The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 554, 24 February 1858, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Feb. -24

Wednesday, February 24*. Ou-r late Wellington news informs us that occasion has been taken by the Chamber of Commerce and by the inhabitants generally of that town to re-memorialise the General Government on the subject of Steam Postal Communication''with Australia arid be-

•': Feb734

tween the provinces rof New Zealand. A rumoured plan "of the service, probably -that given .by" the 'JEome News,' which makes Auckland the . t first port of arrival and ihe last of departure in New Zealand Xiov the Australian steamers, has been jdeeihed of sufficient importance to reawaken anxiety on the subject and to render necessary a renewed appeal to his Excellency's Government for fair play to the South. 7 We should have supposed that, even if geography and common sense were really ever in danger of being neglected by the General Government in arranging the course of post, the earnest representations from the South, in 1856, would not go without due attention. The lapse of time has both added to our anxiety for a settlement and strengthened our claim that that settlement shall he a fair one. Every day which passes increases the relative importance of the Southern Provinces. The Wellington memorials, which will l^ibund in another part of to-day's issue, add no new argument, for indeed none was - needed ; they simply repeat the former protest against the transmission of mails for that port to Auckland first, in which protest Canterbury heartily joined. We can scarcely believe it necessary to reiterate the appeal, nor can we see any distinct cause for alarm. The routes, we should imagine, could not be pre-arranged at home, but must be at the' discretion of the Colonial Government, whose operations, we are bound to believe, will be guided by neither ignorance nor prejudice. The worst to be feared is from Northern preponderance in the Assembly, before whom the question will naturally come. Against an Auckland majority we fear the most urgent memorials from the South would be idle weapons. • The fact is that postal services generally in these seas have partaken so much of the l pleasing humbug' character, and the circumstances of the coming company are so ill defined, that objections seem, like beating the air. However if there is a possibility of such a service existing', there is a concurrent certainty of its falling short in some point or other; and therefore it may he a wise policy to keep hammering away, as these memorials do, at the most essential points.