The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 4, 1871.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 153, 4 July 1871, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 4, 1871.

Among other matters that 'vill crop up for discussion in the coming session of Parliament is that of the present mail service between here and San Francisco, the absurdity of which is month after month becomiug more glaring. It is very pleasant and agreeable, no doubt, to be placed in direct communication with the vast continent of America, and to be able to calculate upon receiving our English correspondence with undeviating punctuality. None will be found to object to this phase of the question, but there are very many who will persist in puttiog the ugly enquiry, can we afford to pay for "such a luxury ? Recent, advices from Australia inform us that the New South ■ Wales Government has agreed to subsidise a liDe of boats to carry their mails by the American, route via the Fijis, but that colony being an older one thau our o.wn aud consequently having more experience than we can boast of, has, although its revenue is fur larger am] its de!>t considerably less than that of New Zealand, arrived at the conclusion that all its present wants can very easily be supplied by the boats wliich we have, after a trial, discarded as beim? altogether beueath our notice. Somebody has bestowed upon our little islands the high-sounding name of " The Britain oj the South," and we, with a pride that, however dignified we may think it, must appear ridiculous in the extreme to those who take au impartial view of our proceedings, and have some little knowledge of the state of our finances, are vainly endeavoring to "show that we have some right to the title, and to induce the world to believe that New Zealand is the leading colony of the Australasian proup. For a time, no doubt, everything will go smoothly, and we shall be lauded by our American cousins as beiug a most enterprising and go-ahead set of men. Every spendthrift v who has once commenced the downhill course of reckless borrowing without a thought of the unwelcome but stHl inevitable pay day, and who consequently has large sums of ready money at his disposal which obtain for him a similar amount of flattery to that which we are now receiving at the hands of the cute must have experienced the same thrill of pleasure that is now supposed to be passing through the body politic of this colony on finding that it is taking the lead in this particular matter of communication with the United States. The News of the World and other American papers contain paragraphs the most laudatory of the 1 Hon. Julius Yogel and ihe enterprising colonists whom he represents, It- matters not a single cent to them that" this young colony is already over tend and ears in debt, and that its population is the most heavily taxed on the face of the whole earth . They do not care-^atid > v why should they ? — if this subsidy. that v we have to pay to them is- one that we are utterly unable to afford, and is therefore taking us nearer to the hopeless bankruptcy that as yet only looms in the dis- 1 tance, but each day seems to take to itself a clearer and more distinct form to those who trouble themselves to look ahead. It is their business to open up communication with the Australian colonies, and if they can induce us to assist them in carrying out their views by granting to one of their shipping firms the handsome sum of £56;Q00 a-year, we may depend upon it that they will avail themselves of our folly,' while they laugh 1 , in their sleeves at those who. perpetrate IfcWe have frequ en tjyy before now expressed an opinion that if tbis AustralianAmerican line is to be opened— and we fully admifc ; itis ! "desirability -—it should have been dope, by the, whole of the colonies; acjingo: r in.fcbn'ce r *r an d tnat we should,. Jja^e. ' '**s*sss i .oursel yes with, a branch ;Jini;/^kja^!^'Eij is,, sucji f cprainunication being' carried lout (by boats <of a s: moderate size, fthe) owners of which might

hope to be remunerated to some extent by tlie trade that would thus be developed; ttut no, we, or rather our leading statesmen, have a higher ambition thau this, ami are not satisfied unless we have 2400 ton vessels, notwithstanding that they only bring less than a score of passengers, as was the case in the last trip of the Nevada, steaming into Aucklaud, and from thence cruising down the coast and showing themselves at the ports of Wellington, Lyttelton, nud Port Chalmers, albeit that a branch steamer from .Manukau is able, after calling at Taranaki, Nelson, and Picton, to arrive at W>»illjngf.on twenty- two hours in advance orlhe huge boat which a paternal Government is subsidising to take the trade out of the hands of our own local companies. The Australasian takes a plain, practical, matter-of-fact view of this question that deprives it of that roseate tint with which bur present Ministry would fain have us believe that it is colored. This is how the leading journal of the southern, hemisphere speaks of our efforts to sw-ell ourselves into conspicuous greatness : — ;t As to the subsidies, the £50,000 a year is to be voted to an American line of steamers, and will, contrary to all precedent, return ten-fold into the bosom of the subsidisers. New South Wales.Victofia, and the other Australian colonies will be obliged to^eld to the energy and enterprise of New Zealand, and, moreover, will be forced to pay through the nose to the New Zealand Government for the privilege of using the Hue. And thus New Zealand, will beconie the depot of the South Pacific. There is uo\doubt that within the next 20 years, Auckland will, if the duties are kept low, become an important port. Tta admirable harbor, its position with regard to Polynesia, and the easy access to "coal close at hand in the Bay of. Islands, are enormous advautases, if only they are properly used. We caanofc But think also that the Australian colouies have been somewhat slow to appreciate the American route. But the trade between Australia and America, if trade there is to be, will never go 1,200 miles out of the way to enrich any other country, no matter how large a subsidy may be offered to a postal line. The proper line for steamers to take is between Sydney or Melbourne and San Francisco by way of the fast-developing Fijis and the Sandwich Islands, and if the service is to be of any commercial value this is the course which it must eventually take. In the meautime.,a certain amount of political capital will have been made out of the present scheme, and that, we presume, is all thaft its promoters desire." Fifty thousand pounds more or le3S may appear of little moment to our representatives, but they really should take care not to lay us open by their actions to be thus " chaffed " by the other colonies.