The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, JULY 20, 1876.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 77, 20 July 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, JULY 20, 1876.

We pointful out some time ago stirditv *>fc" ouvpt'*y irtg large *>cean stcaiiieis to deliver the San Francisco mail along our coast. It will tie recollected that we suggested the advisability of subsidising the t'jtion Company's steamers to deliver the mails between Onehunga and Port Chalmers. The cost of this coastal service would be considerably less than what we are now paying for the large thiough boats. At present we are giving £l-*>,ooo a-year to the Pacific Steamship Company tor carrying the letters from Auckland to the South, when, by employing the local steamers, we might save at least f't> T tWO annually, and also have the satisfaction of knowing that the mone\ paid to the Company would he ledistributed in the Colony, instead of being spent across the water. Were the Ttviot* Company's boats employed, there woutd fx; no necessity for a coastal pilot, ami no danger of touching on bars, and landing mails and passengers outside the Heads. Our contemporary the »' New Zealand Times" expresses our views on the subject vet** clearly. He says : " The question as to whether the mail steamer City of San Francisco- did or did not touch on the t>ar when last she left Port Chalmers, is, in consequence of the efforts of some foolish writers on both sides, heing magnified into an utterly undeserved importance. It is quite plain that the running of enormous ocean steamers up and down the coasts of this Colony, for the conveyance of a couple oi dozen passengers and a number of mail bags, is quite ridiculous, and that the sooner such a service is put an end to the better, in order that it may be replaced by one which shall leave the coastal portion of tliu serv ice to the Colonial steam tleet, that can do the work more cheaply, and far more ettiebntly. There seems indeed to be a pretty unanimous opinion throughout the Colony that the change we hav<_> indicated should be brought about : and in due time we have no doubt but that it will he accomplished. Sir Jri.its A ogel, in the House on Thursday afternoon, pointed out that as New South "Wales would not at present consent to any alteration in the terms of the contract, some time must elapse before the Government of this Colony can consider the change which so many deem desirable. * * There is ho ct> »«bt whatever but that Captain W.if>i>£U.f. and his officers are distinct in stating that the City of San Francisco did touch on the bar the last time she left Port Chalmers, and. considering the character of tti<Me gentlemen, there is no reason to believe that they are mistaken. But we wotdd point out that whilst the inadaptability of Port Chalmers for such vessels as the City of San Francisco is a very good reason why the ocean-going mail steamers should not go there, it lias really nothing to do with the main question, which is, that no matter how excellent a harbour Port Chalmers may be, the coastal service in connection with the Pacific Mail Service, as it is at present earned out, is thought by the majority of colonists to be perfectly unnecessary, and, indeed, not a little ridiculous, compelling, as it does, steamers of two thousand tons to do the work that could be done far more efficiently by vesse.'s of a quarter the size."