THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 1908. THE HOMEWARD MAILS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13834, 21 August 1908, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 1908. THE HOMEWARD MAILS.

The unsatisfactory condition of our mail services to London demands official attention. Although the Government may not be able to expedite the establishment of an "AllRed Route," giving direct connection between Auckland and Vancouver, or to re-establish the 'Frisco mail service without the co-opera-tion of the Washington Government, there seems to be no reason why better arrangements could not be made upon the routes still open to us. Our mails are thrown about between Fiji, Sydney, and Auckland as though nobody was interested in looking after them, with the consequence that quite unnecessary delays constantly occur upon a service which is not fast at the best. The Suez route is little better, for it is naturally run solely with a view to the requirements of the Commonwealth, while our mails are carried as a favour and at correspondingly high rates. This cannot be considered a tolerable situation, or even one which cannot be improved, for we had comparatively better mail services when New Zealand was very much less populated and very much less able to pay for mail carriage than she is to-day. We would suggest to Sir Joseph Ward that the Cabinet should give the matter its special consideration, and should not allow our mail services with the Mother Country to become permanently disorganised in the hope of something turning up. We cannot hope to establish a fast mail service to Vancouver without the co-operation of Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, but we may be able to assist in the re-estab-lishment of the 'Frico service, which for many years was all that could be wished, and may still be the fastest available for many years.

Although the American House of Representatives, by the exceedingly small majority of 153 to 146, refused to agree to the Ocean Mail Bill recommended by the Washington Government and approved by the Senate, it is considered probable that this decision will be altered in the near future, and that the reestablishment of the 'Frisco Mail Service to Australasia will then become possible. If this anticipation should prove correct, it may be possible, with the repeal of the American Navigation Laws, as far as the trade between Hawaii and the United States is concerned, to rearrange the old shipping aljiance between American and New 4 Zealand vessels and to run the mail partly with British and partly with American steamers. Under such an arrangement-— amendment to the Navigation Laws is confidently predicted—it would be possible for our Government to pay a sufficient subsidy to induce a first-class service to be maintained. It all depends, as Sir Joseph Ward has said, upon the attitude of America, but

the closeness of the voting leaves but little ground to be gained in the House of Representatives before the American Government will be able to pay the subsidy for Pacific mailcarrying which it earnestly desires to do. The journeying of the Atlantic fleet in Australasian waters, with the tremendous interest which is thus being aroused in matters maritime throughout the Continent, can hardly fail to strengthen the ocean mail proposals of Washington. It used to be said that the " Middle West" of the United States, a term given to the immense strip of country occupying the western lake region and the Upper MississippiMissouri valleys, was solidly against all maritime adventure, and all subsidy to shipping. But recent political developments point to a remarkable change in this state of things, and no strictly sectional lines of division are now noticeable. The visit of the American Fleet will prove all the more profitable to us if it should have the effect of so influencing American public opinion as to make possible the re-establish-ment of the long-famous 'Frisco mail service.