THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 1899.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11396, 13 April 1899, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDA Y, APRIL 13, 1899.

The San Francisco mail service has in Auckland come to be so thoroughly regarded as a perquisite of that place that the strenuous agitation which has been commenced tliere in opposition to the proposal to alternate Wellington with it as the port of call of the mail steamers, in the event of a fortnightly service being inaugurated, is perfectly intelligible. Auckland has long enjoyed exceptional advantages from the fact of its befog tho one port of call in the colony for the San Francisco steamers. The objection on the part of its residents to lose an extension of those advantages is not surprising. Their protestations of a desire to approach the discussion of the question in no narrow provincial spirit will, however, not be accepted altogether literally. The consideration upon which the decision should -.est as to the port of call is, How will the interests of the colony as a wholo be best served? It would be idle to pretend that the arrangements under which tho southern portions 'of the inward mails are handled in Auckland are at, all satisfactory. The delays that have occurred between the arrival of the mail steamer there aud the despatch of the bags for the south have too frequently been long and vexatious. The San Francisco mail, nevertheless, remains absolutely the best for all parts of the colony that we have ever had. Dunedin is the last of the four large centres to receive its English mails via America, and it is as a rule the first to receive the mails that are forwarded via Naples or Briudisi, but as between these routes it is served much better by the San Francisco one than by the others. The mails that have arrived in the colony this week supply ail, illustration in point. A Brindisi mail reached Dunedin yest-er-

day. The date of its despatch from London wus the 3rd March, and the timo occupied in transmission was, therefore, 40 days. The San Francisco mail, however, which reached Auckland yesterday left London on the llth March, nnd may' be expected here tomorrow night. It will consequently have occupied 33 days in transmission from London' to Dunedin. A comparison of the times that will be occupied in the conveyance of the outgoing mails from Dunedin this week tells equally in favour of the American service, A mail tp bo conveyed by the Naples route wiis despatched last Monday; there will be.two days' delay in Melbourne; and.it is timed to reach London on the 23rd May. The transit will havo occupied 43 days. The San Francisco mail which leaves Dunedin tomorrow morning, on the other hand, is due at London on the 17th May, tho ' tithe oecupietl consequently being 33; . days. Tho San Francisco service is, it will be seen, much the most expeditions even for this end of the colony. The advantages which business people in Auckland reap from it are, however, considerably greater than are enjoyed by their competitors in the south. This also may be clearly illustrated. The San Francisco mail having arrived in Auckland yesterday, merchants in that city will bo enabled at their leisure to answer their Home letters (dated up to the llth March) by the outgoing mail which leaves there on Monday,,next and is due iv London *on the 17th May; The London houses of Auckland merchants will thus have' in (i? days replies to their letters- of the lltlr March. The Wellington merchants will also, this month, bo in a position to , reply, by the outgoing San Francisct) mail to letters received by the inward mail, hut that will be an exceptional experience for them. Dunedin merchants, on the other hand, haye hot. had .English correspondence of a later- date ;-ban the 3rd March, and they'have a single day in which to answer, this iii- order to mail tbeir letters to catch the San Francisco steamer. Their " English correspondence is eight days older'than that received in Auckland by .the Alameda yesterday, and .their' "replies - have to be despatched three days earlier. Christchurch merchants are. in this matter even worse off. They will have no time at all to spare in Order to, despatch by the San Francisco rd.ute answers to their Brindisi mail. ..While, 'therefore, the San Francisco mail service is under any circumstances that.' .which best Satisfies this end, of, the: colony, it still, imposes oi\ business men a serious handicap in comparison with those in the north. The. :alternation-,'of Wellington with Aiickland a-s' a port of call for'wfche steamers-would-to some extent remedy ,this; Such, an■'.arrangement would be beneficiivl to Wellington and to the whole. Of,' the South Island,- and their interests 'must be: held to outweigh those.of Auckland alone. Some of the objections which are raised to this proposed arrangement; are rather amusing. " Were the • steamers to call at Wellington," -the New Zealand Herald says, "they would require to extend the voyage by sbnie 300 miles, and this would involve'for atleast a fourth of the population of the colony an intolerable (May in the arrival of the mails." The Herald .wholly, ignores the convenience of the southern part of the colony. It is estimated-.hat a fast mail boat would take 18 hours longer to, go from Apia to Wellington thah> the voyage tb Auckland takes, aiid if would take 28 hours more to transmit the northern mails from Wellington to, Auckland. The people, of' Auckland would thus suffer an "intolerable delay," of two days in the delivery of..their correspondence. As a set-off to this- the southern mails would be delivered: 10 hblirs earlier.' As a matter 'of'faj3b the advantage gained by. thp sp.ntli would probably be greater, for; while ' the estirfiate of 10 hours is arrived at by deducting from the length of time occupied in transport between Auckland and' the extra time that would be consumed in steaming, between.. Samoa, and Wellington, it i. notorious th^t as the result of-the delays iii 'Auckland it frequently takes, 'under'present conditions, 36 t0,40 hours to deliver the mails in Wellington. So long as the steamer which is under contract to take the mails south from Auckland"1 .has'to negotiate tidrtl harbours like Matiukaii-and New Plymouth there will always, be more or less, fluctuation, iv the time occupied in the transmission of the mails between Auckland and Wellington., . In-any case, however, .Auckland people would not occupy a much worse i position : than Dunedin if Wellington -were imade a port of call. Tho dill-erence.ih the time occupied in the delivery of the mails at the two places would lie covered by a few hours. Auckland and Dunedin are, however, two extreme points. ■ The- great argument in favour .of .'making Wellington a portof call, consists in the fact that its central position, enables it to distribute tiie mails speedily throughout the whole colony. Auckland would relatively suffer Because she has enjoyed an exceptional benefit for U quarter of a century, but, every other part of the colony would be benefited. This the New Zealand Times points out when it observes that if the mail steamer should arrive in-Wellipg-Qi- ih the afternoon or evening, the whole of the correspondence for Palmerston, -. Wairarapa, Christchurch, Nelson, and other places would be delivered next 'morning, while that for Napier,.; Wanganui, Timaru, Oamaru. and- .Dunedin would be nt those places next evening. A dispassionate consideration of the nnestion can lead only to the one conclusion that the convenience of the colony as a whole will be most effectively served by Wellington being made a port of call. Auckland will then be .no worse off and no better off than at present. In this aspect, of the matter, the agitation which has been originated there is most unreasonable. It has never been suggested that Auckland should cease to be a port of monthly call for the San Francisco mail steamers. The proposal is to. replace the now discontinued Vancouver - service, for which Wellington was the port of call, by an additional mail every month via San Francisco, and that this mail, which would make the American service a fortnightly one, should he received at and despatched from Wellington. Apart from the fact that the mails throughout the colony would be more speedily distributed from Wellington than is at present the case,

an argument in favour of that city being made a port of call is supplied in the fact. that, the cargo exported from New Zealand by the' San Francisco steamers comes chiefly from the south, and the expense of coasting freights on this would be in some measure saved. The principal point that was urged at a meeting of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce against the proposal to make Wellington . a port of call was the financial one. Mr A. H. Nathan pointed

out that if the mail went to AVellington once a month 26 days' extra steaming in the year would be necessitated, and this would involve heavy extra, payments by the Government. That was the only solid ground of opposition to the proposed arrangement, but the advantages would be so considerable acompletely'to outweigh this objection