SAN FRANCISCO MAIL SERVICE

New Zealand Times, Volume LXX, Issue 3884, 30 October 1899, Page 3

SAN FRANCISCO MAIL SERVICE

MR DUTHIE’S VIEWS. In the House of Representatives- on the 24th October last, Mr John Duthie spoke as follows on the resolution for renewing the Sa.n Francisco mail contract;—l regret the manner in which the Premier has treated the House over this matter. It has been postponed most unduly, until even the Supplementary, Estimates were passed, and until this hour of five a.m.; and, still More important, it has been postponed until a considerable number of southern members have left Wellington for home. An hon member: And northern members too. '■ . Mr Duthie ; The northern members are here. They do not leave when the ■San Francisco mail service question is on. The resut of the action of the Premier is that a true expression of opinion cannot bo gob. This resolution ought to have been brought on tit latest several days ago, before the Supplementary Estimates were introduced. The Premier can only have done this—for f spoko to him about it bcforc-hantl—solely for the purpose of preventing an expression of opinion from a full House. 1 complain also that he hag failed to pub information before the House which ho has in his possession in reference to a proposal from Mr Spreckols. Ho was pleased to make a statement on this question from a public platform at a small electioneering meeting about a fortnight ago in Wellington. 1 found the report of it iu the Christchurch. “Press.” _ This conduct discloses the extent of his respect towards Parliament. He might have been expected to treat this House with candour, and it was entitled to his confidence. Mr Seddon; I announced it to the House. Mr Duthie ; I never heard you, nor has any paper been laid on the table on the question. Mr Seddon; I announced it to the House. I will get you the announcement forthwith. Mr Duthie; It is evidently, from expressions we hear all round the House, N 'a.s much a matter of surprise to honourable members as to me. We have only now got this information piecemeal through questions preferred to the Pretuier by an Auck'and member. The resolution before us states, “That this House authorises «be Government to extend .the San Francisco mail service for twelve months on the present terms and conditions.” Turning to these terms and conditions, I find that they have been varied. tdo not know when they were varied ; but some years ago it was agreed in this House, and formed part of the contract, that the contractors had the right of choice of port as 'between Auckland and Wellington. Although they always chose Auckland, nobody complained; but, still, it was not right that that condition should lie withdrawn without the assent of this House, and I think it ought to be restored ; and for that and further rea- " sons I give notice of the amendment which .1 shall presently move. Now, I have no objection to the service being renewed for one year, with Auck'and mi the port of call. It is a question to which great value is attached in Auckland, and so far as tlie monthly service is concerned, it has been established there for a generation. I do not think anybody hero wants to interfere with Auckland in respect of that monthly service: but when it is proposed that there should be a fortnightly service, the extra, and alternate steamers being a substitute for the Vancouver and Wellington service, then, by right that belongs to Wellington, and should be established here for the general advantage of the colony. In this connection, I think it was ,a great, misfortune that the fortnightly service via Vancouver was allowed to collapse. Bub if any service in substitution is started, certainly tins port has the first claim. I' do not think I shall be misunderstood when I say that we do not in Wellington attach importance .to it simply for the purpose of getting another steamer to visit the port. Every one who has seen the correspondence' between-'the WeTippton Harbour Board and the Huddart. Parker Company might almost say that

THE WELLINGTON AUTHORITIES WERE UNCIVIL. Certainly, they wore unaccommodating, and, I think, unduly so. . Probably that was simply because at times they had not sufficient wharfage accommodation, and so the Harbour Board was not very anxious as to the mail steamers. The advantages of Wellington as a port of distribution for the mails is very marked. And if wo are to have a service established. as proposed by the resolution for five or seven years, in either sixteen or seventeen days, the option ought to be given to the company to tender, and to come bore on each alternate trip; and I shall show reasons for that contention. But, first, I remind the House in passing, that central New Zealand ports have already this session been thwarted in their rcasonab’e . desire, to get regular and prompt connection with the federal service at Sydney. This proposal heforo us means a sixteenknot service, and I do not think it is any use entertaining any proposal for a five years’ service that is not going to run sixteen knots. The departmental evidence taken last year shows that the spend of the .present service to Auckland is -13.47 knots, and there is an allowance of sixteen hours for deter: t ion at Honolulu and Samoa. Wo have next to consider THE DISTANCE OF THE SEVERAL FORTS. The Union Company, wnose time-tables are, I presume, reliable, show the dist autre to be travel'ed from San Francisco to Auckland, by way of the ports named, as 5687 nautical miles, and to Wellington 5912. Taking the speed at sixteen knots, and allowing for above detention, the time to ‘ the port of Auckland would be 15 days lit hours, as against 16 days I.V hours to Wellington, A difference of only fourteen hours. The service to Sydney Has also to bo taken into consideration, and the. distance from Wellington, to . Sydney.is forty-two knots less than from Auckland. At the same rate of speed, that would reduce the difference in the time in which the mails wou’d' reach Sydney , to eleven hours and a half extra. The Auckland Chamber of Commerce recently wont elaborately into those cutestions,* and circulated their findings amongst■ members. They, gave the direct time to Wellington under the present speed as twenty Hours over the time to Auckland, but this could only bo sixteen hours and a half. That, Timvevev. by the tvay. Then, they slated the coast;:! service from Anck’and to Wellington at twenty-eight hours, and so claimed,that the difference of the present direct service to Wellington was onlv eight hours. Now, I have bad the' actual time of this coastal service taken out. 1. have in my baud the actual time for eighteen Irtns—that is, for each voyage, starting with January, 1898. right no to the early part of this session—and the average tor that period, from tho time the steamer arrived in Auckland.tin to the arrival of the mail i.u Wellington, is proved to be 39 hours 8 minutes, not twenty-eight hours, as stated. Deducting sixteen hours and a half—the shn/lw ♦ume to Auck’and—from this ascertained 39 houre 8 minutes. and it is clear that all served from Wellington ere at a disadvantage by 22 hours S 3 minutes, or practically

a day, on both inward and outward despatch. Very well, then, next take the time by tho proposed new sixteenknot service, which, as shown, would be 15 days Hi hours to Auckland, against 16 days U hours to Wellington. If the coastal 39 hours 8 minutes is added to the Auckland time, the mails via Auckland would take 17 days 2 houis, or the LOSS OF A FULL DAY to Wellington, and to three-fourths of the colony; and surely such a clear and decided benefit to so large a proportion of the colony is ono which cannot, even for political exigencies, continue to be ignored, if at the same time we are prepared to pay so much to expedite this service. The Auckland Chamber of Commerce, by their figures, which appear.-tb bo taken from the statistics, and are no doubt correct, admit that the number of people to be. benefited by a direct service to Wellington would be 501,958, but they erroneously deny this to the population of Hawke’s Bay, which is given at 35,561. Tardnaki, if is true, would remain much in the same position, and Auckland would, of course, bo worse off, as it would take longer bafore the mail reached them; but, on their own showing, they are only 159,000 against the 535,000 benefited, and I do not see that we are justified, at any rate as far as this extra and alternate service is concerned, in depriving so large a proportion of tho people of the colony of this clear advantage of one day on both their inward and outward mads.; Then we have further to consider which port would probably prove the rpc: i- cuocts> ful for the service. Now, there can be no question that - ■ AUCKLAND HAS NEVER BEEN A SUCCESS either as a passenger cr cargo port. Comparatively few passengers, a.s we see, travel thence, except during two months of the year, and the reason for that is not far to seek. Auckland is inconvenient, because it takes two extra days to reach it by the East Coast, and, then, as steamers do not connect by that route, people have to go to an hot© l . On the other ■ hand, if they go by the smaller West Coast steamers with tho mail, they have to face the risk and detention of a bar-harbour, as also the isthmus inconvenience, .when travelling with luggage for a voyage. The consequence is that the route has never been in favour as a passenger service. People from the southern ports continue to prefer to go by way of Sydney and Suez, largely because of the inaccessibility of the port of departure. A return is also given by tiro Auckland Chamber of tho passengers travelling for fifteen despatches—from the lath March, 1898, to the 17th April, 1899. That return twice includes the two busy passenger months of the year, and the outward passengers carried are given at 396. But if we take tho fifteen despatches for the corresponding months from We'lington to Vancouver, 1 find that 497 passengers loft, and this although the service wap not in favour, sine© it was now, and it suffered on account of recurring breakdowns and of the unsuitability of the steamers. The port of Wellington induced that extra, number of passengers, owing to the fact that it was

CENTRAL AND MORE ACCESSIBLE to two-thirds of the population. Then, compare the tonnage of'cargo brought by these steamers. The Auckland statement shows 2105 tons as their importations from San Francisco, with 658 tons to Wellington and 11S8 for other louthcrn ports. Now, that is a small tonnage of cargo after being established for twenty-five years, and if it proves anythipg, it is that the alternative steamers should come South for the purpose of developing t/ade by serving other ports. ■■ Auckland is evidenb'y at its maximum; and has no additional trade for any further steamers. That cargo as quoted covets fifteen steamers; but in turning to Wellington I was unable to get a return for fifteen boats, but got one for thirteen, being . the steamers for one year, and find that the inward cargo from Vancouver to Wellington alone amounted to 3433 tons for that smaller term, or finite 1000 tons ip excess of that of Auckland as a first port on its fifteen voyages, as shown. In both passenger and goods trade the figures quoted prove that the Vanvouver line, with the advantage of starting from this port, had under adverse circumstances developed a larger trade; and, as I ha ve already pointed out, by a thriving here there. wou’d also bo an advantage of One dav for the despatch of outward mails. Then, as .» mail centre the Port of Wellington stands UNRIVALLED FOR DISTRIBUTION. We have the means here for ctespai oiling the mails for all four coasts with certainty and the utmost speed, as also inland by, two railways, and we can pul them on the southern rails in twelve hours. Mail steamers from-the ocei-i are worked to arrive at daylight, or eafly in the day. Wo find at Auckland that the mail steamers, .with rare exceptions, do so arrive. In that case time is further saved, as there are steamers departing from this port every afternoon to all parts of the colony, whereas the mail from Auckland arrives here usually late in the afternoon or at night, by the Manawatu train, and, there is an obvious Inconvenience and cost in distributing the mails, since the coastal steamers have to be detained. For these and other reasons, Wellington, as a port of distribution, offers very great advantages. I consider, therefore, I am only doing a duty to this port, and acting in the best interests of the colony, in moving this amendment, whicii is, “That after me word ‘Francisco’ instils eleventh line, there' be inserted ‘or, in lieu thereof, for such two-weekly or three-weekly service, - a. service with Auckland and Wellington . as alternate ports of call.’”' 'I have briefly stated the main advantages for making this port a port of call, and I think the proper thing, if any more frequent service is established, is to stipulate, as a condition, that every alternate steamer shall call at Wellington. - Ueaving this question, I come-now to .the question of the steamers to be employed, and the subsidies. The position appears, to be hedged with many difficulties. Messrs Spreckels are, I understand, equivalent to partners with the Union Company in the present contract, but it looks very (much as if they were trying to PASS THE UNION COMPANY OVER* in thus opening communications direct with the Premier and offering independently. That such is the probable intent is evident from reading the reports in the departmental papers of me contemplated legislation in America. The apparent American object is to force the employment. of United States s*t earners by a vefy heavy subsidy paid on a scale according to the steamer’s tonnage, length of voyage, and speed. The American Government, apparently, intends by these subsidies to establish a marine service to provide available transports .n case of war and to develop tneir trade. It is pretty certain that tho Hanna-Payuo subsidies will be granted by Congress to forward American national interests. Mr Spreckels is, no doubt, relying on this legislation beinc put through to secure this service to his line of -steamers and to the American flag. It is also evident from Mr Spreckels’s communications that the matter is urgent. But, while the Union Company has never assisted a Wellington interest, yet, as a colony, we owe it considerable obligations ana goodwill, and I do not think we ought, to

entertain any. proposal that tnis service should pass to the American flag. There is the advantage in Mr Spreckols’s favour of the United States' paving acquired Honolulu, but" by theirj legislation they provide that no vessels* excepting those under the United Stales flag shall be allowed to carry passengers or cargo between their ports. This will have the effect of debarring BRITISH OR COLONIAL-uWNn/D - VESSELS / from trading between San Francisco and Honolulu. Now, one of the items in the profitable carrying-on of that service is the number of passengers mat usually” travel between Honolulu and San Francisco. If British vessels are deprived of the advantage of carrying cargo between those two ports they will be terribly handicapped. I fear it is unlikely mat we could get, the American government to waive their legislation, which m its application%3eems to be universal so far as they are concerned. The difficulty, however, may be got over, as it may, under the Premier’s resolutions, upset the service. Still, the American ouject is to extend, and they are unlikely to abandon the service. They are likely to prefer Wellington, to which port meir home subsidy would bo slightly heavier, with tho probable increase in trade to this port. We have, however, to take into consideration our own marine ; and, in view of the manner in whicli the colony has been served by the Union Company, we ought to stipulate that at least one-third of the vessels employed in the service should be under the British flag. I am'not going to take up the time or the House further- at. this .nour of the morning, and I therefore content myself with moving the amendment whicli I have stated, fully satisfied that tb =s v> te to to now recorded is not the final’ decision of Parliament.