452
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 30

Direct Steam Service.

General Post Office, Wellington, 6th April, 1883.
THE following particulars relating to the Direct Steam Service are published for general information.
Attention is directed to the fact that the tenders are receivable up to the 30th instant, and that
they may be lodged at Wellington with the Hon. the Postmaster-General, as well as at the office of
the Agent-General for New Zealand, London.

W. GRAY,
Secretary.

PARTICULARS AND CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT.

THE Government of New Zealand are prepared to receive tenders for the performance of a direct
steam service between London (calling at Plymouth) and New Zealand, once each way in every
calendar month, for a period of three years from the commencement of the service. This period to be
reckoned from the departure of the first ship from the Port of London, and to apply to the dates of the
departures of the ships. The homeward voyage may commence later than the month in which the first
ship sails from London, according to a date to be named in the tender.

The service to be performed will be the conveyance of passengers, emigrants, mails, and cargo, as
hereinafter respectively mentioned.

Not less than five ships are to be provided, each being a good, substantial, and efficient screw
steamship of the first class, and fully equal to Class 100 A1, Lloyd's Register, and of not less gross regis-
tered tonnage than 3,000 tons, propelled by first-rate engines of adequate power for a continuous speed
so as to perform the service within the time hereinafter specified, and having spar-decks, and proper
capacity for passengers and cargo, and ample ventilation for passing through tropical latitudes, and
with a minimum height in every part between decks of 7 feet; and each ship is to be under the com-
mand of a competent captain, having due experience in the command of screw steamships.

Each ship is to be furnished with all necessary machinery, tackle, &c., and to be subject to the
approval of the Government before being employed.

Each ship is to be examined in dry dock on behalf of the Government if emigrants are to be con-
veyed.

The Government are to have full power to inspect the ships, officers, and crew, and object to or
suspend the use of any ship which may not be satisfactory to them, or to prevent the employment of
any officer, engineer, or crew appearing to them to be ineligible.

The chief officer, as well as the captain, must have a master's certificate.

The amount of subsidy required in full payment for all services, &c., stipulated for in the con-
tract, except the payments hereinafter mentioned, is to be stated in the tender.

The one twenty-fourth part of the subsidy will be paid by the Government on the completion of
each service to or from the colony. That payable in respect of the outward service will be paid by the
Postmaster-General at Wellington, and that payable for the homeward service will be paid by the
Agent-General in London.

If a ship shall not be at the port of departure on the date fixed in each month, and ready and in
all respects properly fitted to perform the service, a sum of £100 and a further sum of £100 per day
for each noon that may intervene before the ship is so ready and fitted may be deducted from the
subsidy by the Government as liquidated and ascertained damages; but the Government may remit or
reduce the amount if satisfied that the default shall have arisen from causes over which the Contractors
had no control.

The service from London to New Zealand is to be performed round the Cape, and the service from
New Zealand to London via the Straits of Magellan, or round Cape Horn, calling at St. Vincent. Each
way the service is to be performed within 1,200 hours, except that the outward service may be per-
formed in 1,300 hours, if so stipulated in the accepted tender; the time to be reckoned according to
the time occupied in performing the service between the Port of Plymouth and the port in New Zealand
to be selected from time to time as hereinafter mentioned by the Contractors as the port of arrival or
port of departure there, as the case may be.

The Contractors are to have the option for each voyage of selecting, as the port of arrival or the
port of departure in New Zealand, either of the Ports of Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, or Port
Chalmers, and will be at liberty, before departure on the homeward service, or after arrival on the
outward service, to call at any or other of the said ports, thirty days' notice being given previous to
the departure of the vessel, both to the Agent-General in London and the Postmaster-General in
Wellington, of the port selected as the port of arrival or the port of departure, as the case may be, and
of the other ports intended to be called at, and on what days.

The ships will not be allowed, in performing the service, to touch at any port other than those
aforesaid, unless from unavoidable circumstances.

If any service be not performed within the period of time contracted for, the sum of £100 will be
deducted from the one twenty-fourth part of the subsidy payable in respect of such service; and if the
time occupied in performing any service be twenty-four hours in excess of the number of hours con-
tracted for, a further deduction will be made at the rate of £4 per hour in respect of such excess,
which deductions respectively, however, the Government may remit or reduce if satisfied that the delay
shall have arisen from causes over which the Contractors had no control.

A bonus of £5 will be paid by the Government for every hour by which any service shall be per-
formed before the contract-time.

Any deductions as aforesaid are not to relieve the Contractors from liability for default, or to affect
the right of the Government to determine the contract.

The Contractors will not be required to pay pilotage, tonnage, lighthouse, or harbour dues in New
Zealand.