THE NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIAN STEAMSHIP LINE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 13, 22 April 1871, Page 7

THE NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIAN STEAMSHIP LINE.

[News op the Would.] Our New Zealand and Au?tralian readers will be glad to learn that the long mooted steamship line from San Francisco to the colonies is now an assured facf-, and that the first vessel of the new service will leave our port on the Bth of April. On the 7th instant the Hon Julius Vogel telegraphed from Washington to the proprietors of this paper that the " contract with Messrs Webb and Holladay was just signed," and a later despatch from Mr W, H. Webb, at that time in New York, guTe the full particulars of the arrangements made. The contract signed is " for a four weekly line between San Francisco, New Zealand, Sydney, and Melbourne, at such a speed as to enable the mails to be delivered in London, or vice versa, in forty-eight days. The pioneer steamer is to sail on the Bth of April." Byreference to puradvertising columns it will be seen that the magnificent steamship Nevada, formerly in the Panama service, is to be the first vessel employed. She is announced to stop at Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands; Auckr land, Lyttelton, and Port Chalmers, N.Z.; connected with steamers for Sydney, New South Wales, and Melbourne, Victoria. Beturning via the same ports, she will leave Port Chalmers on May 13th, and Auckland on May 19th. The first vessels employed in the service will be the Nebraska, Nevada, Santiago de Cuba, Dacotah, and Moses Taylor, all staunch, first class vessels, the four former being equal in speed and accommodations to any on the Pacific Ocean. As will be Been above, the contract is for a four-weekly service, i.e., thirteen trips per annum, alternating with the steamers of the J. & 0. line. Even. with the comparatively inferior vessels,employed before, the amount of Australian and New Zealand travel through our port liao been largo j it is doub'tloss des* ' tiuQd "to frtfMif and grow to (eywicSable pro* 1

portions. Our route is by all odds the most I pleasant, and the trip is made cheaper than Jby the English steamers. In place of the stormy Indian Ocean and Red Sea, we offer I the traveller the usually calmer Pacific Ocean, seven days of land travel by the great transcontinental railroad, and the passage of the Atlantic by some of.the beat steamships afloat. The opportunity of seeing something of the United States should alone be a great inducement to travel this way. Up to the present time Congress has blindly refused to see that the subsidy asked for the establishment of the line was a perfectly legitimate demand on the nation's purse. But the prospects are good for a j speedy reconsideration of the subject. Unfortunately, at the time when the bill was laid before the Senate and House, there were a number of other steamship subsidies of a more „or less questionable nature demanded, and our scheme, deserving of the utmost encouragement from any member who believes in the establishment of * American commerce, suffered in their company. Sooner or later we must believe that the necessary aid will be granted, which, with the assistance of the Australian Colonies, will establish the line as one of the foremost in the world. The New Zealand Government has, by its liberal action, virtually inaugurated the line on a substantial basis, and will undoubtedly reap the reward of its enterprise. Its representative here, the Hon. Julius Vogel, from the moment of his arrival worked steadily and persistently in this good cause. He addressed the Chammembers of commerce of San Francisco, Chicago, and elsewhere, on the subject, and the satisfactory arrangements just consummated at Washington are very much due to his tact and perseverance. Wherever he has travelled, he has left, an impression highly complimentary to himself, the Government he represents, and the enterprise and enlightment of his fellow colonists. His addresses have been characterised by good sense, terseness, and a thorough comprehension of the subject. Mr Vogel left for England on the Cunard steamship Russia, on the Bth March, immediately after the consummation of the contract with Messrs Webb and Holladay. The former gentleman, the eminent ship builder, and ship owner of New York, is one of the shrewdest and most far-seeing men in the United States, while the latter firm owns a large proportion of the steamships for domestic and foreign Pacific ports leaving San Francisco, and has been asociated with a dozen enterprises of the greatest importance to our coast. Both Messrs Holladay and Webb count among the wealthy men of our country and the interests of the line are perfectly safe in their hands. We shall say nothing in regard to the vessels to be employed, assured that as soon as they arrive in the colonial ports they will be the admiration of all who can find time to inspect them.