SAN FBANOISCO MAIL SERVICE.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3157, 25 March 1871, Page 2

SAN FBANOISCO MAIL SERVICE.

. o MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT Made this sixth day of February, one thousand .eight hundred and seventy one, between the Honorable Julius Yogel, the PostmasterGeneral of New Zealand, and a member of the Executive Council of the colony, acting on behalf of the Government of New Zealand, and hereinafter called the Postmaster General, of the one part, and William H. Webb, Esq., of New York, in the United States of America, ship-owner, and Ben. Holluday, Esq., of San Francisco, in the United States of America, hereinafter called the contractors, for themselves, their heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, of the other part : Witnesseth, that each of the parties do severally contract, promise, and agree with and to the other party respectively, in manner following, that is to say : I. The contractors shall and will establish a lino of mail steam vessels to bo called " The -United States, New Zealand, and Australian Mail Steam Packet Line," to run between the port of San Francisco and New Zealand, to commence at San Francisco ona day during the ..month of March, one thousand eight hundred and soventy-one, to behereafteragreedupon between the parties hereto, and to be continued vfor the term of ten years : Provided, that it shall bo lawful for the Poßtmaster-General to determine this contract at tho end of three years, if the General Assembly of IS ew Zealand shall refuse to ratify the same for a longer time, and notice of such refusal shall have been given in writing to the contractors, or left with their agent in Wellington, hereby authorised to receive the same, within six calendar months after tho first steam vessel under this contract shall arrive at Wellington. "~"~2. The Government of New Zealand shall and will use their beet endeavors to obtain from the General Assembly a ratification of this contract for the full period of ten years. -3. The steam vessels to be employed under this contract shall be the Nevada, the Nebraska, the Dacotah, the Mose9 Taylor, and such other vessels or vessels as may be required for carrying out the contract.and as shall be approved of by the Postmaster-General : Provided, that the Moses Taylor Bhall be used only in cases of emergency, no other of the said vessels being available, by reason of unavoidable accident ; and if any of the said vessels shall be lost or become unserviceable, another vessel to bo approved of in writing by -the Postmaster General, shall be substituted. \ It shall be lawful for the contractors to substitue other vessels for those named ; pro* vided, that such substitution shall be previously assented to in writing by the PostmasterGeneral. 5. The steam vessels to be from to time employed in tho performance of this contract shall be always fitted out, furnished and provided with every requisite for rendering thorn constantly efficient for the service, in every particular, as first-class mail and passenger steam vessels. 6. One of the vessels to be employed under this contract shall leave San Francisco once in every twenty-eight days, and shall proceed thouceto Port Chalmers, by way of andcallingat Auckland, Wellington, and Lyttelton, in New \Ze~aland ; and one of the said vessels shall leave Port Chalmers once in every twentyeight days, and shall proceed to San Francisco, by way of and calling at Lyttelton, Wellington, and Auckland. V. The said steam vessels may call at two intermediate places, and no more, between Auckland and Sun Francisco, and between Sun Francisco and Auckland, and such two places may be at any of the Hawaiian, Society, or Navigator Islands, as tho contractors shall think fit and appoint, and suoh ports, after being appointed, may be altered from time to time by the contractors, with the consent of the Postmaster- General, but not otherwise. 8. Tho time (including stoppages) allowed for the voyage between San Francisco and Auckland, and Auckland and San Francisco, shall not exceed five hundred and seventy-six .hours ; and tho contractors shall use all possible diligence and despatch to depart from Auckland, and thereafter to perform the voyage between Auckland and Port Chalmers within one hundred hours, including stoppages, and shall forfeit tho sura of two pounds per hour for every hour's unnecessary delay. Twenty-four hours allowed for coaling at Honolulu. 9. The contractors shall once in every twenty-eight days run a steamer in connection with the aforesaid steamers, between Auckland and Sydney, in the colony of New South Wales, and between Sydney and Auckland; and if required so to do by the PostmasterGeneral, the contractors shall, or at thoir own option they may, run the said steamer from Sydney to Melbourne, in tho colony of Victoria, and from Melbourne to Sydney and Auckland ; but the Postmaster-General shall not require tho said steamer to be run from Sydney to Melbourne, unless the Viotorian Government agree to pay a subsidy of twentyfive thousand pounds per annum, which sum shall be equally divided between the Government of New Zealand and the contractors. 10. The vessel to be employed between Auckland and Sydney, or becween Auckland, Sydney, and Melbourne, as tho case may be, as provided in the preceding clause, shall be in allrospects equal to the vessels employed between San Francisco and Port Chalmers, and shall be approved of by the PostmasterGeneral ; and the whole time, including stoppages, allowed for the voyage each way between San Francieoo and Sydney shall not exceed seven hundred and twenty hours, and between Sydney and Melbourne, each way. the whole time shall not exceed fifty-five hours. 11. For the service hereinbefore described, inclusive of the service between Auckland and Sydney, or between Auokland, Sydney, and Melbourne, as the case may be, the contractors shall be paid by tho Government of New Zealand at the rato of fifty thousand pounds for thirteen complete services to and from Port Chalmers and San Francisco, and to and from Auokland and Bydney, or Auckland, Sydney, and Melbourne, a 9 the case may be ; and all mails which the Postmaster-General shall require to be carried by the contractors during tho continuance of the cortract, shall be carried free of cost. 12. If during the first four months after tho date fixed for the commencement of the contract bervice the contractors are unable to run a vessel from Auckland to Sydney, or from Aiu>kland to Sydney and Melbourne, the payment to be made to tho contractors, by the Government of Now Zealand, during that period, shall be at tho rate of forty thousand pounds for thirteen complete services, and not at the rate of fifty thousand pounds as herein- j before provided ; and the contractors agree to start the said steamer not later than four months after the commencement of the contract service. 13. During the first thirteen complete ser- ' vices between San Francisco and New Zealand, euch way, the contractors may cause the vessel arriving at Auckland from San Francisco to bo run from Auckland to Sydney, or from Auckland to Sydney a*id Melbourne, in whioh caße the vessel mentioned in clause nine, instead of proceeding to Melbourne and Sydney shall proceed to Port Chalmers, after I transhipping the mails on board the vessel from San Francisco j but, in such case the 1 vessel proceeding to Port Chalmers shall be the vessel to make the next succeeding voyage to San Francisco. ! 14. After the completion of the first thir- ■ teen services between San Francisco and New Zealand, oaoh way, the contractors may, at their option, twice during each twelve months run the vessel arriving at Auckland from San Francisco to Sydney, or to Sydney and to Melbourne in the same way as is provided by the preceding clause ; but save and except as is provided by the preceding clause and by this clause, the vessel arriving at Auckland from San Francisco shall proceed to Port Chalmers, and from Port Chalmerß to San Franoieco, as is provided by clause six. 15. It Bhall be lawful for the PostmasterGoneral, but not for the contractors, to make

any arrangements he may think fit with any of the Australian Gtorernments, and with the Government of New Caledonia ; and all sums payable under such arrangements shall be equally divided between the Government of Now Zealand and the contractors. 16. The contractors shall not, nor Bhall any person or persons with their consent or concurrence, run any steam vessels to New Caledonia, or to any of the Australian colonies, except from a port in New Zealand ; and no mails whatever shall be carried on board any such steam vessel or branch steam vessel, running from New Zealand, except with the consent of the Postmaster • General in writing first obtained. 17. The days and hours of departure for the vessels employed under this contract, shall be those specified in a table to be furnished ha«: the Postmaster-General : Provided thaf'lnf*' Postmaster- General may from time to time alter such days and hours, on giving reasonable notice to the contractors of the required alteration : Provided that no such alteration shall render necessary the employment of an additional steam vessel, except as is herein provided ; and the altered days and hours ahull be observed and kept as if the same had been provided for in this contract, and the contractors shall pay the sum of two pounds per hour for every hour's delay in the departure of any vessel after the specified time.) 18. The Postmaster-General shall pay to the contractors the sura of two pounds per hour, for every hour that any mail shall be ready for delivery in the port of Auckland or San Francisco less than the contract time ; and the contractors shall pay to the Post-master-General the sum of two pounds per hour for every hour that Bhall be required for delivery of any mail in Auckland or San Francisco in excess of the contract time ; but if good cause for any auch excess be shown to the Postmaster-General, the payment in respect thereof may be remitted at his discretion. 19. In respect to the steamer to be run from Auckland to Sydney, it shall be lawful' for the Postmaster-General to declare that, in addition to the provision mado in the preceding clause for the ports of Auckland and SanFrancisco, a similar provision shall apply to the delivery of mails in the ports of Sydney and Sun Francisco ; and in such case, this contract shall be read as though there had been inserted therein an additional clause, in the aaipe words as the preceding clause, substituting throughout the word " Sydney" for " Auckland." 20. All suras payable to the contractors by way of subsidy, shall be paid by monthly instalments, immediately prior to the departure of each steam vessel on her return voyage from Auckland to San Francisco, to an agent to be appointed by the contractors to receive the same; and if default shall be made in the payment of any such instalment at the appointed time, the contractors shall be entitled to receive a? liquidated damages the sum of one hundred pounds, and an additional sum of one hundred pounds for every month during wbioh suoh instalment shall remain unpaid. 21. All payments of premiums for the delivery of mails in le9s than the contract time, and of sums by way of penalty for delay in the delivery of mails, as for other breaches of this contract, shall be adjusted every twelve months, and the balance paid accordingly : Provided, that all sums bo payable to the Government of New Zealand may be deducted from any sum due f,o the contractors by way of subsidy. 22. No mails whatever to or from any of the colonies of Australia, or to or from New Caledonia, except as hereinbefore provided, shall be received on board or carried in any of the steam vessels employed under this contract, without the written consent of the Postmaster General j and for every breach of this stipulation with the consent or connivance, or through the negligence, of the contractors, they shall forfeit the sum of five hundred pounds as liquidated damages, to be deducted from any sums then due or to become due by way of subsidy under, this contract. 23. In pursuance of the postal convention existing between the United States Government and the Colonial Government of New Zealand, and in order to insure reasonable contributions from the Australian colonies and New Caledonia for mail services to be performed for them, neither the PostmasterGeneral nor the contractors, without the joint consent of both parties, shall or will transmit or permit to be transmitted, and will use their best endeavors to prevent the transmission of all mails to or from .any of the Australian colonies, or tt> or from New Caledonia, unless such colony or New Caledonia respectively shall enter into arrangements with the Post-master-General, as provided by clause fifteen ; and in case of any wilful breach of this stipulation, the party breaking the same shall forfeit and pay to the other the sum of five hundred pounds as liquidated damages. 24. The contractors shall abide by and conform to any regulations that may be made jointly by the United States post-ofßae authorities and the Postmaster-General, for the prevention of colonies not contributing to the subsidies payable, from participating indirectly in the advantages of the mail service established under this contract. 25. The terra " all mails" throughout this contract shall be tuken to mean all letters, newspapers, books, printed papers, and other things usually transmitted by post, and the boxes, bags, and packages in which the same are enclosed, and also all empty boxes, bags,' and packages, and other stores and articles used in carrying on the post-office service, which shall be sent to ! or from any post-office; and no letters, newspapers, or printed papers other than books, shall be carried in any form or manner other than as mails, without the consent of the PostmasterGeneral ; but this shall not apply to letters from the contractors to their agents ,• and for every breacn of this stipulation, the contractors Bhall pay the sum of one hundred pounds, which may be deducted from any sum then or thereafter payable to them. 26. The contractors shall provide, to the satisfaction of the Postmaster- General, on board all steam vessels employed under this contract, proper, safe, and convenient places of deposit for the mails, with locks, keys, and secure fastenings. 27. The contractors shall aUo provide, to the satisfaction of the Postmaster-General, all necessary and suitable accommodation, including lights, for the purpose of sorting and "making up the mails on board the several steam vessels employed under this contract ; and on being required to do so by the PostmasterGeneral shall or will, at their own cost, erect or set apart on each of the said vessels a separate and convenient room for such purposes. The master or commander of each of the said vessels shall also, if required, provide asMßtanne for conveying the rasfcil between. the mail-room and the sorting room. 28. If the Postmaster-General shall think fit to entrust the charge and custody of the mails to tho master or commander of any vessel to be employed under this contract;, and in all cases where the officer or other person appointed to have charge of the mails Bhall be absent to the knowledge of the master or commander of suoh ves?el ( such master or communder shall, without any charge other than I that/ herein provided to be paid to the contractors, take due care of, und the contractors shall be responsible for the receipt, safe cubtody, and delivery of, the said mails. 29. The contractors Bhall, at their own expense, deliver and take all mails to and from the post office in San Francisco, and the Post-master-General ehall cause all the mails in _ New Zealand and Sydney, to be delivered at 4i or taken from the ship's side, and such de-£9 livery shall be taken within two hours after' """ arrival at the appointed place of delivery. 30. The contractors and all commanding and other officers in charge of the vessels employed under this contract, shall at all times punctually attend to tho orders and directions of the Postmaster-General, his officers or agent i, 1 as to the mode, time and place of landing, delivering, and receiving mails, subject to the special provisions herein contained, and so far as suoh orders and directions are reasonable und coneietent with the safety of tto tw»1».

31. The contractors shall have no claim to any postage, nor to any payment on account thereof, for mails carried under this contract, except as herein provided. 32. The contractors shall provide suitable first-class accommodation for a mail officer or agent, and ono assistant, on board each of the vessels employed under this contract, who shall be at liberty to use such accommodation as may be required for the performance of their duties ; and such officer or agent and asßistanfc shall be victualled by the contractors as chief cabin passengers, without charge either for their passages or victualling. 33. Every Biieh mail ofllcer or agent and assistant, shall be recognized and treated by the contractors, their officers and agents, as the agent of the Postmaster-General in charge of mails, and as having full authority in all cases to require a due and strict performance of this contract : Provided that no such agent, officer, or assistant shall have power to control or interfere with any commander or ofllcer in ihe performance of bis duty : and every such agent, officer and assistant shall be subject to all general orders issued by the master or commander for the good order, health and comfort of the passengers and crew. 34. If the Postmaster-General, or his officers or agents shall at any time deem it requisite for the public service that any vessel should be detained beyond the appointed time of departure, it shall be lawful for the Postmas-ter-General, his officers, or agents, to order Buch delay — not exceeding forty-eight hours at San Francisco, nnd not exceeding twentyfour hours at one port in New Zeuland, and not exceeding twenty-four hours in Australia—by letter addressed to, and delivered to, the commander of the vessel, or the person acting as such, or left for him on board the vessel, three hours at least before the hour appointed for departure ; and in order to ensure the due carrying of the mail from San Francisco, thn contractors, without any such notice shall delay any vessel (if necessary) forty-eight hours to await the arrival of the mail there from New York, nnd in every such case the number of hours during which such vessel shall bo so detained, shall be added to the contract time. 35. The contractors shall have power to assign this contract to a company already or intended to be established by them, for tlie purpose of taking over and carrying out the same j but this contract, or any part thereof, shall not be otherwise assigned, underlet, or disposed of by the contractors, or by the com pany to whom the same may be assigned, without the consent in writing of the PostmasterGeneral first obtained for such purpose. 36. In case this contract is assigned, underlet, or disposed of, otherwise than in accordance with the provision hereinbefore contained, or in case of any wilfully gross or habitual breach of the same, or any part thereof, or of any covenant, matter, or thing herein coutained, committed by or on behalf of the contractors, their agents, or servants, and whether there bo or be not any penalty or sum -of money payable by the contractors for any such breach, it shall be lawful for the PostmasterGeneral, if he shall think fit, and notwithstanding there may o.* may not have been any former breach of this contract, by writing under his hand or under the hand of the Secretary of the Post Office in New Zealand, to determine this contract on giving three months' previous notice of his intention to do so to the contractors or their agents, and the contractors shall not be entitled to any compensation in respect of such determination. j 37. During the continuance of this contract, and so long as the same shall be faithfully carried out by the contractors, no charge for pilotage, lighthouse dues, wharfage, harbor dues, or other dues, taxes, or imposts, Bball be made at any porl in New Zealand for any of the steam vessels employed in carrying out this contract ; ond tho Government of New Zealand will use their best endeavors to obtain for the contractors similar exemptions at thi> port of Sydney, and, if necessary, at the port of Melbourne and at New Caledonia. 38. If the contractors shall refuse or wilfully neglect to commence the mail service provided by this contract, or having commenced the same shall refuse or wilfully neglect to carry on the same, they shall be liable to pay to tho Postmaster General, on behalf of the Government of New Zealand, the sum of twenty- five thousand pounds as liquidated damages. 39. The contractors shall use their best endeavors to procure tho mails carried under this contract to be taken from San Francisco to London, and from New Yosk to San Francisco, free from charge under the postal convention between Great Britain and the United States j and so long as this freedom of charge Bball not exist, the Postmaster-Genera) shail deduct from the payments to bo made to the contractors, a sum at the rate of one thousand pounds per annum. 40. In order to encourage trade between the United States and the Australasian colonies, the contractors will use their best endeavor? to obtain from tho United States Government and Legislature, a concession that phormium tenax fibre, the produce of New Zealand, and wool the produce of New Zealand and of any other of the colonieß that may make arrangements with the Postmaster General for tbf carriage of mailo under this contract between San Francisco and Australia, shall bo admitted duty free into the United States. 41. It shall be lawful for the PostmasterGeneral, by writing under his hand, at any time, and from time to time, to deli'gute any of the powers vested in him by virtue of this contract, to such person or persons as he may think fit. 42. The contractors shall enter into a bond to the Postmaster-General, with two sufficient Bureties to be approved of by him, in the penal sum of twenty-five thousand pounds, conditioned for the due performance of this contract. In witness whereof, the said parties have hereunto set their bands and seals, the day and year first above written. Julius Vooel. [r..s.] Signed, sealed, and delivered by the abovenamed Julius Yogel, in the presence of E. Fox and W. Gray. t W. H. Webb. y^ Ben. Hor-iiADAy^/ By thoir agent, / • J. B. M. feifvrAET. [l.s.] Signed, sealed, and delivered, for and in behalf and in the names of the above-named W. H. Webb and Ben. Holladay, in the preuence of E. Fox and W. Gbat.