The New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 1910. OCEAN MAIL SERVICES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7119, 4 May 1910, Page 6

The New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 1910. OCEAN MAIL SERVICES

Once again questions relating to tlio ocean mail services of the Dominion have been brought into the arena ofpublic discussion, and the relative merits of the Suez, the Vancouver and direct routes canvassed by Chambers of Commerce. Auckland, as usual, is making itself the guardian of national interests in this matter, and its'representations regarding the .Vancouver service have led to a general re-open-ing of the subject, one result being a resolution passed by the Wellington Chamber of Commerce in favour of subsidising the direct lines via Monte Video rather than voting money for the speedy delivery of mails in London via Canada. The Auckland citizens who are taking an'interest in the subject of oversea mail carriage seem to imagine that the Government is in some way to blamo for Auckland not being a port of call for tlio inward and outward Vancouver steamers between Australian ports and the Canadian railway terminus. This is most certainly not tlio case, foT whatever may be the value of a service hy that route it is most assuredly not due to any act of the New Zealand Ministry tJiat the Dominion stands outside of the connection.

Continual representations have been made by the Postmaster-General +o the Commonwealth and -the Canadian Governments with a. view to the mail steamers being allowed to call at Auckland. These have been unsuccessful, even though a payment of £20,000 a year is" offered by New Zealand for the privilege of participation. The Australian-Canadian service is conducted on a contract entered into jointly by the two countries, and under the provisions of this ' compact ttho mails have to be transported within fixed periods between Vancouver and Brisbane. Here we have the stumb-ling-block to , amy arrangement by which this country can participate in the way'so many times suggested. Canada is agreeable to Auckland being made a. port of call. Australia is not, for the reason that this would involve leaving Brisbane out of ' the steamers' itinerary, . and to this the Federal Government will not assent. Brisbane would have to be discarded as the last point of departure and first port of arrival and Sydney substituted as a divergence 1 to New Zealand, for vessels running to and from the Queensland coast from "Vancouver would mean such a. great sacrifice of time that the service would oeaso to be advantageous to the Commonwealth. Hence so long as Australia insists upon Brisbane the ambitions of New Zealand for partnership in the enterprise—or, rather, Auckland's anxiety to see the mail boats in the Waitemata—cannot be realised.

New Zealand's offer of £20,000 has railed to 'carry weight, and her expressed willingness to join with the British and Canadian Governments to the extent of £75,000; per annum for a fast fortnightly service across the Pa'cifio touching Honolulu a.nd Fiji has not borne fruit. On the' whole, though Auoklanders cannot be expected to share the opinion and the Government has persistently: tried to attract t!ho Vancouver line, we are strongly inclined to the view that tie country is none tlhe poorer for having this £20,000 to devote to other purposes. All of ; the essential requirements of this Dominion are met by the service we now have by way of Suez, and for the Post Office to pay £20,000 a year for a. steamer to call at Auckland has always seemed to us a piece - of hare-brained extravagance that there was very good reason to rejoice could not be put into practice. We now have an English mail leaving Wellington every Friday afternoon for Sydney to connect by rail with the alternate P. and 0. and Orient steamers leaving Largs Bay on the following Thursday. These mails reach London in thirty-seven days. We also have an English mail reaching Auckland every Sunday, via Suez and Sydney, in about thirty-eight days from London. This latter mail,' now that the Main Trunk line is completed, reaches practically every part of the Dominion in time to permit of answering correspondence being posted by the outgoing mail in the same week. The service, on the whole, is very regular, it is speedy, and it is frequent. The agitation is at present confined to a handful of people who are never satisfied with anything, and imagine the bulk .of the people are desperately anxious to see the ocean turned into a racecourse on which every few hours "gained" has to be purchased at enormous cost. For this Suez mail service we pay in subsidies £27,000 a year to the companies concerned and get a weekly dispatch and delivery. For the Vancouver service £20,000 has been offered for a monthly dispatch and delivery—to gain about four days. Four days—once a month —£20,000 a year! What proportion of the mercantile community wants to get it» letters a few days earlier onoe every four weeks than it does now? A mere fragment, and we have no hesitation in saying that the special consideration these individuals imagine they should receive ought to be purchased ja& their own expense over the sub-

i marine cables. It is quite conoeivabli that it might bo useful for New Zea* I land to participate in the VancouverAustralian service, but we .have yet to , learn that this would not bo dearly purchased at £20,000 a year. If there aro any'advantages to be . derived in this direction they should be .. stated, and if they ever aro reduced to coherent shape we undertake to prove the position can be met much more economically. A steamer to connect Auckland and Suva on a timetable co-ordinated to the arrival of tlio mail boats is all that is necessary or likely to be for a very long time. So far as the resolution of the Chamber of Commerce in AVellington is concerned it may be reasonably asked (1) What subsidy would bo required to reduce the time occupied by the direct lines on the passage between New Zealand and England? and (2) What would be gained by such expenditure? Apparently the chamber looks with favourable eye upon the existing service via Suez, having found it "most satisfactory," and will deputationis© the Government to retain the connection. This being so a subsidy io the direct lines would obviously be, a more burning of money.' In an interview published by our evening contemporary, the president of the Chamber is represented as. urging this now payment on " Imperial" grounds, as by it some measure of "policing the sea " could be secured. It will be more easy to understand this aspect of the proposition when we know more about it. As Parliament last year assented to increasing our expenditure for "policing the seas" to £250,000 a. year it is not likely to be very enthusiastic about proposals for adding to that sum undor the mask of "subsidies for carriage of mails."