THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1901. THE MAIL SERVICES.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 119, 24 October 1901, Page 2

THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1901. THE MAIL SERVICES.

Throughout the' whole of the South Island and the southern j portion of the North Island con- j siderable dissatisfaction is felt : and has been expressed at the - decision of the: House of Representatives to enter into a further | Agreement with the Oceanic i Shipping Company for the carry. ■ ing of our mails. The service ; via San Francisco has been far from satisfactory and delays of days at a time have been so frequent that now no one looks for the mails to be up to time. The service is called a three* weekly one, but it is nearer four weeks than three on many occasions. However, serious as are the delays,' it is not so much *on this account that that objec* tions are made to this route. The Oceanic Shipping Co., unier the management of Mr Spreckels are purely American, and are subsidised each year to the extent of £50,000 by the American Gov- . eminent, who, recognising that the trade of these colonies is a growing one and likely lb be enormous in a very few yeari, use this practical method of en* , courafiiing their shipping com* panics to step in and secure a large portion of this trade for the United States. The conditions on which the subsidy is given is that the steamers shall be built in America, manned by American sailors and owned by American owners. This company therefore can be looked on in no other light than as a foreign line sub* sidised to capture trade which rightly belongs to our Mother

Country. And yet in the face of this we find a majority of the Members ot the House of Representativesjcasting their votes in favour of subsidising this line to the extent of from £15,000 to £20,000 a year, and so encouraging Messrs Spreckels and Co. in their efforts towards the ruin of British trade. We have had a lot of wordy, loud -» tongued patriotiam hurled at us on various occasions recently, but actions

speak considerably loader than words*.'■and the actions of the New Zealand Government in the present case are very little to the credit of their patriotism.’ The New South Wales' Government decline to pay any subsidy and pay Only poundage for the carriage of their ' mails and, that is the course New Zealand should have followed. Taking a subsidy from the American Gov« eminent for running this service, Mr Spreckels would have almost certainly have continued running the steamers to New Zealand without a penny of subsidy from us. A little firmness was all that was required and the colony would, have saved £20,000 a year through the exercise of it. .Even if Mr Spreckels had declined, it would have been much better to to have given this subsidy to an “ all-red ° service via Vancouver than to have aided ourcommercial enemies. The one sensible thing about the agreement with Mr Spreckels is that it is 1 to last ly 18 months, and by that time.it is to be hoped members of the House will have altered their views on this question.