The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 1868.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 146, 23 June 1868, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 1868.

In addition to the welcome news of the successful termination of the Abyssinian war, another item of intelligence, perhaps of equally acceptable character, will be found in the telegram of home news whi-h reached us on Wednesday last. We allude to the statement that, in response to a memorial presented by bankers, merchants, and others connected with these colonies, his Grace the Duke of Montrose, the Posi master-General, had expressed himself in favor of fortnightly mail services, via Galle, and slated that when the colonies had agreed amongst themselves on the subject, the Imperial Government would afford every facility to the scheme. The Australian papers have for some time past teemed with expressions of dissatisiaction at the present postal arrangements between these colonies and England, and this feeling, judging from the information conveyed in this telegram, seems to be equally strong =at home. The recent alterations allow so little time between the arrival and departure of the mails to and from London that it is next to impossible, even allowing the steamers to arrive in contract time, to answer by the return mail. Considering the very " extensive mercantile relations that exist between these colonies and Great Britain, it affords us little wonder that the public should grumble at the alterations which have been made wholly, as it would appear, to suit the convenience of the Indian merchants and colonists. In London, as we have already remarked, a very strong remonstrance appears to have been made to the Government by persons interested in the colonies, against the present time table, which seems to suit neither parties. One great inconvenience, relative to which very general complaiut is made, is that the departure of the mail steamers is made to take place every lunar month, which continually changes the day, and necessitates a continual recourse to the official time " table. Formerly, the day of the month on which the mail left was so well known, that the public, both in town and country, found no,; difficulty in regulating their correspondence accordingly, but now the case is very different, and as far as we are ourselves individually concerned, for several months past our participation in the conveniences offered by the Suez Mail has been almost entirely ignored, or treated as a matter of iniinitesimally small importance. When this colony undertook to pay the enormous subsidy for the privilege of having the Panama Mail line opened, ifc was with the idea of securing a fortnightly service between England and New Zealand, but the one service being regulated every lunar mouth, and the other every calendar month, much confusion has in consequeuce arisen, and one service interferes greatly with another. It is evident that things could not long remain as they are, for these colonies are sufficiently important, both in wealth and population, to have a mail service conducted in such a manner as will best serve their interests. At present these are sacrificed to -those of India and the Eastern Colonies, but it has become a question for the consideration of these colonies, whether they cannot undertake the postal service between Australia and Ceylon themselves, allowing Great Britain to undertake the remainder. With steamers running fortnightly between Suez and Point de Galle, the mails might be carried to the latter place at considerably less cost than is now the case. Such a scheme would allow of the Panama Mail performing the service which it was intended should be done by the boats of that Coni-

pany, but it is obviously absurd that the steamers should leave within a day or two of each other. The subject is one which is essentially important to all these colonies, and we trust that no time will he lost in arriving at such united action between them as may result in a scheme which shall be acceptable to the Home Government and advantageous to the colonies generally.