THE NEW SAN FRANCISCO MAIL CONTRACT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 785, 29 November 1870, Page 4

THE NEW SAN FRANCISCO MAIL CONTRACT.

[by electbic telegraph.] The. following memorandum by the Post-master-General is dated Auckland, Nor. 24, and comes via Nelson, Nov. 28 : — 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 W. Neilson, the confidential representative of the North Pacific Trans, portation Company (Messrs Holladay ani Brenbam, 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 of the arrangement entered into. The contractors are to establish a line of mail steamers under the style and title of " The United States, New Zealand, and Australian Line." The steamers to be employed are the Nevada, the Nebraska, and the Dacotah, with the proviso that the Moseß Taylor may be temporarily used in the event of accident to any one of the three Yeseels 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 Wellington (say about the beginning of September, the Assembly may decide that the duration of the contract shall be for three years only. Bat the Government are to use their best endeavours to secure that the ten years be the period accepted by the Assembly. The service first commenced is to be a temporary one, and in the contract it is described as "lane No. 1." Three alternative lines are provided for, one of which will have to be finally adopted, under conditions set forth in the contract, and which the PoatmasterGeneral 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 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 Auckland. Between San Francisco and Auckland two ports may be visited, those ports to be selected by Mr Neilson, but to be within the Hawaiian, Society, Navigator, or Fiiian groups. The ports so Felected> 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 in New Caledonia or in Australia. For this line, the payment is to be forty thousand pounds 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 the arrival at Wellington of the first contract vessel, the Postmaeter-General may give to the contractorß notice that ho 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, insteai 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 sixty thousand pounds foe thirteen complete services, including the branch line, and all subsidies received, whether from Ihe "Australian Colonies, or from New CaUdoniSj are to belong wholly to the New Zeohnd Government. If, within rix months of tie arrival' of the first contract boat at Wellington, the Postmaster-General does not give tu>tice to adopt Nx 2, the contractors may elect to carry out Hie No. 3, or line No. 4. lane jSo. 3 is similauo line No. 1, only that the contractors are n receive the subsidies from the other colonies, less ten per cent, to be paid to the. New 2ealand Government They are to be at\libtrty to establish branches to^ny Australian cofmy or to Ne« Cafedonia, from New Zealand ;on.t theyare Wt to run any branch boats exctpt'fr^m New •Zealand ports. The payment for line No. 3, i*B to be forty, thousand pounds, th» contractors receiving -all;, subsidies paM by other colonies, and retaining the •mount less ten per cent, which they are to pay to thtNew Zealand Government. Unt No 4 is thejjalne as" the "others, in regardNp the maia boats running to Auckland, We>

lington, Lyttelton, and Port Chalmers, but the contractors 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 Zealand. The payment for this line is to be thirty thousand pounds per annum. Time in each of the four cases described — The contract time between San Francisco and Auckland is to be twenty-four days, and the contractors are to use all diligence to perform the distance between Auckland and Port Chalmers within one hundred hours, subject to a penalty of two pounds per hour for unnecessary delay. If the Government adopt line No. 2, the contract time between San Francisco and Sydney is to be thirty days. If the contract time s exceeded, the contractors are to pay a penalty of two pounds per hour for such excess, unless a reasonable cause can be shown for it, and they are to receive a bonus of two pounds 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 in New Zealand, and twenty-four hours in Sydney. They may also be detained forty-eight hours in San Francisco, whenever it may be necessary, so long to await the arrival there of the mails from Europe. The contract vessels are to be exempt from all port, light, or wharfage dues or charges in New Zealand. On board each vessel first cabin passages are to be provided, without oharge, for a Mail Agent and his assistant. The contractors are to enter into bonds to the amount of twenty-five thousand pounds for the due performance of their contract. The contractors agree, subject to a penalty of one thousand pounds per annum, to procure from the United 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 Convention between the United States and Great Britain. The 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 the fibre of the phormium tenax produced in New Zealand, eliall be admitted into the United States duty free. These are the principal features of the contract, t-'ome details still have to be settled between the contractors and the PostmasterGeneral. Until it is known what the United States Government may decide to do in respect to some of the open questions, it 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 Neilson 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-subsi-dising 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 _toJSew_Ze*l«»dr on '*-Btioura"~calFat Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, and Port Chalmers. There was great difficulty in procuring the consent of the contractors' representative to the main 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 tbat the Postmaster-General could succeed in effecting. The representative of the contractors declined to make any arrangement as to Napier, and whether the contract vessel will call at that port must depend upon the future negotiations. Every one of the lines will substantially comply with the conditions laid down by the Assembly in the resolutions of last session, but line No. 4, in permitting the diversion of the Australian traffic at the Fijis, will be least in accordance with the spirit of the resolutions. Unfortunately, it may be taken for granted that if the colony does not adopt Line No. 2, the contractor 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 sixty thousand pounds may seem to be a large one, and especially so as compared with the amount indicated is the resolutions of the Assembly. Care hai 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 PostmasterGeneral take 3 the opportunity of remarking upon it, without, however, committing him-

self to a conclusion as to which choice will be recommended to the Assembly, since No. 2 is in effect not widely different from the service contemplated by the resolutions. It is true that the amount named in the resolutions is forty thousand pounds, 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 sixty thousand pounds 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 forty thousand pounds 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 New Zealand. Under line No. 2, the colony will be able to offer to lay down the mails in Sydney; if line No. 2 is adopted, the sixty thousand | pounds a year will be reduced by the amount of all subsidies received from the Australian colonies, and if the concession, as regards the convention between the United States and Great Britain be secured, the contractors binding themselves in a penalty of one thousand pounds per year to obtain it, the post', ages 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 thnn from twenty-five t > thirty thousand pounds a year, and supposing the concession abovementioned 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 colonies 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 the 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 alopt line No 3, not only will it include connection with Sydqey from Auckland, but by lines of steamers already existing, there would practically be direct commuuicatton between Melbourne and the main line at Dunedin. Lyttelton, aud 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 to contribute fairly in reduction of the eixt* thousand pounds subsidy. The contractors hare 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 days 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 transit from San Francisco to London will then be effected in fifteen days, while from Sydney to San Francisco the time will be thirty days. The mails from London to Sydney, or from Sydney to London, would be delivered in forty-fivedays, and mails to or from Melbourne would be received and delivered in forty-seven days. 'J hose times indeed would probably be materially reduced, for the 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 Government would be able to choose under the thirteen services condition, either .Sydney or Melbourne as the port at which to make the times correspond with those of the boats of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, or the Government would be able to give to either Sydney or Melbourne an absolute fortnightly service to England. Whichever of these courses might be adopted, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that there would be a mail service to which public opinion in the Australian colonies would demand that contribution should be made, whilst it is also impossible not to conclude that as a passenger route the service would be unequalled. There are many other considerations to bo taken into account in choosing between the services. Line No. 2, with contributions from the other colonies, and with the English postages, which would be set free by the United St»tes foregoing the transit charges, shall not cost much, if any more, than twenty five thousand pounds, whilst under similar circumstances, line No. 4 would cost abjut the same amount with far le3s advantages. Line No. 3, with nearly equal advantages, would cost about the same, but with less risk of cutting more through the colonies not contributing. But the contractors have the option, if Line No. 2 is not adopted, of choosing between Line No. 3 and Line No. 4, so that No. 3 cannot be counted on. It will be for the Assembly to decide whether Line No. 2 involves so much risk as to make it desirable to be prepared for the substitution of Line No. 4, which, after all, would be'avery good service. It, or any of the other lines would give New

Zealand a service which would cost much less than the Panama service, or than the Suez service (with in-ter-colonial and inter-provincial distributing boats) has cost, whilst as compared with the others it would confer immeasureably greater advantages direct and indirect. The i contractors propose to charge eighty-five I pounds 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 be given to the provision for the admission, duty free, into the United States, of New Zealand flax and wool the produce of New Zealand, or of any colony contributing towards tue service, another inducement to the Australian colonies to contribute will be supplied. It can scarcely be doubted that the establishment of the line will lead to the development of the New Zt aland 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 coa 1 , and by the employment to -labour 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 Ist of each month, Auckland on the 7(b, and San Francisco on the 16th. This will enable letters despatched from London on the Ist of the month to be delivered in Port Chalmers on the 15th, and Sydney on the 16th 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, thua giving us " 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 firstclass mail, passenger, and commercial service, and if tested as regards its effect upon the much discussed 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 be obtained, i even if one could be devised. The following description of the vessels to be employed is taken from the American Lloyd's for 1870:— Nebraska. — The steamship Nebraska, 2143 tons register, built in 1865, under official supervision, specially surveyed. and classed as extra Al in 1869; built of oak and hackmatack on iron frame, three decks, and beams, 15 feet draft, half brig rig. Dimensions — 370 feet length; breadth, 39 feet; depth, 26 feet; beam engines, 81 inch cylin der; stroke of piston, 12 feet, double planked, with 4 inch oak; Made 15$ knots on her trial trip. Nevada. — The steamship Nevada was built at the same time as the Nebraska. Her tonnage is the same, and she is in every, respect a similar vessel, except that her cylinder is four inches larger. Dacotab. — The steamship Dacotah, 2153 tons register, was built in 1865, and specially surveyed and classed in 1869 as extra AI. She is similar in every reßpect to the Nebraska. At present she is employed in the trade between New. York and the West Indies. Moaes Taylor.— The Moses Taylor is 1354 tons register, was built in 1857; and was resurveyed and classed as extra A 1 in 1869.