THE WEBB LINE.

Press, Volume XX, Issue 2921, 11 September 1872, Page 3

THE WEBB LINE.

[From the 2V. Z. Herald.] We trust that a perusal of the files to hand, by the Nevada, has already convinced our morning eon temporary that the fate of the Webb Mail Line is sealed, and that any attempt to bolster up such an abortion can only end in the loss of the money and the credit for common sense of the colony. Lest, however, in its efforts to maintain the infallibility of its patron, the Cross should have blinked the verdict of the American press on the matter, and for the benefit of the public who may not have access to American papers we propose to give extracts, showing plainly in what estimation the line is held by those who, of all others, should support it. The News Letter, of July 17, in "some prefatory remarks to a special summary edition of that paper, says:— We refer to the perfectly irredeemable character of our present steam mail service. If our steamers do not make good time we cannot of course supply late news. Hitherto we have given our warmest support to the Webb line. We have steadily overlooked its many shortcomings, believing they would be remedied in time, and »vith that belief we advocated the granting of the proposed Congressional subsidy. But a better understanding of what rival routes, with which we must successfully compete, are accomplishing, and a more exact knowledge of the uselessness of our ancient type of wooden side-wheel steamers have driven us irresistibly to the

conclusion that such vessels cannot make this service a success. "We have no fear, however, but that when this fact comes to be realised in the colonies as distinctly as we realise it, the right kind of ships will" be stipulated for and the service made effective. Of the excellence of the Pacific route there cannot be the slightest doubt.

The Financier of New York endorses the sentiments of the Neics Letter (already published by us), and says .—" If the trade of the Pacific is to be maintained, the vessels now in use must be replaced by a more adequate pattern." The San Francisco Chronicle says :— We have received files of Melbourne papers, which have come to us by way of England, and are up to April 23. The latest date previously to hand by the Webb line was April 9. Thus it comes that by a circuitous travel of 21.000 miles we get later news than by our own route, which is only one-third of that distance. It is nat apparent, as Senator Chandler said during his speech on the Australian Subsidy Bill that " to be successful in obtaining commerce the line must be run with commercial ships! The Commercial Herald says :—" We are realising more seriously than ever the need of a regular and first-class steam communication with Australasia." The Alta California says :— It will not be difficult "to obliterate from the minds of the Australian public the bad impression which the line npw running has caused them to form of American steamers. A new line, if really well managed, will actually be assisted by the striking contrast which it will present to the existing line." The Sacramento Record says that—

Foreign screw steamers cost about half the price of our wooden side-wheel relics of ancient days, use less than half the coal, save a proportionate storage room for and make up an important gain in speed, and to give subsidies to bolster up the private interests of a company of speculators who find themselves in the unpleasant predicament of owning a few shaky old Rip Van Winkle steamers, would hold up our national policy in this respect to the derision of the mercantile world. The JVe?rs Letter says :— The Nevada and Nebraska of the Webb line, when they were newer than they now are, ran between here and Panama. They were then in opposition to the Pacific Mail Company's steamers, aud the greatest possible rivalry existed between the two lines. Both companies started their steamers at the same hours, and it will be easily understood that the utmost dispatch was used. It will be interesting to our Teaders in Australia and New Zealand, who are now concerned in the performance of these vessels, to learn what speed they averaged under these pressing circumstances. The official records of the Merchants' Exchange show that their average, the year round, on this comparatively short fairweather passage, was afraction over 9| knots per hour. Providing they keep up this rate, and allowing for coaling detention at Honolulu, Navigator Islands, and Auckland, the passage from San Francisco to Melbourne will be accomplished in thirty-six days. The time-table at present allows twenty days between here and London. In summer this is accomplished regularly enough, but in winter it cannot be depended upon. From this data, which cannot be questioned, it is unfortunately true that the P. and O. Company's mail, which leaves London fourteen days subsequent to that via San Francisco, will often be delivered in Melbourne first. In view of the performances of rival routes, it is certain that no line via San Francisco can be effective or permanent that does not enable the mail between London and Melbourne to be delivered in forty-five days. With the latest iron propellers this may easily be accomplished.

The last piece of tall talk is that Mr Webb intends to build two new, " splendid." wooden steamers for the Australian service. Bah ! Nonsense ! It is by just such big promises, followed by no performances, that the line is in its present position. Mr Webb's ship-building yards are let out to tenants for other purposes ; besides, he has had too much trouble with his present wooden steamers to dream of adding new ones. It is safe to say that no more wooden oceangoing steamers will be built in this country. The London Times, Standard, MitcltelVs Maritime Register quote, approvingly, our article entitled " Plain Truths About Steamship Lines." Dispatched by last mail, it will, doubless, have been read with interest in the colonies.

When President Stockwell, of the Pacific Mail Company, was in San Francisco the other day, he saw for the first time the New Zealand Blue Book, containing Mr Wm. H. Webb's letter, in which he informed the New Zealand Government that the P.M, Company " possessed but little influence." So soon as the President had recovered from his surprise, he exclaimed, " Yd 'rat the man, and was he writing like that when he was seeking our 'influence' to pass his bill, and when he was borrowing our steamer Montana to patch up his broken-down service ? Little influence, indeed! We doubled our subsidy, anyhow! Guess the next time we support an Australian line subsidy it will be for ourselves.

Senator Chandler, the chairman of the Senate's Committee on Commerce, has received an official copy of the Webb-Vogel contract. In acknowledging its receipt, he says : —" I regret that American enterprise is to be represented abroad by these wooden hulks, yet it is consoling that if these ancient mariners must be decently provided for, it is not to be done at Uncle Sam's expense. It is a relief to know that we shall not be further worried by begging petitions to Congress, on their behalf."

Speaking of the prospects of an Australian line via Fiji, with a branch line to Auckland, the News Letter says :—

As there can only for the present be busi ness enough for one line, we hope that all conflicting interests may be harmonised, so as to result in an effective service. Indeed, it has been stated for some time that something of this kind has been on the tapis. The difficulty has been, and still is, the present miserably ineffective and terribly expensive wooden side-wheel steamers. This Gordian knot, our friends in the colonies might speedily cut. They paying the subsidies are entitled to decide. If, however, there is to be opposition, it is not difficult to tell which will come out ahead. As Senator Chandler, the Chairman of our Committee on Commerce, said, " There are things you can do, aud things yon can't do. You cannot by any law, or by any subsidy, or by anything you can do, run these old wooden hulks alongside our modern iron propellers."