The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1885. THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL SERVICE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2119, 13 October 1885, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1885. THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL SERVICE.

The contract made between the Go- ' vernment on the one hand and the Union and Oceanic Companies on the other, for the San Francisco mail service, has been subjected to a good deal of adverse criticism; but when all is 3 said and done, the argument against it Y simply amounts to this, that it is not j wanted because we have an efficient . direct service, and could forward urgent . correspondence between times by way of Australia and Bnndisi. We cannot • see much force in the argument, Admitting that the service has not d developed much trade, that it does not * quite pay its way, and that the greater ; r part of the postages would be saved if letters and papers were forwarded by ■ the direct route, we yet think that the service is very useful to the colony. The four-weekly direct service is, no doubt, important, but its very importance raises the question whether it is sufficient. We think it is not. Tne relations between the colony and the mother country are so close and intimate that the one service is not sufficient. The Brindisi route is very little use to New Zealand, because it is too slow. Our letters sent by the , direct route arrive about twelve days i quicker, Even New South Wales, ' which is over four days' steaming to the westward of New Zealand, finds it e to its advantage to maintain the ser- ( vice. By its means we have a regular for.tnightly service, and we maintain direct communication with the Amen- \ can continent, which, if it is not irnr portant at' present, is sure to become so in time. Through it we also see a prospect of a further development of trade with a portion of the Pacific Islands. More than all this, the . subsidy which the Government has agreed to pay is less than the amount voted by Parliament, while the fact that the contract is almost entirely in the hands of a New Zealand company, should give promise that the thousands of' pounds which the San Francisco steamers formerly spent in Sydney and San Francisco will now be spent in V

New Zealand ports, Taken as a whole, we see no reason why the. contract should, be condemned. It will cost very little, while it is a great convenience to the travelling public, aud a necessity to business men and other correspondents,