanent establishment the line, and I shall have the pleasure of returning home enabled to say to the people of San Francisco, that the two chief cities of the Pacific, situated as to each other at the antipodes, are. to be henceforth by the aid of steam brought face to face and into intimate relations with each other." We only hope that it will prove so, and that by the assistance of all the Colonies this Mail Service may he continued, in full operation naturally, because it must become more and more Valuable as its operations are extended.