THE TRANSPACIFIC ROUTE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 188, 31 July 1876, Page 4

THE TRANSPACIFIC ROUTE.

" Mil " writeß to the Sydney Morning Herald as follows, dating his communication, Zaalandia, April 26: — Your readers have bad enough of the description of the Transpacific route, and if I add a line to your columns it is only to protest against the contract arrangement for the present service. Every one who has been to Kandavau — ay, even if it were Sir Julius Yogel hiraaelf — must agree with me that it ia not a fit place of call for mail steamers. I bold it to be so replete with danger that I am persuaded if New South Wales be determined to perpetuate the Western steam route she must relinquish the forked service at Kandavau. Were there no other drawback, the place is difficult of access, but, entirely apart from this, it appears to me absolutely absurd that a mail steamer should, partly at tha cost of New South Wales, undertake the coastal service of New Zealand. It has ever been the misfortune of New South Wales that she has been afraid to stand alone — her bashfulness has prevented her blowing her own trumpet, and she haß coalition instead of independence. It is the self-reliance of Victoria that has made her what she is. Even her greatest legislative fiscal mistake, that of protection, arises from an exaggeration of the same tone of self-reliance. When Victoria undertook the Suez route, she did not wait to see what the other colonies would give towards its support; and so New South Wales, if she desire that the San Francisco route should prove a .postal convenience, remunerative to herself aud to the contractors (without which it could not be lasting), should determine upon the swiftest, safest, and best line, irrespective of all other con- , eiderations. I do not hold that this knowledge can be gained at a glance at a chart and ruling a straight line across the Pacific. Let any of your Australian statesmen take a passage iv tbe boats that have been built for the Bervice, and which are unsurpassed in the world — let him ask himself if the bar harbors and rock-bound coast of New Zaaland are fit to take a mail Bteamer to — let him, after having called at Kandavau, resolve whether it be a place of call he would like to approach in a dark or stormy night; and unless ho can determine these points in the aflirmative, let him use all the means in his power to compel tha adoption of a safer and better route — 'a route which, in being more rapid, because more direct, would induce a larger postal contributribution from tho other Australian colonies, which should be regarded collectively and not individually. We shall be told that New Zealand pays one-half of che subsidy, and relieves us of that much of liability, tbus assuring that amount of contribution. But examine tbe question by the test of pounde, shillings, and pence, and even then this argument does not hold good. Our present liability is £45,000 per annum, and our contributions received for letters conveyed for other colonies other than New Zealand scarcely amounts to £5000 per annum— thus leaving to us a payment £40,000 per annum. If, acting independently of New Zealand, we were to adopt the most direct and the cheapest route, freed from the forked service, it is probably tbat the subsidy required would not exceed £70,000 per annum; but if in such case we had, as we might have, a postal service of forty-four or forty-five days at the outside, our costs out of pocket, if we are to rely upon the results of the contribution of the other coloniee, to Victoria for postages i by the P. and O. route would not then exceed £25,000; but it is useless to ask our neighbors to post letters via San Francisco for sentiment— if we give ! them speed they will do it, but upon that condition only. As far as New Zealand is concerned, I helieve she would be better off without the foiked service. The opinion may not be that of Sir Julius Yogel; but I hold that it would be more patriotic and more Statesmanlike to grant a subsidy to a local company for a coastal contract, rather than band it over to a foreign company; moreover, I am persuaded that it would be cheaper, nnd that should be some consideration, Ido not hold it to be my business, as a landsman, to point out a safer harbor on the direct route, where, if deemed advisable, a steamer might pick up or land mails or passengers from the other colonies. It is known that those exist e,nd cau be utilised, if we do not determine upon making Kandavau a place of call for the bifurcation of that absurd idea — the forked service.