BAD MANAGEMENT.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 79, 1 September 1874, Page 3

BAD MANAGEMENT.

Why Passengers from Australia are Refused Railroad Tickets to New York.—Director Hall to Blame. We take the following from the Daily Evening Post , San Francisco : What has happened in the case of the passengers by the AustraMan mail steamship Tartar has been expected for some time past by every one who has paid attention to the operations of the company, although it is well known that no blame can attach to J. C. Merrill and Co, the San Francisco agents, who have from the commencement of the service done their utmost to make it successful and popular. It was with some difficulty that the passengers by the Cyphrones, which arrived on the 13th of last month, obtained their railroad tickets to New York. Notwithstanding an agreement had been raadeby the representatives of the steamship company and the railroad authorities, providing for the issue in Australia by the recognised agents of orders in connection with the ocean trip for railroad tickets, it transpired that in consequence of neglect on the part of H. IT. Hall, the managing director in Sydney, to make the remittances agreed upon to eover the charges for conveyance by railroad across the continent, the terms of the agreement had been so seriously violated as to release the railroad parties from all obligations and responsibilities in the matter. Not wishing to embarrass the new steamship company in any way, they, last month, assumed the risk of acknowledging all orders for railroad tickets presented by the passengers of the Cyphrones, in the hope that affairs would be satisfactorily adjusted with only a trifling delay. It seems that this had not been done up to the arrival of the Tartar, and therefore the Central Pacific Railroad Company refused to give further credit to the steamship company. THE HEAD AND FRONT OF THE TROUBLE.

When the announcement was first made that H, H. Hall was to be the Managing Director of Ihe line in Australia, it was a foregone conclusion in the minds of every one acquainted with the character and career of that gentleman, that the service would not be well managed. It was. indeed, a matter of surprise to many that the Hon Mr Samuels, the Postmaster-General of New South Wales, should identify himself so closely with a man whose record was so “ fishy,” Two or three times, at least, had

Mr Hall gone through bankruptcy, and his credit in the Colonics has long been so questionable that merchants and others in Sy 1ney have shunned business intercourse with him. In proof of this it may bo stated that just before the time arrived for the dispatch of the May mail from Sydney it was found necessary to charter a steamship to connect with the one from New Zealand at Kandavn. Mr Hall made application to the Australian Steam Navigation Company for the “ City of Adelaide,” which was granted on the condition that 7,500d01s per month should be paid for it in advance. Mr Hall agreed to the sum, but, did not find immediate payment convenient. The money should be paid in due time, he promised, but this would not do, for the positive refusal of a steamer was made unless the charter money was paid beforehand. As it was absolutely necessary that a steamer should be dispatched with the mails and passengers, in order to preserve the contracts with the New South Wales and New Zealand Governments, as well as to keep faith with passengers who had already purchased tickets, Mr Hall was, perforce obliged to yield to the peremptory demand of the Steam Navigation Company. But how was he to get the 7500dols? He sought assistance from every one who he thought would stand by him, and at last the New South Wales Government, out of sheer desperation at the importunity of the man and the manner in which he had become compromised with the service, gave a guarantee of payment which satisfied the manager of the Navigation Company. Thus the mail service via San Francisco was for the time preserved intact, but the rottenness of Mr Hall’s credit was unmistakably exhibited. HOW PASSAGE MONEY IS PAID. Conducted as the hue has been from the commencement of the service, the lion’s share of the profits remains in Australia. Money is collected there for tickets through to England. These tickets are in three divisions—one for the trip to San Francisco, one consists of an order on the Central Pacific Railway Company here for a ticket overland to New York, and the third is an order for passage on any one of the three steamship lines from New York to England. Almost £B2 sterling or IlOdol are paid by each cabin passenger for a through ticket, and of course the money is received in the colonies, If Mr Hall were to fulfil his part of the agreement, he would remit by each steamer the proportion of passage money obtained for the overland and Atlantic divisions of the journey ; but this he has failed to do, and hence the refusal to acknowledge any further orders for railroad tickets to New York. Mr Hall was to have come on by the Tartar to make everything straight, but for some unexplained reason he has preferred remaining in Sydney, and as J. C. Merrill and Co have already paid considerable moneys out on their own responsibility to protect the credit of the Australian SteamshiplCompany, they are not disposed to incur further liability until they can see a way of being reimbursed. Considering how handsomely patronised the line has been since it began, and how popular the route to England via San Francisco was rapidly becoming, the troubles which have arisen are to be greatly regretted, but it is to be hoped that everything will yet turn out satisfactorily.