The Press. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 1874.

Press, Volume XXII, Issue 2681, 11 March 1874, Page 2

The Press. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 1874.

The Pacific mail service is the victim of ill-luck. When Mr Webb's boats were running—creeping would be the more appropriate term, as they generally came in a week or two after their due date —accidents were common enough. One grew quite accustomed to them. The bursting of boilers, the breaking of shafts, and all the other mishaps which used to befall the wornout over-worked vessels, came to be regarded as ordinary incidents of steam boat travelling. When the Nevada accomplished a voyage from Wellington to Auckland against a head wind, without breaking down and even without calling all hands to the pumps, it was considered so remarkable a performance that the passengers forthwith presented a testimonial to the captain, in acknowledgement of an escape which they could only suppose was attributable to bis marvellous seamanship. But we thought we had seen the last of that sort of thing. Fortune has so far befriended the colony that it has been able to get rid of Mr Webb, and to form engagements with contractors of a different kind—responsible parties, who command an abundance of capital and can afford to employ vessels of the first class. Now, we hoped, the service would go like clockwork. The boats would start in due time, the voyage would be performed with speed and eafoty, and the mails would be delivered with invariable regularity and despatch. But there is no resisting fate. The new service has begun with the worst accident of all. The very first steamer carrying the mails from San Francisco has come to utter grief. The Macgregor, in attempting to leave the port of Kandavu, under charge of a pilot, in the early morning, missed the entrance and went on shore, whence no efforts of her consort, the Tartar, could get her off again. The last news of her is that she still lies stranded, with ten feet of water in her forward compartment, and that all endeavors to release her by clearing out the cargo and cutting away the reef from under her, have proved unsuccessful. This is an ominous beginning. We trust however that the Macgregor will be got off; and, if she is, her damages will be easily repaired. She has probably suffered no injury beyond the breach, in the forward compartment, and, being on the inside of the reef, she lies in smooth water. Meanwhile, as the company have three other boats at work, the service will not be interrupted. We hear I that (partly, no doubt, in consequence of this disaster) an attempt js being made to remove the Fijian head quarters of the service from Kandavu. The people of Jvevuka are exceedingly jealous of the distinction couferred on the rival harbc ur, to which they conceive themselves to have a prior right; and, with the amiable instincts engendered by competition, they seize upon the loss of the Macgregor as an occasion for exciting a prejudice against their neighbours and for advancing their ojvu claims. It appears to the:?} in the light of a godsend. Jjandavu's distress ie Levuka'a opportunity. A deputation has waited on Af r IJaJI to suggest the propriety of transferring the port of call to Levuka, and has offered to guarantee him, if he will consent, a traffic amounting t0£20,000 a year. Whether Mr Hall found the inducement sufficient, or whether anything would be gained by the change, we cannot say. But Kandavu is at least 100 miles nearer Auckland than Levuka, and we presume that it was selected as being the most commodious and safest harbour. The chances are, therefore, that the company will prefer to remain as tbev are.

We hope, in any case, that every possible precaution will be taken against the recurrence of accidents. The Fiji's have not the best of reputations. Mr "Webb's agents declared it impossible to adopt the route through them on account of the coral banks; and any such impression of the dangers of the navigation would be so confirmed by the loss of a second vessel as to destroy the prestige of the new line. It is said that the Macgregor was run ashore through the ignorance of the pilot, and that the harbour will be perfectly safe when the entrance is buoyed and lighted. But why was that not thought of before ? One would have thought that directly Kandavu was fixed upon as the port of transhipment, steps would have, been taken to provide a sufficient number of qualified pilots and to mark out the channel. At all events no time should bo lost now. JMr Hall, who was a passenger by the Macgregor, is perhaps seeing to it in the interests of his company. But the two contracting colonies are equally interested in the line, and their Governments ought at once to take care that measures so essential to its efficient workiDg are so longer Beglected,