The Evening Star MONDAY, APRIL 8, 1889.

Evening Star, Issue 7876, 8 April 1889, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, APRIL 8, 1889.

As a pendant to the attempt to revive the moribund 'Frisco serMuil Services vice, the following precis ureWorkod. q£ q return kid QR the tablo of the House last session is instructive. For the convenience of comparison and to avoid tautology, the results are tabulated thus : 'Frisco Direct General Cargo. Sorvico, Services. Tons. Tons. Inward 1,335 39,437 Outward r»UB 38,254 Coal from New Zealand ... 1,389 28,387

Totals 3,202 106,078 The cargo traflic by the direct service, therefore, is nearly thirty-three times as great as that by the San Francisco line. But, it is urged, the passonger traflic is important. Let us see how that appears, The return whence we derive our information tells us that the arrivals and departures were as follows : 'Frisco Service. Direct Services. Arrivals ... ?M ... 4,45!) Departures ... 710 ... 1,%4 Totals ... 1,112 ... 0,123 Nothing could more clearly show which routo tho public favors, both here and at Home. The details of the general cargo shipped by tho 'Frisco boats is, perhaps judiciously, withhold; but thoy arc vory fully givon in tho record of the direct services—so far, at least, as the exports go—and, as a matter of general public information, we ruprint them here:— l'>y the direct mail steamcrß of the New Zealand Shipping Company:—Outward cargo: 10,854 tons weight—3o,ols bales of wool and skins, 1,303 biles of rabbitskins, 130 pockets of wool, 2,800 packages of basils, 728 packages of pelts, 4,075 casks of tallow, 4,292 packages of beef, 205,084 eweasses of mutton, 7,829 legs of mutton, 19,081 cases of meats, 4,209 packages of butter, 12 casks of lard, 1,777 bales of flax, 06 packages of hides, 745 packages of leather, 27 casks of ontrails, 347 packages hearts and kidneys, 830 packages of sundries, 15,859 cases kauri gum, (JO sacks of malt, 528 sucks of oats, 475saoks of pease, 5.05 L sacks of grass seed, 22 sacks of apples, 4,848 paokages of cheese, 37 packages of honey, 25 bundlcß of cloth clippings, 20 sacks of bran, 20 sacks of pollard, 200 sacks of flour, 1,000 bags of flour, 1,937 sacks of wheat, 14 packages of hair, 21 packages of gold, ,'U barrels of beef, 551 sacks of potatoes, 215 hags of ores, 29 bags of linseed, IGS case} of pearl shell, 22 bundles of whalebones, 15 bags of cotton-waste, 12 casks of oils, 40 casks of pitch, 10 livo rams, 27 packages of quartz, G casks of casings, 14 packages of horns and bones, 16 pigs of silver. New Zealand coal Bhipped at Auckland, 283 tons, valuo L 28 3; Wellington, 12.GG8 tons, value L 13.010; Lyttelton, 1,848 tons, value L 2.102; Dunedin, nil. By tho direct mail steamers of tho Shaw, Savill and Albion Company : Outwards : 21.400 tons weight—2B,oß2 bales wool, 235 packagey wool, 1,073 bales flax, 1,208 bales leather, 1,150 casks tallow, 1,230 casks pelts, 15,827 cases preserved meats. 3,317 cases cheese, 111 sacks bones, 23,175 sacks grain and soed, 410,001 carcasses Bheep and lambs frozen, 22.401 legs mutton frozen, 2,700 packages beef frozen, 991 packages meat (sundries) frozen, 5,809 kogs butter, 2,414 boxes untimony, 547 bags oro, 1,792 bags potatoes, 1,372 cases kauri gum, 827 packages sundries. Coal shipped at Auckland, nil; Lyttelton. 11,333 tons, value L 13.148; Wellington, 2,255 tons, valuo L 2.594 ; Dunedin, nil.

It will be seen from the above what a useful carrying agency the direct services represent.

It is only fair to say that the 'Frisco mail service is an inexpensive one. Tho cost to the Colony for tho year 1887 was no more than .£729 over and above receipts for postages, etc. But this—to use an American expression —does not "fill the bill." Another return gives additional information from a post ollico point of view. The total cost of tho 'Frisco mail service for the year was £30,501; and the "estimated sum which would have " been paid for the conveyance of such "mails if they had been sent and " received by direct steamers to and "from the United Kingdom on tho " terms of the existing contract with " the New Zealand Shipping Company" is stated at £20,155, out of which £2,386 14s Id is to be paid by the United States Government. It is a very nice calculation the odd penny looks business-like. On this showing the Colony in 1887 lost £B,OOO on the venture. But tho postal authorities have another and a more excellent way of looking at tho matter. By a scries of welladapted figures they show that if all the " mail matter " wero sent ~hy way of San Francisco a net profit oi £14,7 M would accrue to tho Colony, and that if it wero sent by the direct services " on the present terms" the net profit would only be £2,sSs—the odd shillings and pence are omitted in both cases. But what of the cargo iraliic 1 It must lie obvious to anyone of ordinary c.ipaoit y that only for the payments to tin' Nov/ Zealand Shipping Company by way of bonus--£7,ooo—and on c.rro-

spondonce, the direct services would bo so unprofitable as to bo discontinued. And the consequences would be extremely injurious to the colony. Nothing has been moro effective in promoting trade between New Zealand and Great Britain than the oceanic services organised by the New Zealand Shipping Company, and Shaw, Savill, and Company, and anything more suicidal than the substitution of the 'Frisco service, which 1 »rings and carries only a minimum of cargo and passengers, cannot be imagined. In view of the efforts likely to be made to resuscitate the 'Frisco route, it is well that the public should inform themselves of the facts. Our trade is direct with the Home Country; and the United States offer no such trading advantages as to induce us to alter our present system simply because "mail matter " would show a profit.