THE TRANSPACIFIC ROUTE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4787, 26 July 1876, Page 3

THE TRANSPACIFIC ROUTE.

“ Mil” writes to the S, M. Herald as follows, dating his communication, Zealandia, April 26 :

Your readers have had 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 arrangements for the present service. Everyone who has been to Kandavau —ay, even if it were Sir Julius Vogel himself—must agree with me that it is not a fit place of call for mail steamers. I hold 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 the 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, andshehassoughtcoalitioninsteadof independence. It is theself-reli-anoe 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 toward its support; and so New South Wales, if she desire that the San Francisco route should prove a postal convenience, remunerative to herself and to the contractors (without which it could not be lasting), should determine upon the swiftest, safest, and best line, irrespeotive of all other considerations. I do not hold that this knowledge can he gained at a glance at a chart and ruling a straight lino across the Pacific. Let any of your Australian statesmen take fa passage in the boats that have been built for the service, and which arc unsurpassed in the world let him ask himself if the bar harbors and rock-bound coast of New Zealand are fit places to take a mail steamer to—let him, after having called at Kandavau, resolve whether it be a place of call ho would like to approach in a dark or stormy night; and unless he can determine these points in the affirmative, let him use all the means in his power to compel the adoption of a safer and better route—a route which, in being more rapid, because more direct, would induce a larger postal contribution from tho other Australian colonies, which should be regarded collectively and not individually. Wo shall be told that New Zealand pays one-half of tho subsidy, and relieves us of that much of liability, thus assuring that amount of contribution. But examine tho

question'by the test of pounds, shillings, and pence, and even then this argument does not hold good. Our present liability is £45,000 per annum, and our contributions received tor letters conveyed for other colonies other than New Zealand scarcely amounts to £soooperannum—thus leaving to us a payment of £40,000 peranuum. If, acting independently of New Zealand, we were to adopt the most direct and the cheapest route, freed from the forked service, it is probable that 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 coats out of pocket, if we are to rely upon the results of the contribution of the other colonies, to Victoria for postages 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 believe she would be better off without the forked service. The opinion may not be that of Sir Julius Vogel; hut 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 hand it over to a foreign company ; moreover, I am persuaded that it would be cheaper, and that should be some consideration. Ido not hold it to be my business, as a landsman, to point out a safer harbor on tbe 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 and can be utilised, if we do not determine upon making Kandavau a place of call for the bifurcation of that absurd idea—the forked service.