The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1876.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 36, 8 February 1876, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1876.

The eccentricities of the San Francisco mail steamers have been co numerous and so varied of late that the f arrival of a steamer when it was not • expected, or the • non-arrival of one when it was due, have come to be regarded rather as matters of course than; exceptional cases. However, nothing^ has "previously occurred: to equal the present; stats of affairs, the mail which should have arrived last Sunday week being still missing. The loss and inconvenience thus occasioned, especially to the larger and more busy commercial communities can scarcely be appreciated,' and if anything was required to render this service unpopular it has been supplied'in this ; failure of the contractors to carry put their agreement.; So. unsatisfactory has been the service since its commencement that it is not to be wondered at that a murmur of discontent is to be heard throughout the length and breadth of the colony at what up to the; present moment has been a; costly failure, Costly on- account of the subsidy paid, almost more costly from the business, losses that must be occa- . sioned *by its irregularity. The Grenada;;' '. it is to be presumed, has. gone on to Sydney, leaving New Zealand to get its . mails as best it may. Should the ! .libernia and Edinburgh meet with favorable weather for laying the cable, their arrival here may be. looked for ere very long. It would be rather amusing] if the first message telegraphed to these shores should convey the news that our mails, which should have been here ten days ago, are snugly stowed away in 'the Sydney office.