THE SAN FRANCISCO SERVICE

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1210, 11 September 1874, Page 4

THE SAN FRANCISCO SERVICE

[timaku iiebald.] There seems to be a sort of fatality against the .San Francisco mail route. Tlie first service was an utter muddle, if not a mere Yankee swindle ; the second was a wretched failure in every respect, and finally " busted " up ignominoudy',

the contractors wriggling out of all their responsibilities j'fter the coolest fashion ; and now we learn that the vaunted service by arranging which Mr Thomas li'ussell earned the undying gratitude of a thankful country, and in celebration of which he and Mr Saul Samuel were banquettod at Delmonico's, and had such a fuss made about them, has already turned out a delusion and a snare. The fact is that from the beginning there has always been a lot of jobbery and intriguing going on in connection with these mail services, and Ministers have thought a great deal more of flaunting about at Postal Conferences, and indulging fancies and schemes and little games of their own, than of supplying the colony with what it needed in a plain, straightforward, business-like way. As far as the public are concerned, the news of this last smash will probably bo received with joy and satisfaction; for what with delays and misunderstandings, and stranding of steamers and transhipment of mails, and vexations of one kind or another, the San Francisco service has never been anything but an unmitigated nuisance. The good old Suez service continues unfailingly to do its duty, and delivers its mails sharp up to time, and often days before the time, while one after another of our brummagem American lines come to grief. The sooner then that we make up our mind to do as others do, and make use of the efficient and regular imperial service, the better. It is impossible to find out why the miserable San Francisco service has been persistently bolstered up so long. It serves but one purpose that we know of, and that is to afford a means to shady characters of leaving the country in a hurry. But that may possibly be the very reason why there has been so anxious a desire in a certain quarter to retain it.