The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1897. THE TRANS-PACIFIC MAIL SERVICES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 274, 25 November 1897, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1897. THE TRANS-PACIFIC MAIL SERVICES.

For the aauso that lacks assistance, For tho vrons that nao&B reslstanco, Tor the Muro in tho dlstenoo, And tho ffaod tint ■ub oaa do.

The decision of the Cabinet in regard to the Trans-Pacific mail services is very open to adverse criticism. While from the point of view of political expediency the proposed arrangement may commend itself as eminently satisfactory, looked at in a business light it is decidedly the reverse. It has all the appearance of a mere compromise diplomatically devised to meet the rival claims of Wellington and Auckland for a short season, and to defer for future settlement a matter which in the interests of the colony should have been decided at once.

Much as we regret to have to say it,

I we are very much afraid that Wellington has scored against us this time. If it has not succeeded in diverting the San Francisco service from Auckland as the port of call in the colony, it has had sufficient' influence to arrange matters so that 12 months hence at will be in a better position to pursue its policy of aggrandisement in respect to the Trans-Pacific mails. We must frankly confess that so far as we can see the chief effect of the renewal of the San Francisco contract for the brief period of 12 months, as is proposed, and the establishment for the same time of a service between New Zealand and Vancouver will'be to keep the door open for further scheming and wire-pulling. Should the House authorise the resolutions brought down, a year hence this matter of the mail services Avill have to be fought over again, and it will not greatly surprise us to find the Wellingtonians better prepared for the struggle than they are now, and with more chances of victory in their favour.

Putting- the interests of Auckland aside, it will be seen that the new proposals are calculated to injiiriously affect the interests of the colony as a whole. The citizens of Christchurcli and Dunedin quite as much as those of the Empire City and ourselves are interested in the perfection of the Trans-Pacific carrying trade. We should all like to see swift, well-fur-nished boats in the service. But what inducement can there posibly be for the contractors to improve the service when the contract is for such a short period as 12 months? There is little doubt that they would be much readier to make the most liberal arrangements and to meet the convenience of the colony in many ways were the contract1 time extended to seven years, the period agreed on in most mail services. For some time now

we have been, for no adequate reason, adopting a system of short contracts in regard »to the San Francisco service that can be anything but satisfactory to the contractors, and certainly not beneficial to ourselves.

The financial proposals, as stated in the Premier's resolutions, are not sufficiently detailed to enable us to estimate what the cost of the two services will be, but it will probably involve an extra drain on the Treasury. Between the two services, the colony commits itself to a guarantee of £15,000, while under the present system it guarantees nothing. The loss to the colony at present on its English mail services, as carried out under the San Francisco contract in conjunction with the carriage of let 7 ters by the P. and 0. and Orient lines is about £9,600. Under the new proposal9,while the number of letters.papers, etc., received in and despatched from the colony continues about the same, there will really be three different services competing for the carriage of it—"-the San Francisco, the Vancouver, and the Federal mail service. The colony, of course, is not a party to the last-mentioned service, but still it will continue to take some of our mail matter, and in that way must cut in to the business of the two subsidised companies, which in turn will be cutting into each other's businesses. The Government may defend their proposals on the ground that competition is the life of trade, but instances are not unknown where an ill-judged competition has. been the death of trade, and the present movement promises to have something of that character in it so far as Auckland is concerned, while we fail to see it Is calculated to benefit the colony. On the contrary, under a contract fixed for seven or ten years, the colony could secure in the San Francisco service, aided by the United States subsidy, a mail and commercial line performed by a very much finer class of steamers than can ever be obtained either with two competing1 lines running- on the Pacific or with a monopoly secured to the Vancouver service. The San Francisco service, aided by the occasional use of the P. and O. and Orient lines, has answered our purpose well, and we cannot see the necessity for introducing a rival at an additional cost to the colony. The only reason for fostering this competition is, we believe, that which we mentioned at the outset. The Vancouver mail service proposal is a sop to the Wellington Cerberus; nothing more or less.