NEW MAIL SERVICE WITH ENGLAND.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 1041, 30 November 1870, Page 5 (Supplement)

NEW MAIL SERVICE WITH ENGLAND.

MEMORANDUM OF THE POSTMASTER

GENERAL.

IMPORTANT CONCESSIONS TO THIS

COLONY.

Through the courtesy of the Hon. Julius Yogel, Postmaster-General, we are enabled to publish the following memorandum relative to the terms of a new contract for a mail service between New Zealand and San Francisco :—: —

The Postmaster-General records with much gratification that, after considerable difficulty and protracted negociation, he has succeeded in arranging the terms of a new contract for a mail service between New Zealand and San Francisco, with Mr. A. Neilson, tho confidential representative of the North Pacific Transportation Company (Messrs. Holloday and Brenham, San Francisco), between which Company and Mr. Webb, of New York, there has been an amalgamation of interests, and an arrangement entered into by which Mr. Webb's ships are to perform the service.

The following is an outline ofthe arrangement entered into :—: —

The contractors are to establish a line of mail stcameis, under tho style and title of "The United States, New Zealand, and Australian Line," the steamers to be employed are to be the • Nevada,' tho c Nebraska,' and the Dacotah, with the proviso that the ' Moses Taylor' may be temporarily used in the event of accident to any one ofthe three vessels named ; and, further, that should any of the three vessels become unserviceable, others are to be substituted to be approved by the Postmaster-General. The contract vessels are to be, in every respect, first-class mail and passenger steamers, and to be maintained as such.

The contract is to be for ten years, subject to the condition that, within six months from the arrival of the first boat at AVellingron (say about the beginning of September), the Assembly may decide that the duration of the contract shall be for three years only ; but the Government are to use their best endeavours to secure that the ten years' period be accepted by the Assembly. The service first commenced is to be "a temporary one ; and in the contract it is to be described as "Line No. 1." Three alternative lines are provided for, — one of which will have to be finally adopted, under conditions sot forth in the contract, and which the PostmasterGeneral proposes now to indicate. To all the four lines one feature is common, — that the main boat runs from San Francisco to Port Chalmers, calling at Auckland, Wellington, and Lyttelton.

line no. 1

A steamer to leave San Francisco once in every calendar month, commencing on the 16th of February next, and to proceed to Port Chalmers, calling at Auckland, Wellington, and Lyttelton ; and to return from Port Chalmers to San Francisco once in every calendar month, calling at Lyttelton, Wellington, and Anckland. Between San Francisco and Auckland, two ports may be visited ; those ports to be selected by Mr. Neilson, but to be within tho Hawaiian, Society, Navigator, or Fijian groups. The ports s=o selected are to be visited for coaling purposes only, and there is an express prohibition against any connection being effected between either of the coaling ports and any port iv New Caledonia or in Australia. For this line the payment is to be £40,000 for twelve complete services ; and any subsidies received from Australia or New Caledonia, are to be equally divided between the New Zealand Government and the contractors. Within six months of the date of arrival at Wellington of the first contract vessel, the Post-master-General may give to the contractors notice that he adopts as the alternative of the initiatory line (No. 1) the line described in the contract as line no. 2. This line is for a service precisely as described under the heading "Line No. 1," but thirteen complete services are to be performed within the year instead of twelve, and the contractors are to establish a branch steamer between Auckland and Sydney, and any other branches they please from New Zealand ports, but they are not to be at liberty to run any branch steamers except from New Zealand ports. For Line No. 2 the payment is to be £60,000 for thirteen complete services, inoluding the branch line ; and all subsidies received, whether from the Australian Colonies or from New Caledonia, are to belong wholly to the New Zealand Government. If within six mouths of the arrival of the first contract boHt at Wellington, the PostmasterGeneral does not give notice to adopt Line No. 2, the contractors may elect to carry out Line No. 3 or Line No. 4. LINE NO. 3 Is similar to Line No. 1, only that the contractors are to receive the subsidies from the othor Colonies, less ten per cent, to be paid to the New Zealand Government. They are to be at liberty to establish branches to any Australian Colony or to New Caledonia from New Zealand, but they are not to run any branch boats except from New Zealand ports. Tho payment for Line No. 3isto be £40,000— the contractors receiving all subsidies paid by other Colonies, and retaining the amount less ten per cent., which they are to pay to the New Zealand Government. LINE NO. 4 Is the same as the others iv regard to the maiu boats running to Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, aud Port Chalmers ; but the contractois are to be at liberty to run branches from the Fiji Islands to Australia, and to make such arrangements as they please respecting subsidies from Colonies other than New Zealaud. The payment for this line to be £30,000 per annum. TIME. In each of the four cases described, the contract time between San Francisco and Auckland is to be twenty-four clays ; and the contractors are to use all diligence to perform the distance between Auckland and Port Chalmers within odo huudrod hours, — subject to a penalty of two pounds per hour for unnecessary delay. If the Government adopt Line No. 2, the contract time between Sau Francisco and Sydney is to be thirty days. If tho contract time is exceeded, the contractors are to pay a penalty of two pounds per hour for such excess, unless a reasonable cause can be shovvu for it ; and they are to receive a bouus of two pouuds for each hour less than contract time within which any service is performed between San Francisco and Auckland, or San Francisco and Sydney. The Postmaster-General is to have power to make and to vary time tables. The vessels may be detained twenty-four hours iv Now Zealand, and twenty -four hours in Sydney. They may also be detained forty-eight hours iv San Francisco whenever it may be necessary so long to await the arrival there of tho mails from Europe.

The contract vessels are to bo exempt from all port, light, or wharfuge dues or charges in New Zealand. On board each vessel, first cabin passages are to bo provided, without charge, for a mail agent aud his assistant.

The contractors are to enter into bonds to the amount of £25,000 for tho due performance of their contract.

Tho contractors agree, subject to a penalty of £1,000 per annum, to procure from the Uuited States an exemption from all the charges for mails between San Francisco and London, and between New York and San Francisco, which are now imposed under the Conventiou between tho United Slates and Great Britain. Tho contractors also agree to use their best endeavours to secure a concession under which wool, the

produce of any Colony, contributing to the mail subsidy, and tho fibre of the Pliormium icnox, produced in New Zealand, Bhall be admitted into tho United States duty free.

These are the principal features of the contract. Some details have still to be settled between the contractors and the Postmaster-General. Until it is known what the United States Government may decide to do in respect to some of tho open questions, ie may not be desirable that specific offers should be made to the Australian Colonies. The contract contains ample provision for securing payment of subsidies from other Colonies. It may be observed that the Post Office Act, No. 2, passed last session, and the terms of the Convention proposed to the United States (which Mr. Ncilson announces that the authorities of that country have agreed to), have been signally useful in smoothing over one of the most difficult features of the contract, — that of dealing with non-subsidising Colonies.

The Postmaster- General, in accordance with the resolutions of the Assembly, made it a condition in every case that the main line steamers should come on to New Zealand, and should call at Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, and Port Cbalmors. There was great difficulty in procuring the consent of the contractor's representative to the maiu line boats visiting so many New Zealand ports ; and the arrangement in respect to time between Auckland and Port Chalmers, with penalty for delay, is the very best that the Postmaster-General could succeed in effecting. The representative of the contractors declined to make any arraugement as to Napier, and whether the contract vessels will call at that port must depend upon future uegociations.

Every one of the lines will substantially comply with the conditions laid down by the Assembly in the resolutions of last session, but lino No. 4, in permitting the diversion of the Australian traffic at the Fijis, will be least in accordance with the spirit of the resolutions. Unfortnuately, it may be taken for granted that if the Colony does not adopt line No. 2, the contractors will adopt line No. 4, they would by it, in all probability, obtain much larger subsidies from the Australian Colonies than by the New Zealand route. In the case of the other lines, if the vessels call at the Fijis, they are to do so for coaling purposes only. The main steamer is to proceed to New Zealand, and no branches are to be run except from New Zealand ports.

A subsidy of £00,000 may seem to be a large one, and especially so as compared with tho amount indicated in the resolutions of the Assembly. Care has therefore been taken to give the Assembly time to decide whether the Colony shall adopt Line No. 2, or leave the contractors their choice between Line No. 3 and Line No. 4. But as the point is certain to be immediately discussed, the Postmaster-General takes the opportunitj' of remarking upon it, without, however, committing himself to a conclusion as to which choice will be recommended to the Assembly.

Line No. 2 is, in effect, not widely different from the service contemplated by the resolutions. It is true that the amuunt named in the resolutions is £40,000, and that the Assembly understood that subsidies from other Colonies would go in reduction of that sum. But it must be remembered that for the £GO,OOO thirteen complete services a year will be secured, and also a branch line to Sydney ; while the line for which the Assembly approved of paying £40.000 would have been merely a line to New Zealand. The Australian Colonies would have had to arrange for branch services, and would have contributed to the line only as far as Now Zealand — under line No. 2, the Colony will be able to offer to lay down the mails iv Sydney. If Line No. 2 is adopted, the £00,000 a year will be reduced by the amount of all subsidies received from Australian Colouies, and if the concession as regards the Convention between the United States and Great Britain be secured (tho contractors binding themselves in a penalty of £1,000 per year to obtain it), the postages in England and in Australia would alone, amount to a very handsome contribution from the Australian Colonies for the carriage of their mails.

In any case, the Australian Colonies should unitedly, pay not less timn from £25,000 to £30,000 a year ; and supposing the concessiou above mentioued to be secured, New Zealand would save a very large sum per annum in regard to her own mails, for the Imperial Government would hand over to the Colony the postages collected on the other side, but which are now detained to defray the charges payable by Great Britain to the United States under the Convention.

It must be added, that the adoption of Line No. 2, by placing the whole service in the hands of New Zealand, would secure that the traffic between Great Britain and the United States on the one hand, and the Australian Colonies on the other, should permanently pass through New Zealand instead of passing by it, as would be tho case were the contractors enabled to adopt Line No. 4, and so to run branch boats from Fiji to Australia. Still further, if the Colony should adopt Line No. 2, not only will it include connection with Sydney from Auckland, but by line of steamers already existing, there would practically be direct commuuicatiou between Melbourne and the main Hue at Dunediu, Lyttelton, and Wellington.

The Postmaster-General believes that the contract times are such that it would be impossible for the Australian Colonies not to come in and contribute fairly in reduction of the £00,000 subsidy. The contractors have assisted in maturing arrangements by which the journey between San Francisco and New York, and from New York to San Francisco, will be performed in five clays instead of seven ; and a steamer is always to be ready at New York to start with the mails for England as soon as they arrive. The transib from San Francisco to London will thus bo effected in fifteen days; while from Sydney to Sau Francisco the time will be thirty days, thus mails from London to Sydney or from Sydney to London, would be delivered in forty-five days, and mails to or from Melbourne would be received and delivered in forty-seven days. Those times, indeed, wonld probably be materially reduced, for tho contractors state that they would be able to save two days, should it be worth their while to do so.

Supposing New Zealand adopts Line No. 2, the Governmeut would be able to choose, nnder tl.e thirteen services condition, either Sydney or Melbourne as the port at which to make the times correspond with those of the boats of tho Peniußular and Oriental Company ; or the Government would bo able to give cither Sydney or Melbourne an absolute fortnightly service to England. Whichever of those courses might bo adopted, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that there would be a mail service to which public opinion in tho Australian Colonies would demand that contributions should be made ; whilst it is also impossible hoc to conclude that as a passenger route the service would be unequalled. There are many other considerations to ba taken into accouut in choosing botween the services. Lino No. 2, with, contributions from the other Colonies, and with tho English postages which would be sent free by tho United States, foregoing the transit charges, should not cost much, if any, more thau £25,000; while under similar circumstances, Line No. 4 wonld cost about the same amount with far less advantages. Line No. 3, with nearly equal advantages, would cost about the same, but with less risk of costing more through the Colonies not contributing. Bub the contractors have the option, if Line No. 2- ig not adopted, of choosing between Line No. 3 and Line No. 4, so that No. 3 oannot be counted on. Ib will be for the Assembly to decide whether Line No. 2 involves so much risk as to make it desirable to be prepared for tho substitution of Line No. 4, which, after all, wonld be a very good service. Id, or aDy of the othor lines, would give New Zealand a service which would cost much less thau tho Panama service, or than the Suez

nervice (with inter-colonial and inter provincial distributing boats), has cost, whilst, as compared with either, it would confer immeasurably greater advantages direct and indirect. The contractors propose to charge £85 for the through passage to England (including railway fare across the American Continent), and to leave to each passenger the option of proceeding direct, or of delaying at different places as long as may be desired. The Postmaster-General is informed — although it is not a condition of the contract — that a uniform rate to England is to be charged from all parts of New Zealand.

Should effect bo given to the provision for the admission duty free into the United States, of New Zealand flax, and of wool, the produce of New Zealand, or of any Colony contributing towards the service, another inducement to the Australian Colonies to contribute will be sapplied. It can scarcely be doubted that the establishment of the line will lead to tho developement of the Now Zealand coal-fields, in which case it would be no exaggeration to regard the subsidy as being more than recouped to the Colony by the money payments for its coal, and by the employment of labor and capital which would be afforded.

The time table fixed for the commencement of the service is as follows : — To leave Port Chalmers, Sydney, (if required) and London on the lstof each month, Auckland on the 7th, and San Francisco on the 16th. This will enable letters despatched from London on Lhe Ist of the month, to be delivered in Pore Chalmers on the 15lh, and in Sydney on the IGth of the following month. There will be about a fortnight for answering ; and replies leaving Port Chalmers or Sydney on the Ist, will reach London on the 15th of the following month, — ihus giving a " course of post" of about one hundred and five days, or three months and a-half. The same will apply to answers to letters sent from Port Chalmers or Sydney. In the case of Wellington or Auckland, the time here stated would be reduced by several days.

In conclusion, the Postmaster-General would observe, that the contract appears to be one of an eminently satisfactory nature. It will stand the test of meeting the requirements of the whole Colony, as a first-class mail, passeuger, and commercial service, and if tested as regards its effect upon the mach discassed separate interests of the different parts of the Colony, the conclusion must be, that no service more likely to do justice to those interests could bo obtained, eveu if one conld be devised.

Julius Yogel

Auckland, November 2-1, 1870

The following description of the vessels to be employed, is taken from the American Lloyd's for 1870 .—

'Nebraska.' — The steamship 'Nebraska,' 3,113 tons register, built in 1865, under official supervision, specially surveyed, and classed as extra A 1 in 1869, built of oak aud hackmatack, nn iron frame, three decks aud beams, 15 feet draft, half brig rig, dimensions, 370 feet length ; breadth, 39 feet; depth, 26 feet; beam engines, 81 inch cylinder, stroke of piston, 12 feet ; double planked with 4-inch oak ; made 15£ knots on her trial trip.

•Nevada.' — Tho steamship 'Nevada' wns built at the satno time as the ' Nebraska.' Her tonnage is the same, and she is in every respect a similar vessel, except that her cylinder is 4 inches larger.

'Dacotah.' — The steamship 'Dacotah,' 2,153 tons register, was bnilt in 1865, and specially surveyed and classed in 1861', as extra Al. Slie is similar in every respect to the ' Nebraska.' At present she is employed in the trade between New York and the West Indies.

' Moses Taylor.' — T >c ' Hoses Taylor' is 1,354 tons register, was built in 1857, and was re-sur-veyed and classed as extra A I, in 1809.

Mr. J. C. Richmond. — Mr. J. C. Richmond, the member for the Grey and Bell, arriTed hero in the s s. ' Phoebe,' on 6ch November.

The Member for the Town of New Plymouth. T. Kelly, Esq., met his constituents on the 12th of November, and in a speech, gave tho electors an idea of the action he had taken in the General Assembly during the last session. At the conclusion of the meeting a resolution was carried, requesting Mr. Kelly to again represent the Town of New Plymouth, at the forthcoming election. J. C. Richmond, Esq., member for the Grey and Bell, called his constituents, that reside near tho town, together on 14th November, that he might give them an account oftho course he had taken in the General Assembly, and the reasons why he opposed the financial policy of the present Government. The large room in the Taranaki Institute was well filled, and the hon. member was listened to with great attention. At the conclusion of the meeting, Mr. Richmond was requested by a resolution that was passed, to represent the same district in the ensuing Parliament.

Accident at Waiiti. — We regret to hear that an accident, which might have been attended with more serious results, occurred at Waiiti on November 26. It appears that a number of the Armed Constabulary were practising at the rifle butt, when one of them named Lee, although the danger flag was flying, incautiously stepped out to the target to look at something, and received a ball in his leg from a rifle which was discharged at that moment.

Accident at Patea. — Wo hare been informed that on the 11th November, a little girl, daughter of Mr. J. Hirst, aged four years, was accidentally run over by a spring cart. Dr. Walker was promptly in attendance on the little sufferer, and found seven ribs broken. At first no hope was entertained of the result being otherwise than fatal, but we are happy to hear that the patient is now recovering, and quite out of danger. Fortnnately the spine was not in any way injured. No blame whatever attaches to the driver.

The Whiteley Memorial Fund. — A meeting of the Committee appointed to collect snbpcriptions and arrange matters connected with this memorial, was held on the loth November, when Mr. Ilulko was voted to the chair. In laying the affairs beforo the Committeo, the Chairman stated that the sum of £53 16s. had been collected up to date, out of which £4 19s. J:ad been paid for sundry expenses, leaving £48 IT'S- There were other amounts to come in, but he thought they might reckon upon a clear £50 for the monument. He suggested that the monument should bo made out of the beach ptone, and that a tablet of marble should be let in. A sub-committee was appointed to prepare a suitable insciiption for the memorial, and the Rev. I. Cramp invited to occupy tho post of Chairman, vacated by the Her. Mr. Watkins. This committee then adjourned.

Takanam Rifle Association. — A general "meeting of the Taranaki Rifle Association, was held in the Tarauaki lustitute, on November 26. There was a good attendance of the members. Mr. T. Humphries was in the chair. The Chairman opened the proceedings by informing the members that they had been called together for the purpose of passing a new code of rules, as tho old regulations had been found wanting in many respects. The rulos v ere then read and adopted, aud will come into force 011 the Ist December next. Messrs. A. S. Donsflns and W. Humphries were elected auditors, and the meeting separatod.

A Srx-RET Native Agent. — The Wanganui Chfoaicle says — " It is reported among the natives — wo know not with what truth — tbat Topia has been appointed a sort of Secret Native Government Ageut with a salary of £200 a year. Kajor Kemp feels annoyed that ho should have been passed by in any snch appointment, conceiving that his services givo bim a much stronger claim upon tho Government than any tLat Topia has rendered."