P.—6

48

DIRECT SERVICE.

No. 116. The Secretary, Chamber of Commerce, Wellington, to the Hon. the Postmaster-General. Sir, — Wellington Chamber of Commerce, Wellington, 16th August, 1907. $ $ $ -j; ;J. £ £. $$ F"l£am also directed to say that the Chamber would be glad to know whether you see your way to give[early consideration to the further suggestion made in the letter which I had the honour to address to you under date the 28th|March last [No. 12, F.-6a, 1907]—namely, for an arrangement with the direct lines of steamers for a regular thirty-five-days service between the colony and London. I have, &c, The Hon. the Postmaster-General, Wellington. S. Carroll, Secretary. [P.O. 07/1017 (I).]

No. 117. The Hon. the Postmaster-General to the Secretary, Chamber of Commerce, Wellington. Sir,— General Post Office, Wellington, 20th November, 1907. I have the honour to refer to your letter of the 16th August|last [Nos. 54 and 116], respecting the mail-services between New Zealand and the United Kingdom. lam very glad to note the satisfaction of your Chamber with the arrangements which the Department has already made to that end. In view of the regular weekly service by way of Suez, I regret that I do not see my way to adopt the suggestion of your Chamber to arrange a direct service between New Zealand and an English port. I think it is very likely that the Government will have to concentrate its resources at no distant date on the extension of mail facilities by another route. I have, &c, J. G. Ward, Postmaster-General. The Secretary, Wellington Chamber of Commerce, Wellington. [P.O. 07/1017 (I).]

TOPOLOBAMPO ROUTE. No. 118. Mr. E. F. Wright, Los Angeles, California, to the Hon. the Prime Minister. Sir,— P.O. Box 291, Los Angeles, California, 10th August, 1907. Enclosed are a few points in favour of the Topolobampo route, which is the shortest of any sea-route to the American coast. Further, from Topolobampo to New York is the shortest route across America. 3|ci|r.4i|i)|c4tj|r l i|t. 4 Trusting the information I have placed before you is satisfactory. I have, &c, The Hon. the Prime E. Fondi Wright.

No. 118. Mr. E. F. Wright, Los Angeles, California, to the Hon. the Prime Minister. Sir, — P.O. Box 291, Los Angeles, California, 10th August, 1907. Enclosed are a few points in favour of the Topolobampo route, which is the shortest of any sea-route to the American coast. Further, from Topolobampo to New York is the shortest route across America. 3|_l|__|_.J__|__|_!|-_|-$ Trusting the information I have placed before you is satisfactory. I have, &c, The Hon. the Prime E. Fondi Wright.

Enclosure in No. 118. I find that the shortest route, and consequently the quickest route, for mails is wa Topolobampo, in the Gulf of California, then on to Kansas City, St. Louis, and New York. The sea-journey from Auckland is approximately three hundred miles shorter to Topolobampo than it is to San Francisco, via Honolulu, and about another three-hundred and sixty miles shorter than the Vancouver route ; or, we will say, approximately seven hundred miles. This distance is a very considerable saving, as seven hundred miles is equal to about one and a half days' steaming. Assuming that twenty-knot steamers will burn 200 tons of coal per day, and that the average cost of the coal is £1 per ton, thus steamers over this route will save £300 per trip ; a fortnightly service will give you four trips per month, or forty-eight trips per year, so that the gross saving on coal would be £14,400 per year. Then, these steamers would run about a full complement of passengers, or a total of 12,000 per year. You could not estimate the feeding of these at less than 2s. per day, or a total of 3s. for the one and a half days—this is £1,800. One could easily find a further saving of £1,500 a year in various items, which would mean a total of £18,000 a year. I do not anticipate that the class of steamers required would cost more than £100,000 each, so that the money saved in working-expenses, as compared with the Vancouver route, would pay interest on cost of construction.