STEAM POSTAL COMMUNICATION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 412, 15 October 1856, Page 3

STEAM POSTAL COMMUNICATION.

[From the 'Morning Post.']

-'! c nave become so accustomed to rapid commir m nication with distant places, that we are apt to forget -'_.'• that the arrangements now made propose to connect Xl two places 15,000 m les distant from each other by a *! regular system of transit, which shall carry letters \'i between the two places at the rale of two hundred "f£ miles per diem. Such a rate of progress is, in this % railway age, nothing remarkable for one, two, or »4,three days, but it is an amazing feat when kept up 2 fifty or sixty. Jt is quite possible to be gazing j A the Clock Tower, Westminster, at one end of the ' f twenty-four hours, and at that at Strasburg at the i other end, and this seems a marvel of locomotion. ; But what is it to that of finding yourself in fifty -I days on the other side of the gloi c ? or, of writing '< your letter to Melbourne this 2Sth of June, and , getting your answer back by the 6th or 7th of | October next ? Occasional delays will happen with ;! these mails as with all others, but the stringent I penalty of fifty pounds per day for every day's I delay will have the effect of keeping the company | up to the mark and securing as much punctuality / as is compatible with the extreme length of the )! service. ■c The recent stimulus which the Australian trade Tj has received makes this arrangement all the more 'I valuable —even though it be as late as October > f before the first of these vessels can leave Southamp- ] ton. The flourishing state of the color-y and its '-t immense importance to this country, both as a prot : ducer of the precious metal and' a consumer of i English manufactures, justify the heavy expenses < which, according to Mr. Wi'son's statement, will be -,■* incurred, and which will be divided by an equitable adjustment between this country and the colony, •ii which will he readily borne miw that the returning "; prosperity of Australia bids fair abundantly to com- *\ pensate for its temporary depression. ' There is less H feverish haste to be rich, less of reckless exportation, I'; less of frantic speculation than there was four years g\ ago. But there is more steady and reliable trade, 13 move permanent occupation of the soil, more |~; systematic development of produce, more regular $J methods of business. These are the true sources of *'I colonial prosperity. These enrich both countries, !> and bind England and her Antipodes in the bonds of a common interest. While these ' L two ends of the earth answer to each other with a right understanding of each other's wants and I circumstances, there is no reasonable amount of wh'ch may not be looked for by the "i merchants engaged in the Australian Made. Very 5 different will be the gradual progress of the future 1 from the impetuous gold frenzy of previous years. J The suddenness of the gold discovery, the crowding ; to the diggings, and the abnormal state of society J which the hasty accumulation of money, by acurious T? combination of luck and labor, created, could have j| but one tendency, and that not a favourable one to s| trade, morality, or social advancement, as the event, showed. Who does not remember the excitement "| with which tidings of the new gold-fields were •l received in this country? What a history is all | that followed! The rush t.o the diggings, the enor- £ mous shipments of English speculators, the fabni lous prices at first realised, the glutting of the J market that ensued —then the panic, the crash of '1, the great houses, the engulfinent of the small ones, f| the re-action, the utter stagnation of all trade, the i turning of the energies of the colonists to more \ regular modes of business, and the gradual realisa- '\ tion of the true value of labour, all succeeded each other with such rapidity, that within five years the colony has gone through an experience that has taken other nations a century. There is every reason to believe that a steady tide of commercial prosperity is setting in. The colony is ' settling down. Politically and commercially times are better, because men are wiser, are content to allow the laws of things to take their course, and do not aim at finding any royal road to the great prizes of life. From the moment that colonists

ceased to speciih te on luck, and began to put confidence in labor, th ir condition began to rectify itself, nirl their prospects_to improve. Let them persevere in the cautious but vigorous course they are now pursuing, an.l it will not be long "before the colony of Victoria will be the most important of all lier Majesty's dominions. The conclusion of the war sets at liberty the gigantic steamers built expressly for the Australian trade, and returns them to their original service. They will now periodical!}' carry the mails; and by the time this day's ' Morning Post,' reaches the City of Melbourne the first of the new line of mails will be steaming out of Southhampton water.