OCEAN MAIL SERVICE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 281, 14 July 1888, Page 3

OCEAN MAIL SERVICE.

WjiLLiNtiTo.v, this day. IM'OKMATion of a \ciy important character relative Lo the various mail routes appeard in Uie annual repoit of the Post-offico Department. The following will be oi gieat interest to your readers :—: — " The San Francisco mail service contract will now terminate in November next year, and that fot the direct service in the following month. Inquiries have been made a? to the prospects of a Pacific-Canadian mail service. It has been ascertained that the Canadian-Pacific Railway Company arc desirous of establishing a Pacilic sen ice, and that the Canadian Government would be willing to support feucli a line ; but) as the suggested service is one intended lo serve New Zealand, with branch line irom Fiji, tiie Po&tmastcr-Ueneral hat been informed that no Pacific mail service which did not provide for the main boats calling at New Zealand would receive the support oithiscolony. At the lime the San Francisco mail contract; \\ as entered into it was understood that the United States Po&t-oflice agreed to contribute in excels of postage payments for bho carriage of the United Stale-* mails a sum of £4,000 a year towards the cost of the service. The tenth clause of the contract provided for the contractors to collect thi& .sum from the United States Post-ofiice, and for the colonies to deduct their proportion from their subsidy payments. This has been done, but it is now ascertained that the £4,000 is only £800 a year in excess of the postage payments. The contractors have, therefore, under a clause of the contract just quoted, a claim for refund of the amounts deducted from the colonies, less two-thirds of the sura of £800, which the colonies are authorised to retain in terms of the contract. After conferring with the Postmaster - General of New South Wales, it has been agreed that the contractors are entitled to a refund from each colony at the rate of £166 12& 4d per annum from the date the service began.

NEW ZEALAND SUBSIDY INCREASED. This has the effect of increasing the New Zealand share of the subsidy from £23,333 6s 8d to £24,400 per annum. The explanation ot this is that a telegram forwarded by this Department to the Postmaster-General at Washington in September, 1835. asking for a subsidy of £4,000 a year, in addition to postage payments, was mutilated in transmission and misinterpreted by the Washington oihee. The Postmaster-General at Washington subsequently declined to increase the payment to the amount originally asked for by this office, but in the event of the San Francisco service being removed by the colonies tor a term of yeai's, the Postmaster - Genes al of Washington has stated that the contribution from his office may probably be increased to §30,000 (£6,000) yeaily, but conditionally on the service being carried out in the United States, and that the QnitedStates has full right to demand the tervice of such a essel for despatch of her mails as the Government of New Zealand oi % any of the colonies shall possess by the contract, and the same right to impose fines or deductions for failure or refusal to comply with any duty under the contract.''

CHANGE OF MAIL DAY. Another alteuition ha& been made in the despatch of the San Francisco mails from London, the day having been changed from Wednesday to the following Saturday. This was prompted by a statement made to this office th at arrangements had been completed for a fast railway mail service in four days eighteen hours between New York and San Francisco, and that by securing the use of the swiftest vessels (timed to leave Queenstown on the Saturday) for the transport of our mails to New York, a saving of from four to five days in the through transit might be secured ; but the accelerated railway service has proved altogether delusive, as it has been found that the transit of mails from New York to San Francisco cannot at present be accomplished much under &ix days. It is, however, intended to adhere to Saturday as the day of despatch from London, as it is believed a saving of one or two days should be po&sible, independently of railway running.

DIRECT SERVICE MORE COSTLY. There has been a falling off in the receipt in rcspecb of the San Francisco service, due mainly to the direct contract steamers conveying a larger proportion of the correbpondence than in 188(5. lv place of tho San Francisco service showing a profit as in 1886, there is a small loss of £729 5s 7d for last year — and this without taking into account any proportion of the refund previously referred io, which is to be made lo the contractors. On the other hand, the loss on the direct service is ,£6,707 12s 7d, in place of £11,070 9s Set the previous year, Both services continue .to be performed satisfactorily. The average time, however, b} f the direct service was longer than for the preceding year, and this was particularly the caso with the inward mails, the average time of delivery to the first port of arrival being; 44 days, compared with 41 '69 days in 1886. The detour to Hobart is probaoly the explanation of this. The bonus, ote, earned by the direct service was £8,443 6s Bd, against £12,320 13s 4d in 1886.