FRISCO MAIL SERVICE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 256, 4 November 1897, Page 2

FRISCO MAIL SERVICE.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MEETING.

■; A special meeting of the Council of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce was held Yesterday afternoon in the Victoria Arcade. Mr B. Kent (president) presided, and Messrs Graves Aicfun, W. Philson M. A Clark, and S. Vaile were present, lne meeting was called for the purpose of considering the San Francisco mail service. Mr Kent, in introducing the subject, said that the present mail contract cost New Zealand, the small sum of about £7,600 per annum, and that the American Government granted a subsidy of about £28,000 per annum, this, however, being only of a temporary character, expiring on the 30th June next. The Auckland- ' Frisco mail service had now been running with the utmost regularity and certainty for 27 years, and the greatest credit was due to everyone connected with the service for the admirable manner in which the work had been carried out. From 'Frisco to Auckland the distance was about 5,797 miles, whilst the distance from Vancouver to Wellington, a route which seemed likely to come into competition with the former, was about 6,555 miles. This clearly showed that the Auckland 'Frisco service was considerably the shorter of the two, and therefore much the quicker under equal conditions. The present contract was a 20-days service from Frisco to Auckland and vice versa, but this had already been brought down a couple of days, and there was nothing to hinder it from being reduced to a 15 days' service, so that by tn"e route named there was every reason to expect that our mails would at some future date be delivered in London in 25 days. New Zealand was the first to establish the 'Frisco mail service, and since its inception Auckland had always been the port of call and departure, and so it should remain. If it were proposed by the Government to drop the 'Frisco service in favour of the Vancouver route—and this was quite possible—a great injustice to : Auckland city and province would be the result ; as that route was nearly I^6oo miles longer than the 'Frisco-Auck-land route, and therefore slower and more costly. A double injury would be done to the commerce and shipping interests of Auckland city, first by robbing us of a service of 27 years' standing, which had always done excellent work ; and secondly by substituting for it a longer, slower and more expensive line, with its headquarters in Wellington, A bold bid had been made by interested persons for the Southern support, and apparently that support had been secured, and the next and near move would probably be an attempt to force upon the colony a subsidy for the Vancouver route, with Wellington as the port of call, This if carried would probably sound the death knell to the San Francisco service, or if not that then most probably a strong effort would be made to have the San Francisco , service diverted to Wellington as port of call, and so cut out Auckland altogether. Now, as the press had correctly pointed out, in the matter of time and distance, which were the very essence of a mail service, it was perfectly obvious that, on their merits, the Vancouver versus 'Frisco routes, we in this city now holding the present mail service between 'Frisco and Auckland should stand on clear, firm ground ; but, alas, it was so, and he wished to sound a note of alarm to Auckland city and province, that the commercial and snipping interests were _ being attacked and imperilled unnecessarily and unjustly. Scarcely a month went by without our hearing and reading of some attempt at centralisation of trade and commerce in Wellington, to the loss and injury of other parts of the colony. It was a shameful and deplorable thing that such miserable and paltry local interests should influence questions affecting the general welfare of the colony, and that local inserests and local jealousies should be imported into such questions at all, but this was being done and done on a system in Wellington, and if the commercial and shipping interests of Auckland city were to be conserved from what would be permanent injury by spoliation for the aggrandisement of Wellington, then the people of Auckland would, have to be on the alert, and combine with their representatives to speak to the Government with one united and powerful voice that this thing should not be done. It was unquestionable that the geographical position of Auckland made its claim to be the New Zealand port of call indisputable in any mail service that may ever be run to the North Pacific, and that point was abundantly made clear by the fact that if the service was removed we should have -the humiliating and extraordinary sight of the 'Frisco mail steamers sailing away past our very doors, to mike a much longer voyage of it, right down the coast to Wellington, and all because of the local jealousies and intrigues that were going on in that city. Such a position as he had indicated would be intolerable and unjust in the last degree, as by making Wellington the port of call neither that city nor any dSSher in New Zealand would benefit by quicker dispatch of mails, whilst Auckland city and province would suffer serious in jury, loss, and delay by the removal to Wellington of a mail service which for 27 long years had been admirably conducted, and which, since its initiation, had justly and wisely had Auckland as its port of call. He would in a moment move a resolution, but before doing so wished to say that if the action they were taking to-day had not the desired effect, then he would propose that they should take early and vigorous steps in conjunction with the Mayor and Harbour Board to organise a monster meeting of the whole city and province to protest with all their might against any interference with the present San FranciscoAuckland mail service. He then moved, "That this Chamber strongly condemns any interference with the present 'FriscoAuckland mail service, and calls upon all the city and provincial representatives of the Auckland province now in Parliament assembled to give this resolution their united and determined support." Mr Aickin seconded the motion, and said it seemed it was a very paltry thing that their should be interprovincial jealousies of this nature. Auckland had been most magnanimous in the past, and he spoke of the way in which things were being centralised at Wellington. They had one ewe lamb left here—the Sari Francisco mail service—and he maintained that it must remain with Auckland as a port of call. Looked at in every way, there was a clear gain of at least a day by having Auckland a port of call, and Wellington people would not get their letters any sooner if Wellington were made the port of call. The Sydney and Island people interested were also in favour of Auckland remaining the port of call, Auckland had not exhibited any undue jealousy in the past, but if the Wellington people persisted in the present agitation retaliatory measures would most likely be resorted to with very unfortunate consequences. Mr Philson supported the resolution and in doing so said a great deal depended on the class of steamer put on between the Manukau and Wellington. The passage on the West Coast to Wellington should be done in 24 hours.

Mr Kent said the Union Company had a new steamer coming out for the West Coast trade which would do away with this difficulty.

Mr Vaile urged that strong pressure should be brought to bear on the Auckland members of the House to do their duty towards Auckland city and province. He asked what was the natural port of call in Kew Zealand for the Vancouver service.

The Chairman and others replied that

Auckland was the natural port of call for the Vancouver steamers. If they called here there would be a considerable distance saved on the Pacific voyage. Mr Vaile said that Auckland was also suffering under an injury through the Vancouver steamers going to "Wellington instead of Auckland.

Mr Clark also supported the motion. _ Mr Kent's resolution was then carried unanimously. Mr Kent said copies of the resolution would be sent to all the Auckland members of Parliament. It was also resolved that the President should be authorised to confer with the Chairman of the Harbour Board and the Mayor of Auckland with a view to taking united action in the matter of the San Francisco mail service.