The Lyttelton Times. Wednesday, February 4th:

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 444, 4 February 1857, Page 9

The Lyttelton Times. Wednesday, February 4th:

Our readers will doubtless have perused with considerable interest the correspondence on the subject of steam communication for New Zealand, which has been transferred to our columns from the" General Government Gazette." This correspondence consists chiefly of reports from Mr. Sewell,.furnishing whatever information he could obtain upon the subject in Sydney ; of instructions forwarded from Auckland to Mr. Sewell and Dr. Campbell for the guidance of whichever of those gentlemen may represent New Zealand at our approaching Postal Conference in Melbourne^ -of memorials'land protests against the proposal for making Auckland the port of disembarkation for the New Zealand mails ; and of a circular letter from Mr. Stafford, the Colonial Secretary, to the Superintendents of Provinces, the object .of which seems, to be to remove from the shoulders of the present Government to those of somebody else the task of devising a scheme which shall satisfy as far as practicable the fair claims of the six provinces of New Zealand. To this subject we shall recur hereafter .

We gather from this correspondence that "irto the date of the last advices from Sydney, no d-ci^ive steps had been taken towards the establishment of the new service. Nothing, it appears, could be done until a general conference should have been held of delegates from all the colonies attested by this question, and this conference would not beheld until'the arrival of a copy of the actual contract entered into by the Home Government with- the European and

Australian Steam Navigation Company. It also appears that the General Government of New Zealand have under consideration three distinct proposals. «i.\ 1. For a steamer from Sydney to Manukau or Auckland, and ,thence to all the southern ports via Manukau, to Sydney. , ' " . • 2. For two steamers to start the same day from Sydney or Melbourne. One to Manukau, New Plymouth, and Nelson, and thence direct to her starting point; the other to Otago, Lyttelton, Wellington, and thence to Melbourne. 3. Also for two steamers per month. One to leave Australia on the arrival of the English boat, with the mails, proceeding to Manukau and thence southwards, delivering the mails for all the Southern Provinces, and returning from Otagb direct to Australia. The other to start a fortnight after the first, and to take the converse route, namely, first to Otago, and, after calling at the other New Zealand ports, to take her departure for Sydney from Manakau.

The first proposal is what may be termed the Government plan/ With respect to this we trust we may take it for granted that the Government have abandoned all idea of sending the inter-colonial steamer; round the North Cape to the port of Auckland, whence she would of course have to return by the same route on her way to the Southern Provinces ; this proposal is really, we should hope, too preposterous to be persevered' in. (But, everr with the removal of this objectionable feature, we adhere to the opinions so genea-aily expressed in this Province that this scheme, by taking the correspondence for the Central and Southern Provinces in the first instance to nearly the extremity ofthe North Island, does-injustice to three-fourths of the colony. Such an arrangement would, perhaps more than any other circumstance, bring- home forcibly to the minds and pockets of Southern Colonists the absurdity of locating the General Government in a remote corner of the islands, and hasten the arrival of the day when such an anomaly shall cease to exist. A further and a serious objection to this scheme is this, that it piw ides only a monthly and not a fortnightly communication between the different provinces.

The second of the plans above enumerated is that suggested in memorials from Wellington and Canterbury. To this it is objected in the Colonial Secretary's circular that, although it would employ at least two powerful Steamers, it does not provide any Inter-Provincial Communication, and that, therefore, for this indispensable service a separate establishment would be required. It is pointed out, and we must admit with some truth, that the cost of such an arrangement would be greater than the present circumstances of the Colony, will enable it to bear. It would also subdivide to such an extent the traffic available.for the support of the steamers as to render necessaiy a considerable increase of the Government subsidy The third proposal is that of Mr. Fitz Gerald. To carry out the service in the manner contemplated in this proposal would involve the attainment of a much higher rate of speed than could be calculated on, with the steamers we are likely to have at our disposal. Mr. Fitz Gerald also proposesthat the stay of the steamers in each port should under no circumstances exceed 24 hours; this is a shorter period than would generally be found practicable, unless the usefulness of this communication is to be much diminished and its expense increased, by the steamers discontinuing altogether the conveyance of merchandise. Another objection to this plan is, that while it would provide, at great expense, an irregular fort nightly communication between this colony and Australia, it would only furnish a

monthly communication between different ports in New Zealand itself. This is exactly the reverse of what is really required ; our want is a monthly Steamer from Sydney, bringing on the English mails, and a fortnightly communication between different parts of our own colony.

From the above it will be seen that all the proposals for improved steam communication hitherto suggested are open to serious though varying objections. We attribute this, and the want of harmony which is manifested in the different proposals, to the fact that the framers have; not set distinctly before themselves the exact objects which iii any plan of this kind we should endeavour to attain. We will venture to point out what we believe these objects to be. The first and most important is a more frequent and more rapid communication than at present exists between different parts of New Zealand; this.is a want upon which sufficient stress does not seem to have been laid. The inconvenience and injury, in public as well as .-private affairs, resulting from the present state of things, can hardly be exaggerated. Upon any matter of importance arising shortly upon the departure of the Zingari, the decision of the General Government in less than three months cannot be expected ; for instance, the sanction of the Governor to the amended Land Regulations passed by the Provincial Council in November last was only received by the last trip of the Z'ngari, and public works, depending on these Regulations.have been standing over for nearly three months. Residents in London would have a more regular and rapid communication with their Government if it were located at Constantinople or New York than we have with, the General Government at the present time. To talk of the affairs of New Zealand being effectively administered by a General Government located at Auckland, with such inefficient Postal Communication'as exists at the present moment, appeal's to us altogether visionary. A greatly improved Inter-Provincial Steam Service ought therefore to be one of the main features of the new arrangement. Another, and a hardly less important one, is a steamer running once a month from Australia to New Zealand, her departure being so timed as to provide for the regular and rapid transmission of the Mails arriving in the monthly steamer from England. A fortnightly communication on this line, though no doubt a very great advantage, i not so imperatively required as within the colony itself,, and is, in fact, a luxury which under present circumstances we are not in a position to afford. Whether this inter-colonial steamer starts from Melbourne or Sydney appears to be matter of no great consequence; but it is clearly essential that her destination should be some central poit in New Zealand, in order that the benefit, to be derived from her services may be. as far as practicable, apportioned equally among the different provinces. We regret to notice that the Government propose to limit the duration of the contract to be now entered into to . twelve months. This will virtually exclude from competition almost all persons but the owners of the William Denny, or others already in possession of peculiar facilities for carrying on this service. It will not be worth the while of capitalists in Australia to put steamers into a new trade, and to make all the arrangements necessary for carrying on a somewhat complicated service, for the sake of a twelve months' contract. The shortest period for which we think the.services should be let is two venrs.

The above are considerations which it appears to us ought" to.be borne in mind in the settlement of this important question. We cannot quite admire the appeal tor ad-

vice which the Colonial Secietary makes to the six Superintendents. It is not very likely that, any one cf these functionaries will be better informed on the affairs of the colony s< nerally, or a more impartial judge of its conflicting claims than the members of the General Government. Notwithstanding the difficulties which may surround this question, the Government ought not to shrink from dealing with it themselves. That they may not Le able to please everybody is extremely probable, but, if they will honestly weigh the claims of all parts of the colony, and abandon any inclination to give an uncue preference to any pait of it, they will arrive at a solution which will satisfy reasonable men, and receive the sanction, without doubt, of the General Assembly.