THE NEW MAIL SERVICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14925, 30 August 1910, Page 5

THE NEW MAIL SERVICE

" A VERY POOR AFFAIR." VIEWS OF MR MASSEY. (Fnoii Our Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, August 29. "I am not favourably impressed with the new proposals for establishing a mail s sorvico between this country and San , Francisco by way of Rarotonga and the - Pacific." remarked Mr Massey to your reporter yesterday. Continuing, Mr Massey said that ho had hoped the next n arrangement would be a mail service to 0 Britain by way of Vancouver. For Imr penal reasons 110 should have liked to see o a direct connection between this country 0 and Canada, and ho hoped some such !• arrangement- might bo made in the not j* far-distant future. He admitted, of course, that a really good service via . 'Frisco was quite possible, but what was 1 proposed now would not in his opinion c give us a good service, and as a matter e of fact it compared unfavourably with tho r contract provisions of tiho old 'Frisco d service. For instance, the proposed tinieo table allowed for 22 days trom Auckland r to 'Frisco, and tile same time from 'Frisco to Wellington. Under tho old contract the time was 16j days—really 936 hours— e from Auckland to 'Frisco, and vice versa.; j but he thought it was really looked upon 0 as a 17 days' time-table, so there was a i, loss of five days right away. Then, with tl till© old service we had 17 trips each year, while with the new thero would ba only 13. The net cost of the old service to this country was about £15,000 per annum, that was after deducting postage. According to tho Minister's statement on Saturday morning, the Government would pay the U.S.S. Company £21,666 per annum, or £1666 per trip, so that, even allowing for postage, the new service would cost considerably more than the '■ old, .while from the point of view of speed and frequency it would not be nearly so good. He could hardly speak as to the possibilities of trade, but he thought, 1 bearing in mind the extremely Protectionist Customs tariff 'of the United ; j States, that there \va6 more business, to 11 be done with Vancouver in tho way of exports from this country than with' San Francisco. Under the new arrangement New Zealand could hardly expect to get her mails delivered in London from Auckland under an average of 31 days, which could ,not by any means be considered a satisfactory arrangement. With fairly gocd steamers and proper train arrangements our mails should be delivered in London in 27 days. With the old service I. the mails were sometimes delivered in. London in 28 days, but unfortunately the company owning the steamers. employed at that time was for the last year or two - not able to keep them in. a proper state s of repair, and consequently their running was not so regulai' as it should have been. The subject anust come befor® Parliament within a few weeks. Personally, he was disappointed with the proposals, but, judging from opinions he had heard expressed, while members generally thought that, as a- anail service, what was proposed was a very poor affair, they would be in favour of jiving it a trial for a year in the hope that it would, lead to something better, either by way of 'Frisco or Vancouver. t AUCKLAND DISSATISFACTION.' ~ (From Our Own Correspondent.) AUCKLAND, August 29. In a leading article on the mail services, the Herald says"'We still hear in Sir Joseph Ward's announcement the console ing allusion to some future Vancouver - connection with Auckland, but in the meanjl time the public mousy is bein» frittered " away upon so-called. ' mail' services which * are wholly unworthy of the name, and | which will still drain the funds available 1 for that purpose if a Vancouver service 1 should be arranged. Nciv Zealand is* still - being put off with inferior and fourth-rate b mail provisions. The cardinal need for swift transit is being completely set aside, and if we seek the reason why it is evidently because Auckland is the natural port for swift ocean mails to Europe and America, and because any makeshift arrangement which has the effect of diverting legitimate trade from 'Auckland finds encouragement and sups port in influential quarters." (Pbr Uhitmj Priss Association.) AUCKLAND, August 29. The Star says it can scarcely be called satisfactory, but it is better than the s practically useless servirn from a mail t point of view a.t present connecting Newi Zealand and -'merica via Tahiti. It adds a that a great deal depends on.the class of , steamers and their speed. 1 The chairman of the Chamber of Comi merce and the chairman of the Harbour s Board disapprove of the proposals on ac--1 count of the class of steamers employed and the time to be occupied for the through mail to London, and the delay f in transhipping Auckland cargo at Welf lington. ; The proposals • wero considered at a s special meeting of the Council of the Chamber of Commerce this afternoon. The President (Mr J. H. Gunson), in opening the 'meeting, said that the fact that the service involved a 22 days' runbetween New Zealand and San Francisco was sufficient to warrant the chamber incondemning it. From the Auckland standpoint this was 'a most important question, and in his opinion it was simply .an attempt to take the San Francisco service from Auckland, to which it properly belonged. What the Prime Minister ' had indicated would- happen in the event ; pf a restoration of the service afforded j in his opinion very .strong grounds for a protest by the chamber. ® Mr Nathan: I think that for a. £20,000 j subsidy wo should get a very much better , service. j Mr L.' Myers stated that personally he 3 felt very disappointed with tin proposal. There seemed to him to be no justification 5 whatever for giving' Wellington the advantage of having the incoming service, I Mr Meimie remarked that the greatest- ' advantage seemed to iie with tho Union * Company. After further discussion the following ' motion, proposed by the chairman, and seconded by Mr Leo Myers, was carried ; unanimously: — "That this chamber ' strongly disapproves of the proposed mail' contract for New Zealand, via Rarotonga " and Papeete, io San Francisco, which, in its opinion, is unsuitable, and for the foli lowing reasons the chamber would urge upon the Government the wisdom of giv- \ ing the question further consideration, 1 with a view to providing an adequate and { * up-to-date service:—(l) That the service J now proposed, which is of an inferior j } character, is premature until negotiations > for a first-rat« service via Vancouver are j s concluded, and more particularly as there ; ' is now a reasonable probability _of tho P Ships' Subsidy Bill being passed next i year by the United States Congress en- [ abling tho establishment of a first-rate San ' Francisco service; (2) that a service, between New Zealand and San Francisco should not occupy more than 17 days, and J no service that requires a longer time ; would be satisfactory to the Dominion; * (5) that the vessels with which it is proposed to inaugurate tho service are out of date and unsuitable for the anticipated traffic and mail carriage; (4) that, Auckland being the natural commercial geographical port of arrival and departure, ! no change in this respect is justifiable." AdRANGI READY FOR SERVICE. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. I SYDNEY, August 29. , [Received Aug. 30, at 0.50 a.m.) , The Aorangi has completed an extcn- ' sive overhaul, prior to being employed in J the New Zealand-San i'rancisco new mail " service.