INCIDENTS OF THE PRESENT SESSION.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 65, 15 August 1874, Page 4

INCIDENTS OF THE PRESENT SESSION.

[From the Press."] The present session of the General Assembly is one of surprises. Intended, as the Premier said, to be a shoi't, uneventful, humdrum session, it has turned out one of the most sensational ever known. It has abounded with startling .incidents. First we had a budget from Mr A T ogel based on the principle of meeting payments out of revenue, instead of resorting to loans. That was astonishing enough, in all conscience. An arrangement on this score, however, was short lived. The Premier was soon himself again. "We began to recognise the Vogel of old when a new loan was announced of £1,000,000. But presently came hints of an intended assault on the North Island provinces—the first step towards the annihilation of the provincial system. Soon followed a series of resolutions, in which the abolition of the Northern provinces was submitted as a distinct Ministerial proposal, accompanied by threats of a penal dissolution. Next we were called on to witness a split in the Cabinet, and a Minister rising in his place to denounce his chief as a base political traitor and an apostate. Finally, in the midst of these extraordinary events, as though the country needed still further excitement, came tidings of the sudden collapse of the San Francisco mail service. This last news is exceedingly annoying. Perhaps we ought to have expected it. The service hitherto has been indifferently performed, and of late there have been signs that the contractors had began to find it a losing business. But we always looked forward hopefully to a great change for the better, when the permanent contract should have come into operation, and the new vessels — of which it was reported only the other day that they were nearly finished and would leave Eugland in November —have been placed on the line. We certainly never anticipated so thorough a break down as seems to have occurred. After the assurances that have been given of Mr Forbes' position, as a man " of undoubted " means and of the most extensive " steamship experience," w r ho would have thought that he w r ould have proved unable, not only to carry out the permanent service, but even to make a beginning —that he would have proved unequal even to the preliminary arrangements. Suuh is the case, however. The payments for the two new ships, and six irionthss' management of tliu provisional service have exhausted his

resources. There remains but one thing more. .If the sureties prove aa incompetent as the contractors, the tale of disaster will be complete. We have heard that the contractors are utterly unable to fulfil their engagements ; we suppose we shall next hear that the Government are utterly unable to recover the damages.

The Pacific mail contract seems under a fate. Three times has it been tried, and still fortune, which according to the proverb has a penchant for third attempts, refuses to smile on it. One reason, we believe, is the want of co-operation among the colonies. At the outset the service was a source of bitter ill-feeling between New Zealand and Australia ; and though on the present occasion this colony and New South Wales agreed to work together, they have not done so in .good faith. Each has tried to steal a march on the other. Mr Vogel's first step on returning from the conference where he had undertaken to act in unison with New South Wales, was to despatch an agent to America and England with secret instructions to make a separate arrangement. Mr Parkes was still smarter. Directly Mr Vogel had left Sydney he entered into negotiations, which ended in an actual contract with Mr IT. H. Hall. Consequently when Mr Eussell and Mr Samuel met in London, each was hampered with previous engagements. Mr Samuel was bound to Mr Hall; while Mr Eussell was to some extent committed with General Burnside and others, of America, In the end, after a good deal of trouble and delay, as Mr Samuel could not be a party, on behalf of the New South Wales G-overnment, to any agreement except with Mr Hall, the Americans were thrown over, and a modification of the Hall contract agreed to. But such a conclusion was not quite satisfactory. The representatives of the two colonies were disadvantageously restricted in their search for contractors, and might have done better had they been entirely free. As it was they were obliged to take, not the best men that could be got, but the best that would consent to become partners with Mr Hall. Their choice, after all, seems to have been unfortunate. It is strange that Mr Eussell, Mr Samuel, Dr Featherston, who assisted in the negotiations, and Messrs Mackrell & Co, their solicitors, should have led into so erroneous an estimate as they appear to have formed of Mr Eorbes's means and ability to fulfil his undertaking.

Whether the service will be continued on its present footing is uncertain. Mr Hall, who is not a man of capital, will not be able to conduct it single-handed, and we doubt if any English firm will be found willing to take it up. At best, we fear it will only be a makeshift. But on these points we must wait for further information. Our own impression is that the line will never be efficiently worked, or be able to compete successfully with the P. aud 0., until it is in the hands of a strong Anglo-American company, who will engage to convey and be responsible for the mails aud passengers, not ouly between Australia and San Erancisco, but the whole way to and fro between the colouies and Great Britain.