The Evening Star. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1871

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2725, 10 November 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1871

The speech of Mr Vogel, explanatory of the arrangements for the San Francisco Mail Service, ought to afford a complete answer to those who persistently condemn every transaction in which that gentleman takes part. The grounds of opposition are not very comprehensible, unless we are correct in referring them to local jealousies and private interests that may be supposed to be endangered by the Service. There is much reason to believe that these are the keys to the leading articles which have, what shall we say, graced (?) the column* of our morning contemporary during so many months. Had there been even a shadow of reason for the opposition, it might have been excused; but instead of that it has been the strange policy of the systematic traducers of the Government to advocate a postal system that would have the effect of playing into the hands of Victoria to the disadvantage of this Colony. The report received from Melbourne of the discussions at the

Intercolonial Conference prove th nothing short of concentration of all commercial advantages in Victoria would satisfy the merchants and the Government. There was something very specious in proposing that the expense of a postal line should be borne by each Colony in proportion to population. It shewed incontestibly that on condition of relinquishing all other advantages, and becoming merely a calling station, New Zealand could save some ten or twenty thousand pounds in the expense of the service. In return tor this saving much would require to be sacrificed. In estimating the value of postal services* governments have to reason very differently from mercantile firms, and their editorial backers. So long as profitable voyages can be made in the way of the latter, the public convenience is a very secondary consideration. Trans-shipment after transshipment might take place, or a vessel follow a zig-zag course, calling between Honolulu and Auckland at Tahiti and Fiji, or a dozen other places. Possibly had the trade between San Francisco and New Zealand been opened up by private enterprise alone, some such course would have been adopted. But the case is very different when a service is subsidised by the Government. It is then no longer a private enterprise for private profit. Every inhabitant of the Colony is a contributor to it, or we may say a shareholder in the concern, and it is the benefit of the many, not of the few that is to be consulted. It depends much upon ourselves whether we realise all the advantages derivable from the service or not. Why, we cannot say, but we are slow to seize upon what appear to be opportunities placed in our hands. Nature has made this Colony a storehouse of mineral, agricultural, and pastoral wealth. Yet the first voyages of the American vessels led to no efforts to develop our trade. They came, and lay their appointed time in port, were supplied with imported coal, and sent empty away. Not so with Victoria. On the very first visit made to that continent, the vessel was loaded with a handsome freight. So far as the wool is concerned, the surprise is that the American buyer did not find his way here. This may have been, and probably was, accidental. The wool was wanted, and the vessel visited a wool-producing Colony. To the manufacturer, so long as the quality and the price suited, it made no matter whether it was Victorian or New Zealand. But it should open our eyes to the prospective value of the mercantile connection waiting to be formed, and of the almost immediate profit that may be reaped from it. The steamers consume also £30,000 worth of coal annually, but what effort has been made to meet this ? Turn which way avg will — north, south, or west—there is coal : coal of every quality from lignite to the very best in the Avorld, Yet avg are content to derive our supplies from Australia. There can be no question that our coal merchants would be better pleased to import and distribute New Zealand than NeAvcastle coal. The temptation to open pits therefore io not merely the supply of the American steamers to tho extent of £30,000 annually, but all other steamers visiting New Zealand, all the towns in the Colony, and to export it to Melbourne, Queensland, and San Francisco. Mr V ogel is quite right Avheu he says it will be a disgrace to the Colony if so important a branch of mining industry remains undeveloped. Properly availed of the San Francisco mail service has opened up a most important mercantile connection. We do not counsel rash and ill-considered schemes for rendering it profitable, but avg condemn that carping spirit that seeks to raise a prejudice against what may be made a national good for tho sake of maintaining a monopoly Avhich retards the progress of the Colony, Avould place it in a second place Avhero it ought to lead, and the destruction of which in a few years will prove of immense advantage to those Avho so blindly and recklessly strive to retain it.