The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1911. THE MAIL SERVICE PROBLEM.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 8, 10 January 1911, Page 4

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

TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1911. THE MAIL SERVICE PROBLEM.

Vtor the cause that lacks airi»ttmee, Tvt the -wrvzxg that neeOe reeUtamat, far'-the future 4» the distoncm, 4m4 'tin ooo* that would*.

The possibility of securing faster and more regular mail connection with England is a matter that interests Australia at least as much as New Zealand; and latest advices from Melbourne show that our Australian friends are still anxiously watching the course of the protracted negotiations over the Vancouver wail service. Our readers will remember that one of the objections raised in Australia to the inclusion of Auckland as a port of call in the service is thatNew Zealand, having already arranged a preferential tariff with Canada, would have a great advantage over Australia in building rap a trade connection ■with our sister Dominion. The inference is probably logical enough, but the right way out of the difficulty is.surely for Australia t6 offer Canada some sort of reciprocity instead of deliberately " staying out in the cold." Naturally that is the way in which the question appeals to Canada; and the Canadian Trade Commissioner for Victoria has just recommended the Federal Government to follow in New Zealand's footsteps instead of complaining about New Zealand's foresight and enterprise. If toe A-ustralians accept this well-meant advice, New Zealand would certainly lose the advantage she has secured by being first in the field with her offer of preference to Canadian goods. But from the Imperial standpoint, every portion of the Empire would reap the ■benefit of this extension of Imperial Reciprocity; and at the same time, as Australia would then be on the same footing as New Zealand, it appears likely that the Federal Government would no longer object so strenuously to the proposed inclusion of a Slew Zealand port in the itinerary of the Vancouver line.. It is clear that Canada is still in earnest about making Auckland a port of call, and it is now -semi-offieially intimated that if this can be arranged, the U.S.S. Co. is prepared to enlarge its fleet and provide better facilities for the increased traffic with Vancouver. All this is very encouraging, and it should heighten the interest already manifested throughout New Zealand over the prospects of the Vancouver service.

We are aware that there are many people here, who do not appreciate the value of rapid and regular steam communication by sea, and are inclined to look rather contemptuously on all this agitation over the mail services. But the whole civilized world is now fully alive to the vital importance of these matters, and if we need an illustration of the enthusiasm on these questions, now being displayed elsewhere on this side of the "world, -we have only to consider the imposing scheme lately put forward sby Tasmania for establishing a new, and rapid, direct mail service between Hosbart and London. These proposals, which have ■been seriously considered by some of the leading Australian papers, are based upon the assumption that the size -of fast ocean steamers must continue to increase, that to run economically they must attain a high rate of speed, and <fahat onlj harbours with a great natural depti ol water can be profitably accommodated to them. Hobart with its 60 or 70 feet of -water in the tide-way is, it is claimed, far more suitable as a terminus for deep sea leviathans than Sydney or Melbourne; and it is suggested that p. number of steamers of 40,000 tans or more, able to steam at 21 knots should run between Hobart and London, calling at Capetown. Unier these conditions the English mails would reach Hobart in 24 days, and New Zealand in. 27 days. South Africa, it is pointed out, would thus be brought within 12 days of England and 13 days of Australia; and the whole scheme depends on the theory now ibeing amply confirmed in the Atlantic trade that huge vessels of this type can be made to pay at a high rate of speed. By taking the Cape route these eteamers would evade the canal dues which, in their case, would mean about £11,000 per trip, if they could get through at all; and the port dues at Hobart -would amount to only about, £52, as against £1300 at Port 'Melbourne. The cost of running these -expensive vessels would, it is held, 'be counterbalanced by the saving of canal and port dues, by lower insurance rates, by increased passenger taffic, by saving on passengere' meals (as these 21 knot (boats would be 14 days less at sea than the Orient or P. and O. liners), and ~by the various mail subsidies from England, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. There is certainly something to ibe said for all these arguments; but apart from the difficulty and expense of transhipping and rehandling cargo, Sydney -would offer determined opposition to any proposal' that -would be likely to deprive her of her position as premier port of Australia. However, we must let our Australian friends fight the mat; ter out between themselves; our present object is merely to draw attention to the magnitude of the scheme, -and the enterprising way an which onr Australian rivals are prepared to deal -with , the great mail terriae peobleau