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Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1650, 18 November 1873, Page 2

Mention, has been made of a movement among some Hokitika shareholders in Reef ton reefs for the purpose of securing an alteration in the present mail arrangements. Their specific obje'et seems to be to bring about a change so that the mail which at present reached Hokitika on Monday evening should arrive on the evening of the previous Saturday. For the exclusive advantage of Hokitika, or of such of its inhabitants as have correspondence with Reef ton, an alteration which would expedite the transmission of this one day's mail would, no doubt, be desirable, but it is questionable if that advantage would not be gained at the, cost of considerable inconvenience to the. residents of other localities and of such 'a 'change "in -the arrangements that no contractor cp,ula^be expected to convey the mails except on terms very different from those which

have been agreed to. The present timetable was fixed after. sbme>months' expeperience, and seems to suit the general interest as admirably a3 arrangements in a new country may be expected to do. At present the mail is conveyed twice weekly each way between Greymouth and Reefton, leaving Greymouth on Tuesday and Thursday, and leaving Reefton on Wednesday and Saturday. The advantage of this arrangement is that the Tuesday's coach takes up the East Coast weekly mails, or, as it happens, the inward English mail, and that there is a day at each terminus for replies — Monday in Greymouth and Friday in Reefton. Were the wishes of those who are moving for a change complied with, the coach would have to be despatched from Greymouth on Monday, without the Christchurch mails, returning on Wednesday, and would h^ve to leave again on Thursday, returning on Friday, without opportunity of replying at the Reefton end. There would thus simply be a change effected without improvement, while all the Grey Valley arrangements would be disturbed, the days of issuing the different papers ignored, and the convenience of one community only consulted. If that convenience can be consulted, by all means let it be done; but surely Greymouth has much more reason to complain or to memorialise regarding the overland Christchurch mail, than Hokitika has of an essentially local mail. If the Reefton mail which arrives in Grey mouth on Saturday evening does not reach Hokitika till Monday evening, neither does the Christchurch mail which reaches Hokitika on Saturday arrive here until forty-eight hours afterwards, and the latter is fully more important than the former. Of course the existence of two evils does not lessen either, but, if Hokitika has a grievance, so has Greymouth, and has had it long ; and if any change is to be brought about, let it be a general one, so that from Reefton to Dunedin, let us say, the days of despatching and receiving mails will dovetail more neatly than they do at present. Meantime, and with regard to the local wish of Hokitika, it would be well for the residents of Reefton and of the intermediate centres of population to indicate to the post-office authorities how any change of the kind proposed would affect their interests. It should be rememhered also by the residents of Hokitika and Reefton, that with the new contracts commences an economy of time along each road out of Greymouth, the intention being to occupy only nine or ten hours on the Redfton road, instead of eleven as at present, while there will be a greater gain on the road between this point and Hokitika.