THE DAILY MAIL.

Manawatu Times, Volume IV, Issue 72, 18 September 1880, Page 2

THE DAILY MAIL.

A moat influential meeting of the people of Palmersto» was held on Wednesday evening, inihe Town Hall, for the purpose of pcotesting tgainit the withdrawal of the daily mail between Wellington and Foxton. Mr. Snelson occupied the chair, and apologiiad for the absence of the Major, who had betn called to Willington upon businert of the greatest importance.- Before l«arin{, Mr. Linton had jotted down a few of hit ideas with regard to the trettiaent which this district had receired at the hands of the present Government. The Hall Ministry had been charged with having caused a barren ISession, but he. faile.d-to see that such had bean the case, for no prefious GorernmeHt had env succeeded m •trilting such an effectual blow at any diitrict m New Zealand, as that had done to the Manawatu. That had bean amply pro Ten by the withdrawal of the subsidies, the abolition of the 20 per cent, on land sales, their action with regard to the West Coast Railway, their refn»al to vote sums for, the opening up of the district, and lastly, their unjust action with .regard to . a daily mail. Mr. Snelson said that fifteen or, sixteen y«*vs before, there had been a biweekly mail, and he would make bold to say %hxt it cost more for its maintenance than., did tht daily mail they now ioughfc to abolish,- When the increase of trade, the inoi'jme of population, and other attendant cireurnifcancei ware taken in'&> consideration, the absurdity of. the contemplated step would at «nee make itself apparent. Itfttvenchment was all rery well, but such a policy could not be characterised ,as retrenchment ; it was a cheeseparing parsimonio.u.in.ess. He felt quite conrinced that tik.o btnejltt of the daily mail, which ' ife >wai 3»,0w sought to sweep away, oad extende^a.l, far. as New Plymouth, a district ■which had the good fortune to hare a Cabinet Minister for, a*** representative, he would mnk* bold to assert that its abolition Cwjimld never have been contemplated, and the hlowr-iirould »ej#r. be struck. He believed the cost of. a daily mail would.be •omething about £800, while a tri-weekly mai,l would not 'oo.it less than £500, consequently the, laving to the Government would he. hut Very insignificant when oompared with the inestimable boon which it

eceupy their time no longer, but call upon. Mr. Turner to propose the first resolution. Mr. Tubwer said h« had been asked to propose the first resolution, and it was a task which he Undertook with very grtat pleasure. Although by the withdrawal of the daily mail inconvenience might be felt by all, it was only the busineis portion of the community who would bo able ta fully j realise its importance. He could tell them that a most sarious blow was involved m the proposad *ction — a blow whoso full seriousness could not be giitged until its effects made themselves felt. He had bsan asked to take part m tlie proceedings that evening, and he did le for the reason that he considers"! it the duty of everyone m the district— all being materially afftcted by the contemplated step— to use their best efforts to avert the injustice with which they had bten threatened, He would therofore move — " That this meeting yiews with alarm the contemplated action of tha Government m reverting to a tri-weekly mail from Wellington tq Foxton ; and, considering the very larga trade carried on between the oapital and the West Coast, such a course is arbitrary m the extreme, and calculated to materially injure the banking and mercantile interest of both placas." Mr. Dungan said ther* appeared to be a prevailing opinion that because he happened to be connectod with the Press, ho was therefore debarred from openly taking part m any proceedings which were for the good of theftown or district. Although he by no means admttUd the necessity for such a eoui'se, yat m deference to such a feeling, he had hither' o been content to take, as it were, a back seat, resting satisfied to give his aid from behind the scenes. His action that evening formed no exception to the general rule, for although he had risen to second the resolution, he had dona so quite involuntarily. During the day, m conjunction witli Mr. Ferguson, he had gone to considerable trouble to secure ipeakers for the various resolution!. Is the Chairman had informed them, Mr. Linton wa« away m Wellington upon a matter of lift and death ; Mr. M'N«il was leaving the district that eroning, and of course could not be present ; Mr. P«lmer*on was likewise out of town ; and Mr. Colatnm —^a gentleman who always took an active part m the proceedings upon such occasions — was away m Wanganui. They would thus see that the speaking Ultut available was of a moit limited character. Mr. Turner, on being asked to speak to the first resolution, assented without a demur, and Mr. Jenssen, although suffering from a vary ssrore cold, had agreed to second it. Unfortunately, howevtr, during the evening, his cold became worse, and at the last moment ha was roluak&ntly compelled to forward an apology. He (Jfr. Duugan) made this explanation for his tak'ng part m the proce lings, but although ha was only acting as a stop-gap, the task was ane whicli he accepted most willingly. With regard to the itep proposed by the Government, he was very much afraid that the majority of tha townspeople had not sufficiently considered the gravity of the interests involved, or tlie seriousness of the results which would follow its being c.irr:ed into effect. One of the greatesb puzzle.? to him had be*n the motives which influenced tha Grovernunenfc m coming to »uch a decision. The da'ly mail had been m existence for something little short of two years, and the manner m which. t'i» contract had betn carried out by Massrs. Hastwell and Macara was beyond all !pr?.ise. Whsn the running of a daily mail wa.3 first mooted, tha movement had raceivad but very scant support from even those wl o wore most anxious to see it mi- j tiated. An idea had got abroad that agitation was useless ;• that the G-overnment would not grant the concession ; !and that even if they did, it would not pay the contractors, and eoniequently the daily service wou 1 have to be abandoned. He had corabntted against all these arguments, and contended that i,f but a fair remuneration were given the contractors for carrying the * mails, they would carry out their tender with satisfaction. That they had done so, the experience of the past two years had been ample evidence, for it was not too much to say that the mails a.nd pasiengers had boon carried by the daily service with far more punctuality than whea the trips were made every so cond day. When the character of the road ovar which the coach had to travel, and the rivei'3 and other difficulties were taken into consideration, the. punctuality with which the contract had been carried out was something wonderful. Such being the case, thin, it could not be imagined that the daily mail was about to be withdrawn because it had proved a failure m the past. Then, with" regard to the contractor*, Mr. Macara had said himself that although his firm had by no means made a pile out of the contract, stiJl they neither had made, nor would make, any complaint upon the score of remuneration. They had gone. to considerable expense m the shortening the stages and erecting additional stables, butjfchey looked forward to the time whan the increased, passenger trade would recoup them for that outlay. Failing, therefore, to find a reason for the proposed action, it became necessary to fall back upon the supposition that it was upon the plea of retrenchment. Ha quite endorsed tha verdict of the Cha ; rman as to the absurdity of such retrenchment. It had been amply proven by experience m tha postal, telegraph, and other departments, that with increased facilities at the command of the public, increased business was a natural result i and consequently, setting aside altogether the very great boon whioh tha. daily pervioe had proved m the past, as a matter of policy it was to the interests of the Government to continue it. Some persons might say that It was useless to agitate, as the result was a foregone conclusion. . Now, he did not look upon the matter m that light. In tha original printed advertisements calling for tenders, the service asked for was a biweekly one, but subsequently the words triweekly were added m ink, thus showing that some pressure had been brought to effect the change. But tren supposing that their efforts «ere not crowned with success, he considered it equally their duty to register a solemn protect again ft the contemplated step., which was a gross injustice the people of the West Coa»t, and a raversion to the the dark agei. Considering the. vast strides which Palmersfcon— and m fact every townehip between Foxton and New Plymouth— had made m progreis, tha seti tiers had good reason to expect increased communication with the capital, and there- : fora m seconding the resolution, ho considered he was only lodging an earnest protest against the injustice with which it was intended they should ba treated. Tha C^a;b,maw then read the resolution, which upon being put to the meeting, was cwried unanimously. In rising to propose, the. second resolution, Mr. Fbkgttsok laid that he never appeared to address a meeting with more willingness, and never felt more regret than at the necessity which called upon him to do so. On other occasions he had taken part m public proceedings, but he had done so m a h&lMieartad kind of w«y ; there was, however, no such half-heartadneis that night, as he had never felt more ia earnest or more interest m a matter than he did m that which they had been called together to oonsider. At its then stage the importftace of tbj change contemplated by tht

Government bad only made itself apparent to the fevr, while the majority could not realise the magnitude of the interest* involved. Howevei, if no counteraction were taken, the matter (allowed to go by default, aud postal communication with Wellington narrowed down to three times a week, those who treated the matter so lightly would quickly find out that they were mistaken. At the present time, to she great bulk of the people, the shoe rested easily upon their feet, but when it began to pinoh, as it assuredly would, then they would awaken to the fact that the experience was not. a pleasant one. It had been the custom to refer to tho9e m power as a Paternal Government. Well, perhaps they were that m a peculiar, sense of the phrase, but if they were, Manawatu — and indeed the whole of the West Coast — might be a.ptly styied a " step-bahm. v Beviewing every action of the Government with respect to that district, and contrasting its action with that toward the lEast Coast, it might j be said that they had acted upon' the principle of "To him that hath much, much shall bs given ; but to him that hath little, shall part be taken of that which he hath." They had taken away the twenty per cent, of the land fund, they had withdrawn the subsidies, they had set their foot upon the prosecution of the West Coast Eailway, and after looking about to see m what further -manner they could exercise their spoliation at the expense of the West Coast, they determined that the daily mail should share the fate of the other measures. Manawatu had very little to be thankful for from the present, or even preceding Ministries, for not only had its interests been neglectsd^ but even the most sacred promises had been shamelessly broken. In previous days the land m Fitzherbert had been sold upon the distinct understanding that a portion of the revenue received from the sale should be set apart for the construction of roads, notwithstanding which, the Conditions had been system matjcally ignored, and the settlers were, even to the pment day, without means of ingress or egress to their land. Then, again, with regard to the East Coast -Railway, they seamed inclined to adopt the absurd recommendations of the Eailway Commissioners and proceed with the line to Maurictville, notwithstanding it hau been mosi conclusively proven that it would vmremunerative. He fully recognised the difficulties under which this, or any other Government, labored m applying the pruningknife, and carrying out a scheme of retrenchment. Retrenchment was all very well, and people were very well satisfied to endorse its necessity until either themselves or their districts were touched upon, whan the matter assumed quite a different hue. If it were carried out upon the principles, of equity, then it was what it was supposed to be, a benefit; ; but could it be for a moment asserted that such had been the case with regard to the West Coast, with respect to which the Government had given nothing, and tak-»n away everything. It would be found very inconvenient to the general public to be. kept without their, newspapers, bu,t that would be nothing to the loss which would foe. entailed upon business people by the withdrawal of the daily mail. Punctuality was the first grand essential m business, and with the very lame support of the Eimutaka line, merchants and others could place very little faith :.n being able to secure it for their, por.rtspondence. He begged to move — '♦ That considering the very satisfactory manner m which the daily mail between Wellington and Foxton has been carried out m th« past, and the very great boon which it has proved, this meeting strongly protests against its abolition, and would respectfully ask the Government to reconsider its decision." Mr. James said he rose to second the resolution with very great pleasure, hut at the same time he would have been far better pleased if he were rising to thank the Government for having granted the railway. He heartily endorsed the statements made that the We»t Coast, but more espseially Manawatu, had been very unjust j treated m the past. There were many persons like himself to whom the withdrawal of the daily mail might not personally be a matter of much moment, nevertheless as affecting the interests of the community as a whole, it was one. of the greatest importance. Although, the. meeting wp.s a large one, still when the importance of the interests involved, were taken into consideration, he regretted that a more lively and animated feeling had not been exhibited. There were certain, members of the community w.ho w«re ever watchful of its interests, and spared, neither time nor labor to advance, the progress of the district, and the least which, could be expected was that thoir aotion should be supported by the community at large/ The preceding speakers had dealt so exhaustively with the subject, thp.t there was very little left for him to say, and he would content himself with seconding the resolution. Tho motion was then put, and carried unanimously. Mr. BatchkiLAß. moved, and Mr. JoHK Mowleji seconded — " That the Chairman be requested to forward the foregoing resolutions to the Postmaster General." Mr. Mowlbm, then proposed a vote of thanks to the Chairman, and m doing so paid a high compliment to the interest which he had always exhibited for the welfare of the district. Mr. Walked begged to second the proposal of thanks to the Chairman, who, he had noticed, was ever found ready to assist m. provno.ting the, interests of Palmerston. Having risen to do this act of duty, he would take the liberty of expressing his surprise that m the resolutions which had been passed by the meeting, no suggestion had been offered that the member for Manawatu (Mr. Johnston), should be requested to use his endeavors to avert the injury to the County which w,a a contemplated by the withdrawal of the daily mails from Wellington, and the substitution, oft a tri- weekly, post. ' Although he was not' m business, as it was called, amongst tjhem, he could easily perceive that considerable inconvenience and damage would arise to this district by the course, which it was said the. Government, contemplated ; and he thought it was the duty of the various, towrp and postal localities m llantiwatu to, protest against a course which would inflict sjtripus injury on the County, without saving any important sum to tlie Colonial "fund*. How as the member for Manawatu was ml Wellington, and was supposed to possess, influence with the Government, it suiejy was the duty of this community to, make proper representations to him on the question at issue, and enlist his best services to promote the interests of his constituents. But m order that this might be done, it was neces-. sary that Mr. Johnston should be made acqnairted with t ,c quesfon at issue, and the reasonable wishes of his constituents on fhe i subject. He (Mr. Walker) coxUd not think otherwise than if proper com nunication took place, the member for Manawatu irould deem it a pleasure as we 1 ! as a duty to watch ' over and promote those interests which, as a Parliamentary representative, it was his province to advance and protcot. [Approbation.] Mrl Dtjngan explained that unfortunately experience had proved that it was quite useless entrusting jneasures of importance to the care of Mr. Johnston. The twenty per cent, o{ th» Und fjmd, Tsi«li tr^i of

fifty times more importance to the County than the tri-weekly mail, had heen one of his most solemn trusts, had through, his culpable carelessness, had been swept away and hundreds of thousands irredeemably lost to Manawatti. Had Mr. Johnston acted m the past as a representative m the. sense of the term used by Mr. Walker, then he certainly should have been entitled as a. matter of courtesy to act »» a medium, between lijs constituency and the Government. He had got done so, however, and h«d been a representatire but m name, consequently the promoters of the meeting did not feel, bound to treat him with the usual etiquette,, and had determined to ignore hit position, and deal with the fountain head. - - - Mr. FBB3TTSON endorsed the statements of the previous speaker, and. Mr. Walker having expressed himself as quite satisfied with the explanation, the tote of thanks was carried by accjaination a,nd the meeting separated. .;■ • ■ . :.,-...■ .^...',