The negotiations for a renewal of the mail contract to
the West Indies have after all been successful. It was recently announced that the proposed contract between the Imperial and West Indian Governments and the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company bad -failed for want of £13,000. It seemed strange that an old-established service should be abandoned for the want of such a sum. It is now stated that the new contract will last for seven years, and that the annual subsidy is to be £63,000. Of this Trinidad is to contribute £20,000 annually, and is to become the trans-shipping station for the inter-Colonial steamers. Jamaica is not included in the arrangement; and apparently because her means of com- munication are frequent and regular enough in any case, she also declines to renew her subsidy to the direct service. The direct service, which was generously supported by Sir Alfred Jones, has no doubt developed the banana trade, but evidently the Jamaican Government has come to the conclusion, after ten years of artificial fostering, that it is not worth while. If the Government finds that it has really been spending seven- and-sixpence to earn seven shillings, we cannot understand by what right or reason it should be accused of some sort of Imperial heresy.
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