NEW MAIL SERVICE VIA SAN FRANCISCO.

Southland Times, Issue 1342, 2 December 1870, Page 2

NEW MAIL SERVICE VIA SAN FRAN CISCO.

We are indebted to -the PostmasterGeneral for a lengthened explanation, transmitted by telegraph, of negotiations connected with the above-named subject. The details have already- appeared elsewhere, so that with a view of economising space we have summarised them, as folio ws : — A _ ck__j->, Nov. 24. The Postmaster- General has just concluded a contract with the agents for the North Pacific Transport Company, oh the following alternative conditions :• — (I) Main route runs from San Francisco to Port Chalmers, calling at Auckland, Wellington, and Lyttelton, and two intermediate ports on the . route. At the option of the Company, said ports to be within the Hawaiian, Society, Navigators or Fiji groups. They are to be visited solely for coaling .purposes, and no connection allowed between either of them and any port in New Caledonia or Australia. Cost £40,000 for twelve complete services, and any subsidies received from Australia or New Caledonia are to be equally divided between New Zealand and the contractors. No. 2 provides for an additional service, making in all thirteen instead of twelve yearly, the contractors to establish a branch steamer between ' Auckland and Sydney, and any other branches theymay please from New Zeahihd.ports onlyV Jfor this line the payment is fixed at -£60;000, including the branch line, and all subsidies received to belong exclusively to New Zealand.. A 7- '" 7 '_..".''_'. ' lh Nq,. 3 proposal the contractors are to receive the subsidies from other colonies, less ten per cent., to be paid to the New Zealand Gqverniment. They are to be at liber'ty'to establish branches to any , Australian Colony, jpr to New C&edonia

from New Zealand, but they are prohibited from running branch boat 3, except from New Zealand. Payment -640,000 ; the contractors retaining all subsidies from other colonies, except 10 per cent, to be paid to New Zeiland. In No. 4 the contractors are to be at liberty to run branches fr.->m the Fiji Islands to Australia, and make such ar. rangements as they please respecting subsidies from other colonies, the payment by New Zealand to be £30,000, They are also bound to use their best endeavors to secure concessions under which wool, the produce of any Colony contributing to the mail subsidy, and New Zealand flax be admitted into the United States duty free. A contract to be entered into for a period of ten years, with power reserved to the Assembly to limit it to three years. Contract time from San Francisco to Auckland, 24' days, and from thence to Port-Chalmers one hundred hours. The contractors agreed under a penalty of -61000 per annum to secure from the United States exemption from all charges for mails between San Francisco and -London, and New York and San Francisco. It is supposed that in the event of the Colony declining to accept No. 2 provision, the contractors will adopt No. 4 as the one most likely to secure for them larger subsidies from the other colonies, the option being to continue No. 1 line, under which.it is arranged the contract is to be initiated, or in lieu thereof to adopt No. 2, the contractors having their choice as regards 3 and 4. The . Treasurer urges in support of No. 2 proposal that the sixty thousand pounds a year will be reduced by the amount of all subsides received from Australian colcnieß ; and if the concession as regards the convention between tbe United States and Great Britain be received (the contractors binding themselves in a penalty of one thousand pounds per year to obtain it), the postages in England and in Australia would alone amount to a very handsome contribution from the Australian colonies for the carriage of their mails. In any case the Australian colonies should unitedly pay not less than from twenty-five to {thirty thousand pounds a year ; and supposing the concession above-mentioned to be secured, New, Zealand would save a very large sum per annum, in regard to her own mails; for the Imperial Government would hand over to the colonies the postages collected on the other side, but which are now detained- to defray the charges payable by Great Britain to the - United States under the convention. It i must be added that the adoption of line ] No. 2, by placing the whole service in the J hands of New Zealand, would secure that - 1 the traffic between Great Britain and the , •United States on the one hand, and the j Australian colonies on the other, should permanently pass through New Zealand, instead of passing by it, as would be the case were the contractors enabled "to " adopt line No. 4, and so to run branch boats from Fiji to Australia. The time table fixed for the commencement of the service is as follows: — To -\ leave Port Chalmers, Sydney (if required), and London on the Ist of each month * 1 Auckland on the 7th, and San Francisco on the 16th. This will enable letters despatched from London on the Ist of one month to be delivered in Port Chalmers on the 15th and in Sydney on I the 16th, of the following month. There will be about a fortnight for answering, . and replies leaving Port Chalmers or Sydney on the Ist will reach London on the 15th of the following month, thus giving a course of about one hundred and five days, or three months and a-half. The same will apply to answers to letters sent from Port Chalmers or Sydney. In the case of Wellington or Auckland the time here I stated would be reduced by several days. In conclusion, the Postmaster- General would observe that the contract appears to be one of an eminently satisfactory nature. It will stand the test of meeting F the requirements of the whole colony as E a first-class mail, passenger, and commercial service ; and if tested as regards its effect upon the much - discussed separate interests of the different parts of the colony, the conclusion must be that no service more likely to do justice « to those interests could be obtained, even - if one could be devised. /