Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-06-19

and thence to their final destination by
the overland route, via Brindisi, Italy,
and by French packets from Marseilles
via the Suez canal. alternately. Since
Sept. ii these mails have been dis
patched from San Francisco on steam
ers of the Occidental and Oriental
Steamship company. The United
States mails for New leland, which
were also given up by the Pacific Mail
line, are now carried by the Union
Steamship company under a three
years contract with New Zealand.
The mails for Venezuela which average
about one thousand pounds of letters
per annum were. prior to Aug. 1,
1885, dispatched exclusively from New
York by steamers of the Red ID. line,
generally three times n month, but
since that time have been sent from
New York to Venezuela direct by the
Ciudad Bolivar line once a month. and
to the island of Barbados four times a
month, to be forwarded thence by
steamers sailing every Monday and
Saturday from Barbados to Venezuela
direct. When close connections are
made at Barbados the time from New
York to La Guayra is about eleven
days.
Since these new arrangements have
been in operation some complaints
have been made at the New York post
office of delays and inefficient service.
No complaints have been made against
the Cuban mail service, which is believ-
ed to have been very much improved
by the change. Soon after tho Pacific
Mail company declined TO carry the
mail to and from Colon the postoffice
department decided to send all mails
for Cuba to Tampa, Fla, and from
there by steamboat - Key West. and
thence by Il steamer to sail every We'd
nesday and Saturday for Havana direct.
In pursuance of this plan the railway
mail service arranged II mail schedule~
between New York and Tampa of So
hours AMI 20 minutes, and between
Tampa and Key West of 20 hours,
which made the time occupied in tran
sit between New York and Havana
about "a hours, rs against 1l2 hours
occupied by the trip by sea between
the same points. Since Oct. % last
three mails a week have been sent from
Key West, instead of two as formerly.
Last week the time occupied by the
Cuban mails in transit TO New York
was reduced to y hours. The srpeiin
tendent Of the foreign mail service
says that it is proposed to re-
duce the time from New York
to Havana TO 6S hours, and he adds:
1T is expected that more satisfactory
given than has ever been had hereto
fore. not only from New York, but es-
pecially with regard to correspondence
from the southern and southwestern
states. which will now be forwarded to
Key West for dispatch instead of to
New York, thereby reducing the time
occupied in transit to such IN extent
that said correspondence will probably
be delivered in Cuba in about the same
time as would be required to send it TO
New York"
Mails for the Central and South
American ports are now being carried
by the Atlas Steamship company and
the New York and jamaica Mail line.
The p~ostoffice authorities i'm Washing
ton still believe that before long all Of
the foreign mail service for which this
government pays will be ~ efficient
and prompt rs it was before the trouble
with the American steamship com
panics last summer.