THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL LINE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LIII, Issue 5950, 22 March 1880, Page 5

THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL LINE.

The following has been, telegraphed to the San Francisco Morning Call Washington, Feb. 1.

Representative Horace Davis has recently come into possession.of . important information, - showing > that. the. continuance: of the existing line of steamships _ running hetweeh San Francisco, the Sandwich Islands, New Zealand, and seriously imperilled by the charge 'of about 100,000 dollars per annum made by our Government for the transportation of the .Australian closed inails across the continent, and he is therefore actively interesting himself..to induce Post-master-General Key to reduce this charge for transportation, and, if possible, to relinquish it wholly. Davis for this purpose is. drawing up a letter, in which ne expects to be joined by all,the other members of the Pacific Coast delegation, setting forth the great present and prospective benefits to oirr country of the trade and travel induced by this line that would, be cut off, in a great measure, by its discontinuance, and calling attention also to the following facts, which as yet are by no means generally known. It appears that the British Government, viewing with jealousy the profits derived by our people, not only from the trans-continental travel, but more especially from our trade with Australia and New Zealand, which nowpays us a cash balance of about 5,000,000 dollars per annum, has already taken steps to divert this travel and tfade to England, vid the Suez Canal. For.; this; purpose a fast steamship lino has been subsidised, touching at Ceylon, and carrying the English mails vi& the Suez Canal and Brindisi, Italy—no mails being sent now vifi the Southampton steamers—and the fate of postage by the new line has been reduced to sevenpehce, with a prospect of further reductions; and as an additional means of detaching New South Wales and New Zealand from the support of the line to San Francisco, and thereby breaking it down, the London Government makes our heavy charge for continental transportation a subject of persistent complaint to these. Provincial Governments, and threatens to add it to the heavy burden which they already sustain in the payment of 450,000d01s annual subsidy to this line, which is more perhaps for our own profit than their own,, as we derive the largest share of benefit from their trade and travel, and pay nothing whatever to the steamships for carrying our own mails, except the beggarly amount of the sea postage. It is believed that PostmasterGeneral Key, in view of his recent recommendation for the establishment of ocean postal lines by grants of liberal compensation, will regard this fore-shadowed suggestion with great favour, especially as there seems to be no reason to doubt, that the present Governmental charge for transporting the Australian mail across the United States is largely in excess of what it really coats. Judge Key, Postmaster-General, is m sympathy with the proposition to reduce the charge entirely.