A TORRES STRAITS MAIL SERVICE.

E.—No. 5.

5

which the mails to and from England could be despatched from or received at Singapore. Whether the English Government will, without a subsidy, consent to include such a service amongst those performed by the P. and O. Company, seems to me to be doubtful. The charge made to the Colonies by the Government for the conveyance of mails between England and Galle during the year 1871, was £28,480. As far as New Zealand is concerned, there is certainly a very noticeable omission from the heads of agreement between the Queensland Government and Mr. Eraser. Provision is not made for the conveyance of mails between Brisbane or Sydney and a New Zealand port. Without such a provision, the service would, I think, be wholly useless to this Colony. It is not more reasonable for Queensland to ask New Zealand to contribute towards the cost of a service which is to end at Sydney, than it would be for New Zealand to ask Queensland to contribute to one ending at Auckland or Wellington. The specified speed (nine knots an hour) does not appear to me to be sufficient to enable the stipulation contained in clause 1 of the provisional contract to be carried out, and the service to be made a fortnightly one, except for Queensland. I desire to refer briefly to the Californian service. In Sydney, recently, I had the pleasure of meeting the Postmaster-General of Queensland, the Hon. M. Prior, to whom I communicated that the Government of New Zealand were willing to enter into a contract with his Government, for connecting Queensland with the Californian service. I submitted to Mr. Prior certain terms as bases for such a contract; but, after considering them, and consulting with his Government, he was not able to accept the terms, and the negotiation ended. I proposed to Mr. Prior to connect Brisbane with the Californian service by steamers from Auckland, running either by way of Sydney or direct; Queensland's contribution in the former case being £8,000, and in the latter £15,000. Eor a yearly payment of £15,000, not only would Queensland have been connected with the Californian service, but the direct steamer would have brought that Colony into intimate commercial relations with New Zealand, whilst the Queensland mails for Europe would have been delivered more quickly than via Suez, whether by the northern or the southern route. In my proposals to Mr. Prior, it is to be observed, the connection of Queensland with the Californian steamers at Auckland was a primary condition ; but, as I have pointed out, the Queensland proposal does not involve any analogous condition in the interest of New Zealand. Were it possible to make an arrangement under which a steamer connecting with a service via Java should come on from Brisbane to New Zealand, I think that this Government might well entertain a proposal to contribute towards that service; but, in the absence of such connection, I fail to discover what advantage New Zealand would secure as the equivalent of its contribution. Supposing provision were made for a vessel to connect between New Zealand and the service to Batavia, I am of opinion that New Zealand's contribution should rather be made for the purpose of obtaining direct communication with Queensland itself, and with India, than for the purpose of a European mail service. The Batavian line will not, I think, afford New Zealand a mail communication with Europe so satisfactory as that via California, or that via King George's Sound. The commercial benefits to Queensland from a connection with New Zealand and with the Californian service deserve notice. Queensland is likely to become a large supplier of tropical and semitropical, products ; but New Zealand has essentially a temperate climate. A regular and direct steam service between the two Colonies would open a wide field for supplying the natural products of Queensland, not only to all parts of New Zealand, but, to a moderate extent, to California. Queensland might, on the other hand, with advantage, take many of the products of New Zealand. In fact, a large trade between the two Colonies might with certainty be calculated upon, and New Zealand equally with Queensland be benefited. Turning to the proposal now under consideration, it is difficult to understand what advantages the Government of Queensland expect that that Colony will derive from a service by way of Java, except as a means of communication between different ports within the Colony. Indeed, it is fairly to be suggested that Queensland will, as regards commercial results, suffer from such a service; for sugar is largely produced in Java, and thus' a formidable rivalry is likely to be created, to the injury of the Queensland sugar-producing interest, which is already, I understand, of importance to £he Colony. If that industry is to be developed, difficulties must for some years be contended with —especially as labour is not likely to be so cheap in the Colony as in Java. But it is clear that intimate communication between Java and Queensland, and the other Australian Colonies, will place the sugar-producing interest of Queensland at a disadvantage, rather than relieve it of its early difficulties. The same remarks will apply to coffee and other articles of commerce, which are being produced in Queensland as well as in Java. Taking all these circumstances into consideration, I am of opinion it is very desirable there should be direct communication between Queensland and New Zealand; but that it would probably be better that such service should be so arranged as to bring Queensland into connection with the Californian line, than that New Zealand should be brought into connection with a Batavian line. As a through mail service, the Californian service would certainly be valuable to Queensland; whilst, as a through service, a Batavian line would be of very little use to New Zealand, although New Zealand would be sensibly benefited by direct communication with Queensland. I think, therefore, that if Queensland accepted the offer already made to her through Mr. Prior, and agreed to pay £15,000 a year for a direct boat between Brisbane and Auckland, and the use of the Californian service, the Government of New Zealand might propose to the Assembly to contribute £4,000 or £5,000 towards that amount, as a subsidy for the direct service between the two Colonies. It might be made a stipulation that, for such an amount as first stated, New Zealand mails should be carried by the Batavian route ; but I am of opinion that New Zealand would make only a very limited use of that route. If, as is to be presumed, some of the Colonies on the main line contributed towards the subsidy which Queensland now proposes to pay, then Queensland, with the aid of the contribution which I have suggested New Zealand should make, would have a service round the world at a not very heavy expense. 2