The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 674, 23 April 1859, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

:: c' -. ■-. r~. ) - . -T.;= ;'";■ - ;';'■ ;'> , \ =.- Saturday, A]^!, 23. Ita is a/question whether it is or is not worth while to discuss the latest proposal of the Inter-colonial Company for arranging the steam postal route along this coast, when that

proposal is: already two months old. Since then much that we are aware of, and perhaps much that we are not aware of, has happened to alter the complexion of the matter. The proposal, which we recently published in full, was made in the form of a letter to the Colonial Secretary, which letter was, at the request of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, laid before that body. The proposal is in effect—to take off the boat now plying between Sydney, Nelson, and the Manukau, and to put her on the berth between Sydney and Auckland direct,— to run a boat once a month from Manukau to Otago by the old route,— and to run another boat from Nelson to Otago during the fortnight when the last named boat is on the northern part of her trip. This third service is to be paid for at the rate of £3000 a-year. It is further proposed that the Company's fourth boat, the large Prince Alfred, shall be kept in reserve to take her place between Wellington and Melbourne in case the Boomerang contract shall be broken. It is also demanded that no other steamers shall be subsidized by the General Goverment .(nor by the Provincial Governments if they can be restrained), and, consequently, that the White Swan shall be sent at once about her business.

This proposal has been laid before the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, possibly with the expectation that that body would be charmed with a scheme which was to give Auckland the boon of direct communication with Sydney. But this hope, if it was entertained, was entirely unfounded. Perhaps it was that the superior excellence of sailing vessels for postal purposes was so fully appreciated by some of the merchants of Auckland that they were unwilling on any account to have their beloved Moa, Gazelle, and Breadalbane superseded, while others were indignant at the idea of the Hawke's Bay trade again falling into the hands of sailing craft by the dismissal of the White Swan; perhaps it was sympathy with poor Mr. Maeandrew and the unfortunate Wellington public who were to be pre vented, from spending their own money how they liked; perhaps it -was simply a spirit of antagonism against any Government propositi on .3 whatever .reason/it was which swayed the Chamber of Commerce, it could not have been one of those reported to have been urged by the gentlemen who expressed a feeling of dislike, for they are eminently absurd. Mr. Montefiore, the Chairman, is reported to have said that l the gist of this new proposal seemed to be to give the Southern provinces fortnightly and Auckland only .monthly steam communication." Mr. Montefiore, we suppose, declined to see that part of the ' gist' of the proposal was to give Auckland direct communication with Sydney and -to cut off the communication between the South and Sydney, the very thing which had so long been demanded by Auckland. He forgot that Auckland had not got a fortnightly steam communication with the South to lose ; the two boats leaving the province'completing only one shambling route all round between them, as the Swan does not take Taranaki, or Nelson, while the Worsley takes those two provinces only, and her Northern route is unconnected in point of time with the Ashley's Southern one. Again another gentleman, Mr. Forsaith, "'remarked on the evident desire to give Auckland merely a secondary position, evinced by the fact of the best vessel, the Prince Alfred, being selected for the Wellington service." If Mr. Forsaith had ' remarked' upon the impropriety of the South paying for an additional and unlooked for Hire from Sydney to Auckland, or upon the selfishness of Wellington in paying theßoomerang'to come to Wellington instead of sending her at their own expense to Auckland, he would have shown as much good reason to grumble. Mr. Forsaith is not arithmetically minded: he does not recognise any inherent truth in the rule of three : he cannot see that four is a greater number than one: he does not understand a preference being given to the four over the one! Tempt yourself in shillings, Mr. Forsaith. Plainly, hhe Auckland Chamber of Commerce is selfish. They betray that mean vice greediness. . They follow tho rule—' Get what you can, and ask for" more.' They want all the steamers on the coast to be sailing to and from Auckland j and possibly, if this were granted, they would try to prevent them sailing- to any other port. Why does, the Chamber of Commerce in Auckland allow such narrow shallow views to go forth—-views which cannot be common tp any sensible people in the. place, but which cast a slur wpon the whole province ?