DIRECT MAIL SERVICE TO SAN FRANCISCO.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 885, 30 August 1910, Page 2

DIRECT MAIL SERVICE TO SAN FRANCISCO.

Explaining the arrangement of which New Zealand will be able to enjoy the advantages of a direct mail service with San Francisco, Sir Joseph Ward states that by calling at Papeete, en route for America, instead of utilising Honolulu as the ‘ 1 half-way ’ ’ port, the steamers of the new service will not come under the restrictions of the American coastal

law, as Papeete is a French settlement. “The position,” added the Prime Minister, “is that we have accepted this service definitely for one year. Within twelve mouths the question of the new Vancouver mail service will be definitely settled one way or the other, and we shall know whether Auckland is to have a tri-weekly service in connection with the All-Red route or not. lu any case we would want to continue the service with the Islands and Papeete, and this new service to ’Frisco would take this up. We have the right to extend the 'Frisco service at the end of one year for a further period of two years, going right on to ’Frisco and back, and the extension would only mean an additional expenditure of At last we have the satisfaction of being in a position of possessing a definite service of our own. If the new Canadian service includes Auckland that will provide the quickest means of mail transit. If New Zealand is not included lu that contract we will have to arrange for extra fast boats to be put on the ’Frisco run. We shall, of course, continue the weekly service via Suez, but the San Francisco service will be much faster to London. Our efforts to obtain a Vancouver service will not be relaxed.” When the Spreckels steamers ran between San Francisco and Auckland, they frequently carried as much as a thousand tons of valuable general cargo, including canned fruits, from San Francisco to New Zealand consignees, but the outward trade was not quite so extensive. Flax and kauri gum were exported in these vessels, the former being in great demand in the United States for use in the manufacture of binder twine. The Prime Minister expressed himself as very hopeful regarding the trade prospects of the new service. “It gives a new chance to this country for disposal of its perishable produce,” he remarked. “There are a good many things, such as butter, cheese and lamb, which we can sell in America so long as there are steamers with cool storage to take them there. The steamers will have a good deal of refrigerator space, and I know there is a good demand for our meat, because it has actually been sent to America from London. This indicates that we could profitably export meat to the West Coast of America by the direct route. As a return cargo, the steamers which formerly ran brought canned fish and fruit. There is already a trade from America by steamers from New York, and some of their cargo has to be railed across the continent from the west side to New York.” The steamers engaged in the service will run at thirteen knots, accomplishing the voyage to San Francisco in twenty-one days from Auckland, and being fixed to connect with the fast steamers on the Atlantic should deliver mails in London thirty or thirty-one days from New Zealand. The present service, via Papeete, is every thirty-six days, and this will be reduced to every twenty-eight days. The steamers used in the service will be equipped with wireless elegraphic instruments.