The Vancouver Mail Service

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5576, 23 September 1889, Page 4

The Vancouver Mail Service

♦ The action of the British Commons, says an Ottawa despatch of August 20, in granting a subsidy of £(50,000 for the establishment of a mail service between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Hongkong, is creating a stir in political circles in Canada. Postmaster General Haggard says the Government has received advice that the information in the despatch is correct, and that the action of the Imperial Government was the direct outcome of Canada's action in agreeing to pay her share of the subsidy, Llsooo. The establishment of a line of steamers on this route is now almost an accomplished fact, and there is little doubt tliat it will revolutionise British trade with India. The service between Halifax, Quebec, and Hongkong will be at intervals of four weeks. The vessels will call at Yokohama and Shanghai, and the contract runs for ten years. The Admiralty clause provides for the conveyance of troops and supplies at cost. The Canadian-Pacific railway will also present an alternative route for tho Australian mails. At present these mails, when sent via America, travel, via New York and San Francisco, and a specially high rate is paid for the I'nited States transit. Under the proposed contract it will be possible to send them via Quebec or Halifax and Vancouver, on the payment of the ordinary coastal rates of transit to the Canadian post-office, and possibly the mail route across the Pacific to Australia will be diverted from San Francisco to Vancouver.