The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-10-15
OCEAN MAIL SERVICE.
Report Laid Before the New Zea-
land Parliament.

| NSpOTt Lolu DGIOTc the new ZSd-
land Parliament.
The Thirteenth Parliament of New
Zealand opened on September 23d at
| Wellington, with the usual ceremonies.
| Among other measures presented to
Parliament was the correspondence re-
| lating to the Canadian-Australian and
| the Oceanic Lines mail service. The
| question of a subsidy Is to come up
this year, and strong efforts will be
made by both companies to secure the
| subsidy. The Premier states that the
| prospect of securing subsidy from
the Imperial Government is doubtful
In presenting the correspondence on
the subject, which was laid on the ta-
| BILE, the Postmaster-General of New
South Wales intimated that his Gov
ernment had agreed to contribute "a 900
| to the San Francisco mail service for
the year ending October 81, 1897, and
presented a communication from the
Secretary General of the Post Office,
London, stating that the Imperial
Government will continue payments
| until expiration of the contract in No
vember, 1897. The postal authorities
Of New Zealand having agreed to the
substitution of the r. NJ S. Zealandia
for one round trip during repairs to
the Mariposa, the former reached San
Francisco two days late, owing to her
not being dOcked and cleaned. The
Postma of New Zealand
therefore imposed a penalty of f200,
"a per hour for SO hours. Spreckels
Bros. protested against this on the
ground that on other occasions the
company's steamers had made up time
lost in waiting for the mails without
getting any compensation. In reply
Mr.. w. Gray, Secretary, stated that
the Acting Postmaster General had re-
considered the matter, but was unable
| to waive the penalty. Mr.. Whitson,
general manager of the Union Steam
! ship Company, contended that under
clause IL of the contract 48 hours
grace is allowed before the penalty is
incurred.
To this, however, Mr.. Walker did not
| see his way to agree. In June, in reply
to letter from Mr.. T. Rose, Acting
Secretary of the Postal Department,
wellington, Mr.. Whitson, of the Union
Company, stated that the United States
Congress had voted an increase in the
subsidy for the San Francisco mail
service, and two instalments had been
paid to the company.
CANADIAN PACIFIC MAIL SER
VICE
| In the correspondence on this sub
| ject, Mr.. Huddart, writing from Lon
don on the 18th of October last, in
quired whether the provisional agree
ment made with Mr.. Ward in 1895 has
been submitted to the New Zealand
Parliament, and states that the COM
pany had taken the irrecoverable step
of adding the Aorangi to their fleet.
Writing from Sydney on the 14th of
November, 1896, Mr.. r. Grayson, rep
resenting Mr.. Huddart, submitted
timetable which allowed for perform
ing the service from Wellington equal
to the average service of the San Fran
cisco line, which is 33 days from Auck-
land and 35 days from Wellington.
The Premier replied that without the
authority of Parliament the Govern
ment would not allow New Zealand to
be committed in any way. In Febru
ary, 1897, Mr. Walker, writing to the
Agent-General, states that cOnsidera
tion of the Vancouver service was
postponed from 1895 because he re-
newal of the Frisco mail service is to
be considered this year, and it was
deemed advisable to discuss both SER
vices together. On April Sth the Agent
General, in reply to the Premier, states
that the prospect of obtaining a sub
sidy from the Imperial Government to
| the Pacific mail service is doubtful.
| Mr.. James Huddart, writing from Lon
| don on May 21st last, to the Agent
| General, states that "in view Of the i'm
mediate visit to London of Mr.. Seddon
we have the honor to inform you, as
managers for Huddart & Co., that our
Board of Directors has decided to make
Wellington the port of call in New
Zealand. The Board has had some per-
! pleXity in reaching this decision, and
it has been felt that nothing but a test
can solve the problem as to which
| port in New Zealand will bring to the
steamship company the largest traffic
inmails, passengers and cargo. The
Aorangi was to make the first trip,
leaving Sydney On July 19, arriving in
Wellington on the 23d and sailing at
noon on the oath, calling at Suva, Ho-
nolulu and Victoria, B. c., arriving at
Vancouver on the 14th of August.
The addition to the line of the Aoran-
gi had greatly increased the company's
expenditure, and they looked forward
to a substantial subsidy or it's equiva-
lent in mails carried. Mr.. Walker
writes on July 18th merely acknowl-
edging receipt Of the previous commu-
nication