September 24.
Tue arrival from London of a copy of the mail contract newly signed between the Post Office and the P. and ©. Company may be our excuse for reopening so soon the subject of mails to the Far East. For the contract, which comes into force for seven years from February 1 next, reveals several very satisfactory modifications of its predecessor's terms. When Mr. Runciman stated in Parliament that the Post master-General hud driven an exceedingly hard bargain with the Company, he claimed more than what he was entitled to by the facts. The subsidy to the Company has been reduced by £10,000, while important accelerations of service have been Rained. These results were not achieved without much careful preliminary thought. 1904, when the old arrangement with the Company which had existed since May 25, 1907 was continued with certain alterations by a supplemental contract. for three years, the Eastern Mail Service Committee pnt forward the brilliant. suggestion that competitive tenders should be taken, not only for through services between Great. Britain, the Far East and Australia, but for each of the component sections. It is worth noting, however, that, in spite of increasing competition in the carrying trade of the world, the and O. Company's tender was the only responsible one made, What the Lords of the Treasury then had to consider was this: if they' prolonged the 1904 contract' up to 1912, the total payments, under the system of retrospective reduce tions, would amount to £2,205,000; whereas if the new contract were accepted the amount would be £2,240,000, since no retrospective reductions would be allowed for the previous three years, It was due to the influence of the India Office that the Treasury did not decide on prolongation. In view of the Original from
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.