STEAM POSTAL COMMUNICATION WITH AUSTRALIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 444, 4 February 1857, Page 12

STEAM POSTAL COMMUNICATION WITH AUSTRALIA.

(FronJ the General v Government Gazette,' Jan. 10th) WELLINGTON. Mr. Kelham to the Colonial Secretary of New Zealand. Wellington Chamber of: Commerce, 24th November, 1856. Sir, —Enclosed I do myself the honour to wait upon you with, two Memorials addressed to His Excellency the Governor on the subject of the contemplated postal arrangements. I beg leave also to bring under the. notice of his Excellency's Government the following circumstance in relation to the mail service which has just occurred On the sth instant, the ship White Star arrived in Port Philip with the English Mails of August 19. The Ariel schooner was then lying there, just ready to sail for Wellington. The Captain immediately wrote a letter to the Postmaster asking for the Mails. This letter he took to the office of the Mail-master in Sandridge, who told him that it was utterly useless to forward the application, as a similar one had been refused because the mails for New Zealand were to be sent on to Sydney. The letter was therefore destroyed. The Ariel sailed far Wellington o,n the following morning and arrived here on Tuesday, the XBth instant. Up to this date neither the mails of the . sth nor of the 19th of August have been rer ceived. As if to make this the more vexatious, the Shepherdess sailed from this port for Otagd, oiy ■ Wednesday, the 19th instant; the Canterbury ' is .about to sn.il for Lyttelton; the Zingari ' will sail for Nelson, New Plymouth, &c, tomorrow ; and the Ariel for Sydney on the same day. Thus had the mails been brought here by the Ariel, they might have been distributed to all the Southern Provinces and replies sent, at least from this port, instead of which all these opportunities are lost, and, from the infrequency of communication Avith Otagp, it is quite probable that the mails for that place may lie here from one to two months before they can he forwarded. I hope, therefore, that his Excellency's Government will not only grant the prayer of the Memorials, but that pending arrangements for the direct transmission of the mails, instructions mast be sent to the authorities in Melbourne to avail themselves of direct vessels for this port whenever such shall offer. I haye,' &c. Enclosed Memorials from the Merchants Sfc, and from the Chamber of Commerce in Wellington. (Previously published, see '■ Lyttelton Times,' Dec. 6," 1856.)

10. The Sivpemnteiident of Wellington to the Colonial Secretary of New Zealand. 24th November, 1856. Sib,- —I have been requested by the Chamber of Commerce of this place to support the | Memorial which they forward by the present mail against the proposed arrangement; for the conveyance of the English mails from Australia to New Zealand. , T The inadequacy of the arrangements in question, the grave inconvenience and injustice which will be inflicted by.them, not only on this but on all the Southern Provinces, are so clearly explained by the memorialists that it is needless , for me to do more than to express my entire ; concurrence in their protest. If his Excellency's Government persists in making the steamers run to Auckland simply because,; as the Superintendent of Canterbury remarks" in a postscript to his recent pamphlet, "it has chosen to set itself down in a remote corner of the Islands," I earnestly trust it will not so unnecessarily sacrifice the interests of of this pi ovince, as to insist upon its mails being conveyed to Auckland, but that,on the contrary: his Excellency's Government, will give instructions that the Wellington mails should be forded direct, as at present, by the sailing vessels, which insure almost a weekly communication between Wellington and Australia. I have, &c. 11. The UnderSecretary of New Zealand to Mr. Kelham, December 4, 1856. (Previously published; see ' Lyttelton Times,' Dec. 24, 1856.) 12. Mr. Kelham to the Colonial Secretary of New Zealand. 16th December, 1856. Sic, —I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 4th instant, acknowledging receipt of memorials from this Chamber, and from Merchants and others in this port on the subject of the proposed change in the postal arrangaments. Waiting with considerable anxiety the explanations promised, I beg most respectfully to impress upon his Excellency's Government, that no arrangements which would permit the English mail to be first conveyed to Auckland, and from thence distributed to the Southern Provinces, would be satisfactory or fair towards them, and I am persuaded that they will look for this as a sine qua nan in any arrangements or explanations that his Excellency's Government may make.

I may further take the liberty to observe, that in a matter of such, importance—affecting the whole community of the South, the memorialists had reasonably expected that some more definite answer would have been given to them, and that no delay would have occurred in giving prompt consideration to the subject. I have, &c. 13. The Colonial Secretary of Neio Zealand to Mr. Kelham. Auckland, Jan. 6, 1857. Sir, —In reply to your letters of the 24th November and 16th December last, referring to memorials forwarded by you from the Welling-, ton Chamber of Commerce, and: from merchants and residents in that province, on the subject of the Steam Postal Service proposed to be estatw lished for New Zealand, I have herewith the honour to transmit cqpies of correspondence on this subject, in continuation of that already, published, which will inform the memorialists of the views entertained by the Government of New Zealand -frith, respect to it. I have, &c. CANTERBURY. 14. The Superintendent of Canterbury to the Governor of New Zealand. Sir, —I have the honour respectfully to lay before your Exoellency the enclosed copy of resolutions which hav^ been passed by the Pro-; vincial Council of $his Province, I have, &c. Extract from the Journal of proceedings of the Provincial Council. Tuesday, Nqvembee 25, 1856. " Motion made and question proposed — '' That this CounciHearns with the greatest concern that the General Government have, determined that the New Zealand Msil brought by the'steamers' from England to Melbourne, shall be forwarded thence to Auckland as such an arrangement will entirely deprive the Southern 'Provinces of the advantages which they ought to dt'il ye from the steam service, for. which

they will have "to-pay the largest share of the required bonus. " That in the opinion*-of this .Council any steam service from Australia which is supported out ;of the General Public Revenues, ought to provide for the conveyance of the English Mail to the most central port'of the colony, go that all the provinces may share in the benefit of the arrangement. . " That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to his Honor the Superintendent, with a respectful request that his Honor will cause them to be laid before his Excellency the Governor and the Government. " That Mr. Speaker do also transmit a copy of these resolutions to the Honorable the Speaker of each House of the General Assembly. " Question put and agreed to," GEORGE A. E. EOSS, Clerk to the Council. 15. Mr. Latter to the Colonial Secretary of Neio Zealand. Sic, —Be pleased to take an early opportunity to bring under his Excellency the Governor's consideration, the accompanying memorial of the Merchants and other residents of this province, touching the prejudice, to the Southern Settlements of < the proposed Steam Postal Communication for the entirety of New Zealand, to be passed from Melbourne only, and always thence direct to Auckland. I am, &c. Enclosed Memorial of the Merchants of Canterbury. (Previously published. See • Lyttelton Times,' Dec. 20, 1856.) 16. The Colonial Secretary of New Zealand to Mr. Latter. Auckland, January 6th, 1857, Sir, —I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of "the 17th ult. covering a Memorial from merchants and residents in the Province of Canterbury, relative to the Steam Postal service proposed to be established for New Zealand, and to forward for the i information of the Memorialists copies of correspondence on this subject, which will explain the views of the Government of New Zealand with respect to it. I have, &c, 17. Circular Despatch to the Superintendents of the several Provinces of Neio Zealand. Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland, January 6th, 1857. Sic, —I do myself the honor to address you with reference to the mode by which the Steam Postal Service between Great Britain and the Australasian Colonies may be extended to the respective Provinces of this Colony with the greatest benefit to each. 2. On this subject the Government of New Zealand has received, as your Honor may be aware, Memorials from the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, from Residents in that Province, from Merchinls and Residents in the Proyince of Canterbury; ako Resolutions of tha Canterbury Provincial Council, and letters from the Superintendent of Wellington and Canterbury, and Mr. Kelham, the latter objecting to arrangements stated to exist at present with respect to the transmission from Melbourne of English letters for Wellington. 3. These Memorials being numerously and influentially bigned, may be assumed, together with the resolutions above mentioned, to represent the opinion on this question of a large section of the the inhabitants of New Zealand, in so far as they were aware of the circumstances of the case ; and as the question is one affecting the interests of the whole Colony, the Government desires that all the facts connected with it should be placed before the Public,_ with a view to eliciting an expression of opinion in favor of the particular steam route which, all things considered, it may appear preferable to adopt. , 4. With this object, copies of correspondence on this subject' are herewith enclosed, with which, together with this letter, it is desired that the inhabitants of the Province'of may be made acquainted, in whatever manner • your Honor may deem most suitable ior the purpose, . ,] 5. Prom these documents it will be perceive^ that the' Government believes that the most efficient Steam Service," both Inter-Colonial ana. Inter-Provincial, would (having regard touu, amount available for the purpose) be maintain?" by two powerful steamers'plying between ati^

jjraUa and all the Provinces of New Zealand; this providing that the Pass sengers and Mails for any one Province would be conveyed, with the least possible delay, to their destination ; and also affording ajjregular and rapid means of communication to and from all parts of this Colony and Australia..,■ 6. The latter object would not attained- by I the routes indicated by the Memorialists, mas I much as these routes, although not otherwise I objectionable, are not connected with each other, and a third steamer would consequently be re- ! quired to complete the chain of Inter-Provin-s cial communication. [ 7. If a sufficient sum were available for. subI sidizing three steamers, the communication 1 between the several ports of the Colony might thereby be increased : : but such a service could : not in all probability be maintained, in the present circumstances of the Colony. For it must not be forgotten that auy bonus is only a I portion, and generally a small one, of the whole sum necessary for the maintenance of Steamers, and that to divide the ' traffic three Steamers —which would otherwise be enjoyed by two—would necessitate a proportionately increased bonus to compensate for the diminished receipts of each ; unless indeed that traffic were very much augmented by the presence of the third vessel, a result which, with the present population of New Zealand, cannot be calculated upon as likely to occur to any appreciable extent. 8. It consequently; appears essential to the proper consideration of this question, that it should he determined in what manner, with two vessels only, the whole service required can be performed with the greatest possible benefit to each portion of the Colony; bearing in mind that if the Inter-Provincial Service starts from any Poi't in the centre of tli3 Colony, there must (in the absence of a third vessel) be a much longer time consumed in comnvunicating with all the Ports to be visited, than if the service were commenced from one of the route.

9. In addition to the routes respectively indicated by the Government and the Memorialists, another has been sugested by His Honor the Superintendent of Canterbury, by which ifc is proposed that two Steamers, of which one should call first at Ofcago, and the other at Manukau, should convey the English Mails monthly to New Zealand, and at the same time maintain a fortnightly communication between this Colony and Australia. This line of route—with respect to which, I may here remark, when alluded to in the House of Representatives, during the discussion on the Steam Service, no opinion was expressed—■ would, if practicable, be the most efficient, having reference to the service performed; and would consequently have been preferred by the Government if steamers could be obtained possessing the speed and other qualities requisite to ensure the performance of such a service with any degree of regularity; but as the time specified for that service would not allow for accidental delay at any port from bad weather, or for coaling in New Zealand, it is considered impossible that steam vessels could be procured in this part of the world to perform it Tenders for this line can, however, be invited in order to test its practicability.

10. With reference to the' Memorials, I may observe that it appears to be believed that if the Steamers which bring the English Mails to New Zealand returned by the end of the sari c month to Australia, the replies to English letters brought by them would be forwarded to Great Britain .within, the month ; but, as far as the Government is aw?.'r.e. from the Public Papers, having no official information on the subject, this would not be the case, as a Mail Steamer is to return with the English Mails from Sydney fifteen days after the arrival of each outward Mail from England. In other words, it is assumed that an English Mail arrives at Sydney on the Ist of each month, and that the New Zealand portion of it is immediately despatched to this Colony; but as the homeward Mail is despatched from Sydney on the 15th of the same month, and it is'impossible that a Mail from New Zealand in reply to that received could reach Sydney within fifteen days, the New Zealand return Mail could not, Under any circumstances, be despatched from Sydney until the 15th of the next month.

11. The Government was influenced by this consideration, and its proposal provided that the New Zealand Branch Steamers, while performing the Intei*-Provincial Service also, should return to Sydney within six weeks;

thereby ensuring that the return Mails were sent home in the shortest time possible, while the Steamers employed would have about 15 days at Sydney to coal and refit, and would thus be ready to leave that Port within a few hours of the arrival of each outward English Mail. 12. In farther explanation of the steps taken by this Government, I have to observe that fion not being aware of the precise terms of the Postal Contract, of which no copy at the date of the latest advices had been received in Australia, it has—in the absence of information as to the precise power of regulating its own Branch Service which may by the terms of the Contract be given to each Colony, —been un-. able to do more than indicate its opinion as to I the manner in which the New Zealand Branch Service might be conducted in relation to that with the Provinces ; leaving it with Ml. Sewell, who would first learn the nature of the Contract, anil who was well acquainted with the requirements of the Colony in this respect, to effect the necessary arrangements ; as a part of which it will be seen.that it is proposed that the first contract shall be for 12 months only, during the currency of which period sufficient evidence may be obtained from all parts of the Colony with respect to the course which it may subsequently be desirable to adopt. And it must be remembered that the Colony is already bound to pay its share of the expenses of the Imperial Postal Contract, and that it cannot, in accordance with the terms of that contract, get rid of the difficulty of indicating what Port the Branch Steamer is to visit. 13. It remains to add, in reply to Mr. Kelham's letter, that no instructions of the nature stated by the master of the Ariel, have been issued by the Government of New Zealand, and, if any such do exist, they probably emanated either from the London Post Office or from the Government of Victoria. Instructions as requested by Mr. Kelham will now be forwarded to Melbourne. I have. &c. E. W. STAFFOED. i -■■■■.