The Evening Star FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1873.

Evening Star, Issue 3254, 25 July 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1873.

We shall be glad to hear of the representatives of Otago taking their places in Parliament, where their presence will shortly become necessary. Thus far, nothing specially affecting the interests of the Province has been brought forward, and those who are members of the Provincial Council have been quite as well employed here as in Wellington. But gradually, as the work of the session develops itself, the importance of their being there will be felt, for there will necessarily be matters to be discussed that require vigilant attention, lest our interests should be jeopardised. All the work of Parliament is not done within its walls. As much, and probably more, is often effected by the individual influence of member upon member in private colloquy, than through the formal speeches made in the House. More minute and special information can be given, and doubtful points more thoroughly cleared up in private conversation, than by means of public discussion. In fact, the latter, when exhaustive, is always the result of conclusions arrived at from evidence gathered from various sources, and weighed, canvassed and digested before spoken. It is plain, therefore, that the large questions looming, such as railway extension, in which Otago is so deeply interested, the postal service, and other similar matters, are liable to suffer through the protraction of the session of the Provincial Council, and that many of the questions on the notice paper dwarf into nothingness compared with those that will require special attention from the Southern representatives of the Middle Island. Touching the postal contract, it is again open for consideration, and should hot be left to the mercy of Northern politicians. As the telegram from the North received on Thursday tells of the proposal to enter into a three years* contract with Messrs M'Meckan, Blackwood, &> Co., it would be highly advisable that the Chamber of Commerce should be early convened to consider it, for Governments are far too apt to consult their pwu convenience rather than that of merchants and the trading community. There can be no doubt that it is the inte-, rest of Melbourne to cultivate' mercantile relations with those small ports that have no direct maritime communication with Europe. Hokitika, the Grey, and Nelson afford line fields for trade, and a subsidy given to a Arm whose vessels touch at those. places is equivalent to such a reduction of freight as will completely shut out any chance of their trading with Dunedin. We are no advocates for restriction, but there is a wide difference between fair competition and

taking money from the pocket of one merchant to give it to another, to use to his disadvantage. To subsidise a mail contract via Hokitika* is really to do this. Not only, as Mr Oliver truly said, would the revenue of Dunedin be employed to place the merchants at a disadvantage with the Northern ports, but to renew a competition fostered and encouraged witli their own money. We trust, therefore, that all merely speculative and theoretical questions will be allowed to lapse, so that members of both Houses may bo free to take their seats in Wellington as early as possible.