THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF SAN FRANCISCO.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 23, 1 July 1871, Page 4

THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF SAN FRANCISCO.

The annual meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco was held on the 9th ult., in the rooms of the Chamber, Merchants' Exchange. The following is a portion of the Secretary's report: — THE AUSTRALIAN LINE OF STEAMERS. Conspicuous among the subjects that have occupied the attention of this body, has been the establishment of a permanent line of steamers between this poit and the British colonies of New Zealand and Australia via the Hawaiian Islands. Inspired by the deep interest manifested in this question by leading bankers and merchants, during the visit of W. H. Webb, Esq., of New York, to this coast in the early part of last year, that distinguished gentleman determined to engage in an effort to open such communication, providing the requisite aid could be secured in the commencement, fiom the respective countries which were likely to be benefited thereby. For, notwithstanding the fact that the ultimate success of the line could not be doubted, it was evident that extraneous aid would be needed in its inception to place it upon a secure and safe foundation. The Government of New Zealand, appreciating at once the advantages of the enterprise, responded quickly and liberally It despatched the Hon. Julius Vogel, Postmaster-General of that colony, to this country, duly commissioned to afford the necessary assistance. Relying upon equal liberality on the part of the Government of the United States, a contract was entered into in Washington, between Mr Vogel, on the part of his Government, and Mr Webb and Ben Holliday, Esq, of this city, for

a four-weekly postal service between San Francisco, New Zealand, and Aus tralia. The first steamer under the contract left this port for British Colonies via Honolulu, on the Bth day of April, followed by the second steamer on the 6th of the present month. The Go vernment of the Hawaiian Islands has already voted a liberal subsidy to be paid to the first permanently established steam lines between Honolulu and the Colonies, and hopes are entertaiced with confidence that it will grant an additional subsidy for the transportation of the mails from this country.

It is difficult to conceive a more important enterprise, not only to the interests of this coast, but equally to those of the entire country, than the establishment of steam mail lines oi communication from San Francisco across the Pacific Ocean, bringing the trade and commerce of the various countries of the East to our shores, and making the American Continent the grand highway of travel and traffic between the Orient and Occident. Already a line of magnificnt steamers traverse monthly the road to Japan and China, diverting yearly the immense trade of those rich and populous empires from its ancient and worn-out channels, round the Cape of Good Hope or through the Red Sea to this country. The establishment of another line with New Zealand and Australia would still further add to the supremacy of the American marine upon the Pacific Ocean, and bring this country in immediate and familiar contact with millions of people speaking our own language, possessed of large resources, imbued with a spirit of enterprise not inferior to our own, and anxious for more intimate commercial relations. But the Congress of the United States at the last session did not appear to appreciate the vast significance of the enterprise. Committees have from time to time been appointed by that body to enquire into the cause of the decay of American commerce. Liberal subsidies are granted in aid of railroads, either by the giving of mail contracts or by the issuance of bonds, or by the appropriation of public lands, yet an undertaking calculated to arrest the decay of American commerce, to open a new trade of immense importance, to asssisfc in establishing the supremacy of American shipping in the Pacific Ocean, is passed by in its inception as unworthy for the time being of Governmental aid. The illiberality and indifference which could decline immediate assistance to so important a measure, is quite consistent with the declamation of a senator, that the steamers on this coast, steamers which have no superior in point of naval architecture, " Should be taken into the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and blown up with nitro-glycerine." It is believed, however, that this refusal on the part of Congress is not final, and that at the next session the bill in aid of this enterprise, unfettered by schemes less worthy, will, in inimitation of the other countries be benefited by the line, become a law. THE FIJI ISLANDS A PLACE OF CALL. The committee appointed on the subject of the memorial from citizens of the Fiji Islands, residing at the port of Levuka, Island of Ovalau, submitted a report. They have had several interviews with H. C. Victor, the gentleman who presented the memorial, and they fully discussed the propriety of calling the attention of W. H. Webb to the propriety of making a stoppage place for his steamers at the Fiji Islands; that certain influences were brought to bear upon Mr Webb to make an appointment with Mr Victor, to consider the subject, which failed. H. C. Victor has now left for Washington, D.C., and the committee consider, in the present condition of the line which has just commenced running under contract for subsidy from New Zealand, it is not practicable to press the matter. Should a subsidy be had from the colonies of South Australia of Victoria, it is then thought it will be practicable. This view is sustained by an intelligent gentleman who has been connected with the postal service in that quarter. The committee addressed a tetter to 3. W. Hemmings, of Levuka, Ovalau, a copy of which they submitted.