THE CALIFORNIAN MAIL SERVICE DEPUTATION TO THE PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 55, 10 February 1872, Page 2

THE CALIFORNIAN MAIL SERVICE DEPUTATION TO THE PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES.

On January 19 the deputation appointed at the annual meeting of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce had an interview with Sir James Martin (Premier and Attorney-General of the colony), to ask him to support the proposition agreed to hy the Chamber in reference to granting a condition subsidy to Webb's line.—Mr Watt, President of the Chamber, said: Sir James might remember triat we called upon him some time ago in reference to the San Francisco service, and he was then good enough to use his influence to obtain a vote of £15,000 to keep the service open, which at that time was being performed by the boats of the A.S.N. Co. When that service was begun, it was hoped that further support would be obtained from the other Australian colonies, as £15,000 was utterly inadequate to maintain the service. We were sorry that that support was not obtained, and that the service had in consequence been discontinued. Since that time, however, Mr Webb had entered into a contract with" the ~New Zealand Government to carry on a service between New Zealand and San Francisco for ten years. Mr Webb was now in Sydney. At the last meeting of the Chamber of Commerce the following resolution was agreed to : —" That this Chamber is of opinion that the £15,000 voted by the Legislative Assembly as a subsidy to a mail steam service via San Francisco should be employed as temporary aid to the steam service known as Webb's line, so long as the vessels employed in such service shall come on to this port, and until tenders can be accepted for a permanent service." We gathered from you at our last interview-that you considered it necessary—and he thought justly so —that tenders should be called before a permanent service was entered into, and this £15,000 was a temporary aid to keep the thing afloat until such time as a permanent arrangement could be made. Mr Webb's contract with the New Zealand Government bound him to do the coasting trade ; and it was a matter which rested with the Government to make such arrangements with the New Zealand Government as might be in their power to induce the New j Zealand Government to allow Mr Webb j to deviate from this arrangement in so far as would be necessary to allow his boats to come on to Sydney —leaving the New Zealand coasting service to be done by steamships belonging to local proprietors. We hoped, if our Government would only take the matter in hand, the New Zealand Government would be prevailed upon to allow MiWebb's boats to come on here from Auckland. Our object was to ask you to use your influence to bring about this arrangement, and to give the £15,000 voted as a subsidy to Mr Webb's line, so long as his boats came on to Sydney.—A lengthy conversation ensued, in which Sir James Martin stated that Mr Vogel had recently made a proposition that New South Wales should join in this contract which New Zealand had made with Mr Webb ; that they should pay £25,000, half the amount of the contract, and that the vessels should stay at New Zealand, the service between New Zealand and Sydney to be in the nature of a branch service performed by the A.S.N. Co's boats. He thought they were not at all likely to join in the contract on the terms proposed by Mr Vogel. £25,000 was an amount they were hardly likely to submit to Parliament, or that Parliament was likely to vote if asked.—The deputation said they simply desired that the Government should pay Mr Webb at the rate of about £llsO for each trip that he made to Sydney, as their contribution, until a permanent service was established by tender. Sir James Martin said communication by way of New Zealand could hardly be said to be direct —Mr Watt remarked that it was really direct, because the prevailing winds and currents required that vessels should go almost to the north coast of New Zealand. The time via Auckland was about the same as the time via Fiji. The great difficulty which the A.S.N. Company made about calling at Moreton Island was, that the prevailing winds and currents were unfavorable.— Sir James Martin could not do anything more now than tell them that he would

bring this proposal before the Cabinet. We would consider whether we ought to propose an expenditure of £15,000 for this year on the terms mentioned. —The deputation then withdrew.