NEW MAIL SERVICE.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 880, 30 November 1870, Page 2

NEW MAIL SERVICE.

MEMORANDUM BY THE HON. THE POST-MASTER-GENERAL. The following has been telegraphed to us by the hon. Mr Vogel, and ip pub lished for general information : , The Postmaster-General records, with much gratification, that, after considerable difficulty and protracted negotiation, he has succeeded in arranging the terms of a new contract for a mail service between New Zealand and San Francisco, with Mr W. Neiilson, the confidential representative of the North Pacific Transportation Company (Messrs Haiiaday and Brenhain, San Francisco), between which company and Mr Webb of New York there has been an amalgamation of interests, and an arrangement entered into by which Mr Webb's ships are to perform the service. The following is an outline of the arrangement entered into : —The contractors are to establish a line of mail steamers, under the style and title of the " United States, New Zealand, and Australian line." The steamers to be employed are the Nevada, the Nebraska, and the Dacotah, with the proviso that the Moses Taylor may be temporarily used in the event of an accident to any of the three vessels named ; and further, that, should any of the three vessels become unserviceable, others are to be substituted by the Postmaster- General.

The contract; vessels are to be in every respect iirst- class mail and passenger steamers, and to be maintained as such. The contract is to be for. ten years, subject to the condition that, within six months from the arrival of the first boat at Wellington, (say about the beginning of September) the Assembly may. decide that the duration of the contract may be for three years only; but the Government are to use their best endeavors to secure that the ten years period be accepted by the Assembly. Tiie service lirst commenced is to be a temporary oue, and in the contract it is described as " line No. \" Three alternative lines are provided, one of which will have to be fiaally adopted under the the conditions set forth in the contract*

Line No. I—A1 —A steamer to leave San Francisco once in every calendar month, commencing ou the 17th February, and to proceed to Port Chalmers, calling at Auckland, Wellington, and Lyttelton; and to return from Port Chalmers to San Francisco once in every calendar month, calling at Lyttelton, Wellington, and Auckland. Between San Francisco and Auckland two ports may be visited, those ports to be selected by Mr Neillson, but to be within the Hawaiian, Society, Navigator, or Fijian group. The parts so selected are to be visited for coaling purposes only, and there is an express prohibition against any connection being effected between either of the coaling ports and any ports in New Caledonia or in Australia for this line. The payment is to be forty thousand pounds for twelve complete services, and any subsidies received from Australia or New Caledonia are to be equally divided between the New Zealand Government and the contractors. Within six months of the date of the arrival at Wellington of the first contract vessel, the Postmaster-General may give the contractors notice that he adopts as the alternative of the initiatory line (No. 1), the line described in the contract as line No. 2. This line is for a service precisely as described under the heading " line No. X," but thirteen complete services are to be performed within the year instead of twelve, and the contractors are to establish a branch steamer between Auckland and Sydney, and any other branches they please from New Zealand ports, but they are not to be at liberty to run any branch steamer except from New Zealand ports. For line No. 2 the payment is to be sixty thousand pounds for thirteen complete services, including the branch line; and all subsidies received, whether from the Australian colonies or from New Caledonia, are to belong wholly to the New Zealand Government. If, within six months of the arrival of the first contract boat at Wellington, the Postmaster-General does not adopt line No. 2, the contractors may expect to carry out line No. 3 or line No. 4. Line No. 3 is similar to line No. 1, only that the contractors are to receive the subsidies from the other colonies, less ten per cent, to be paid to the New Zealand Government. They are to be at liberty to establish branches to any Australian colony or to New Caledonia from New Zealand, but they are not to run any branch boats except from New Zealand ports. The payment for line No. 3 is to be forty thousand pounds, the contractors receiving all subsidies paid by other colonies or retaining the amount less ten per cent, which they are to pay to the New Zealand Government. Line No. 4 is the same as the others in regard to the main boats running to Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, and Port Chalmers, but the contractors are to be at liberty to run branch lines from the Fiji Islands to Australia, and to make such arrangements as they please respecting subsidies from colonies other than New Zealand. The payment for this line to be thirty thousand pounds per annum. The contract time between San Francisco and Auckland is to be twenty-four days, and the contractors are to use all diligence to perform the distance between Auckland and Port Chalmers within one hundred hours, subject to a penalty of two pounds per hour for unnecessary delay. If tlie Government adopt line No. 2, the contract time between San Francisco and Sydney is to be thirty days. If the con-, tract time is exceeded, the contractors are to pay a penalty of two pounds per hour 1 for such excess, unless a reasonable cause, can be shown for it, and they are to re.ceive a bonus of two pounds for each hourless than contract time within which any service is performed between San Francisco and Auckland, or San Francisco and Sydney. The- Postmaster-General is to have power to make or to vary time tables. The vessels may be detained twenty-four hours in Sydney. They may also be, detained forty eight hours in San Francisco, whenever i,t may be necessary so long to await the arrival there of mails from Europe. The eontract vessels are to be exempt from all port, light, or wharf dues* or charges in New Zealand. On board each vessel first cabin passages are tv &§

and which the Postmaster-General proposes now to indicate, To all four lines the feature is common that the'main boat runs from San Francisco to Port Chalmers, calling at Auckland, Wellington, and Lyttelton.

provided, without charge, for a mail agent and his assistant. The contractors are to enter into bonds to the amount of twentyfive thousand pounds per annum, to procure from the United States an exemption from all charges for mails between San Francisco and London, and between New York and San Francisco, which are now imposed under the convention between the United States and Great Britain. The contractors also agree to use their best endeavors to secure a concession under which wool—-the produce of any Colony contributing to the mail subsidy, and the fibre of the phormkim tenax, produced in New Zealand —should be admitted into the United States duty free. These are the principal features of the contract. Some details have to be settled between the contractors and the Postmaster General. Until it is known what the United States may decide to do in respect to some open questions, it may not be desirable that specific offers should be made to Australian colonies. The contract contains ample provisions for securing payment of subsidies from the other colonies. It may be observed that the Post Office Act (No. 2), passed last session, and the terms of the convention proposed to the United States (which Mr Neillson announces that the authorities of that country have agreed to) have been singularly useful in smoothing over one of the most difficult features of the contract —that of dealing with non-subsidised colonies. The Post master-General, in accordance with the resolution of the Assembly, made it a condition, in every case, that the main line steamers should come on to New Zealand, and should call at Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, and Port Chalmers. There was great difficulty in procuring the consent of the contractors' representative to the main line boats visiting so many New Zealand ports, and the arrangement in respect to them, between Auckland and Port Chalmers, with penalty for delay, is the very best that the Postmaster could succeed in effecting. The representative of the con tractors declined to make any arrangement as to Napier, and, whether the contract vessels will call at that port, must depend upon future negotiations.

Every one of the lines will substantially comply with the conditions laid down by the Assembly in the resolutions of last session, but Line No. 4, in permitting the diversion of the Australian traffic at the I'ijis, will be least in accordance with the spirit of the resolutions. Unfortunately, it may be taken for granted that if the Colony does not adopt Line No. 2, the contractors will adopt Liue No. 4. They would by it, in all probability, obtain much larger subsidies from the Australian colonies than by the New Zealand route. In the case of the other line, if the vessels call at the Fijis they are to do so for coaling purposes only. The main steamer is to proceed to New Zealand, and no branches are to be run except from New Zealand ports. The subsidy of £60,000 may seem to be large, especially so as compared with the amount indicated in the resolutions of the Assembly ; care has, therefore, been taken to give the Assembly time to decide whether the Colony shall adopt Line No. 2 or leave the contractors their choice between Line No. 2 and Line No. 4. But as the point is certain to be immediately discussed, the Postmaster-General takes this opportunity of remarking upon it, without, however, committing himself to a conclusion as to which choice will be recommended to the Assembly. Line No. 2 is in effect not widely different from the service contemplated by the resolutions. It is true that the amount named in the resolutions is ,£40,000, and that the Assembly understood that subsidies from other colonies would go in reduction of that sum ; but it must be remembered that for the £60,000 thirteen complete services a year will be secured, and also a branch liue to Sydney—while the line for which the Assemb'y approved of paying £40,000 would have been merely a line to New Zealand, The Australian colonies would have had to arrange for branch services, and would have contributed to the line only as far as New Zealand.' Under Liue No. 2 the Colony will be able to .offjr to lay down the maih in Sydney, If Line' No. 2 is adopted the £60,000 a year will be reduced by the amount of all subside; received from the Australian colonics, and if the concession as regards the convention between the United States and Great Britain be secured (the contractor blading themselves

in a penalty of ,£IOO,OOO per year to obtain it) the postages in England and in Australia would alone amount to a very handsome contribution from the Australian colonies for the carriage of their mails. In any case, the Australian colonies should unitedly pay not less than from £25,000 to £30,000 aye.:r; and supposing the concession above-mentioned to be secured, New Zealand would save a very large sum per annum in regard to her own mail, for the Imperial Government would hand over to the colonies the postages collected on the other side, but which are now detained to defray the charges payable by Great Britain to the United States under tbe convention. It must be added that the adoption of Line No. 2, by placing the whole service in the hands of New Zealand, would secure them the traffic between Great Britain and the United States on the one hand, and the Australian colonies on the other, should it permanently pass through New Zealand instead of passing by it, as would be the case were the contractors enabled to adopt Line No. 4, and so to run branch boats from Fiji to Australia. Still further, if the Golony should adopt Line No. 3, not only will it include connection with Sydney from Auckland, but by lines of steamers already existing there would practically be direct communication between Melbourne and the main line at Dunedin, Lyttelton, and Wellington. [to be concluded to-mobrow.]