The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, JULY 27, 1876.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 83, 27 July 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, JULY 27, 1876.

Time after time we have pointed out the utter absurdity of running- our San Francisco mail down the coast in the Wge through boats. We drew attention to the fact that the sen-ice as now carried out, coats the Colony at least £6,000 per annum more than it need do, and, putting aside all monetary considerations, is not nearly so satisfactorily performed as it would be were the boats of our local company used for the New Zealand portion of the voyage. Scarcely a mail arrives or leaves but we hear of some mishap at one or other of the ports on the route. Either the weather was thick, the captain strange, and he would not venture to enter a port, or else the roll on the bar was such that the pilot did not deem it safe to take the mail steamer outside. These are the sort of lame excuses which are continually being made in regard to the delay in the departure* of oar mail boats. The Dunedin papers—the " Times " especially—have struggled hard to make out that thc3c large steamers can enter Port Chalmers with the greatest ease, and if plenty of blowing and tall writing would raise the water on the bar, the "Times" by now should have succeeded in making the entrance to the harbour the safest in New Zealand. We all recollect the little misunderstanding there ,wrs a short time since between the Dunedin and Wellington papers as to whether the City of San Francisco touched when going out on a recent occasion.' The captain declared that thev&sael did touch, while the pilot and HaxuOT r 3Xaster assured i the representatives of the Press that sho ■ did not. But whether she did"or J noT, it | is nigh time that vessels of her tonnage | ceased running to Port Chalmers, when j it becomes such a nice question that j it is impossible to state definitely whether the steamer grounded or not. The latest instance we have in support of our argu- \ ment against rnnning these large steamers for tli3 coastal service is contained in the following telegram, which we take from yesterday's "Daily Times":—"A late telegram from Pilot Kelly, at the Heads, : to Captain Thomson, this evening, reports a heavy roll on the bar and the sea breaki ing on the bank. The Harbour Master has therefore decided not to take the : steamer City of New York out to-morrow | morning. She may possibly get out to- ' morrow night, but the chances are against it, a* a heavy sea is reported off Timaru." Can anybody, we ask imagine a more ridiculous state of things than this. Were it not for the importance of the subject and the great annoyance caused by the delay of a mail steamer, we would be inclined to treat the matter as one of Punch's best jokes. But what will the "Daily Times" say to this now ; how will it for the twentieth time endeavour to show that vessels drawing '22 ft. can come into Port Chalmers in any weather. How the Wellington papers will gloat over the telegram announcing the fact that the City of New York could not leave with the mails because there was " a roll on the bar" and " a heavy sea at Timaru." How they will point out that the steamer Samson crossed the heavy bar twice while the mail boat was waiting inside, and prove beyond a doubt that smaller steamers are more suitable for the coastal service. But what a nice state of things we are coming to, when a heavy sea at Timaru delays the sailing of our mail boat 3. Surely we may ask arc we living in the nineteenth century, in the great age of progress ? Echo answers, " We must be retrogressing." Can it be credited that with a service which costs the Colon}- £o*o,ooo a-ycar we are unable to rely upon the regular departure of our mails for the Home country, and simply because there is " roll on the bar" and "a heavy sea" at Timant. But all joking aside it certainly is time that some steps were taken to prevent these continued delays, and to restore public confidence in the efficiency of this pet service 'of the Premier's. For our own part, we should only be too pleased to see the contract broken

up, and ttife service done away with. We have a regular monthly line in the Suez route, and boats carrying the mails which for punctuality cannot be beaten in any part of the world, and, therefore, why keep on fie 'Frisco service 1 If, as it was at first stated, the mail boats were to run so as to give us fortnightly communication with England, then we should be inclined to support two mail routes ; but as it is, the mails; leaye England and arrive here at the very outside within six or seven days of each other; therefore, the promised fortnightly service has never been carried out. We can remember the 'Frisco and Suez mails arriving in Dunedin, for month after month, on the same day, and considerable confusion it caused, too, in the Postal Department. It is for these reasons, therefore, that we are disposed to i favour only one line, unless the two can be regularly worked at fortnightly intervals. Late telegrams from Wellington inform lis that the question of the efficiency of the 'Frisco service will be brought before the House, and we should not be at all surprised to learn that the running of the tlirough boats down the coast will be discontinued, and very probably the service also. At any rate, some alterations will have to be made to render it worthy the name of a mail service.