STEAM NAVIGATION WITH AUSTRALIA. (From the Daily News, October 5. )

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 286, 24 February 1849, Page 8

STEAM NAVIGATION WITH AUSTRALIA. (From the Daily News, October 5. )

The beginnine: of Ihn yeai 18 10, which is now fast Approaching, will bo distinguished in the histoiy (if this couutiy as the period when a strnm communication by way of India and E^ypf w<is est ibliahed he tween Git"\t UiiUiin and our .ast colonies in Australasia. For some months past powerful and well appointed steamers have been leaving Southampton Water, and wending their way to the Indian Oocean, prepared to convey, or to supply the place of those which may be appointed to convoy, mails between Singapore ard New South Wales. The gradual progress and extension of steam navigation in the East, from Egypt to India, and from India to China, almost prevent u 3 fiom estimating the magnificent enterprise which is now about to be completed. In five weeks' time the government will have entered into contract, piobably with one single steam navigation company, for the conveyance of mails eastward for upwards of twelve thousand miles. Vny shortly a letter posted in England will bo deliveicJ iv about two months afletwuuls at the antipodes. The ends of the earth may t hen be sniil to bo united, anil the most dis(an! coundic-i Lnown or dieamt of by tSic ancient world will only he as icstin<y places for iiaveilers dining u lapid iliglit iiround the globe. When 1 lie evtcnt and unii vailed fertility of Australia ib considered, as well as the suitability of its climate for En ;lHitnen, and the almost exclusive possession by the English nation, one enmot avoid locking to that country mainly for relief from the ovei whelming increase of our population. The establishment theiefore, of a rapid postal communication beiviu-ii Die tvo count) ich iana n matter of primary and iinmPiisni.iMo impoitanco, and when accomplished, must be attended with biMtfic-ial lesults. It is the w.int of this, in a gsedl nie.isuie, that has liitherto limited tlio number o! migrants to Australia, and con « fined emigration to those colonies, in a con-sideiable tl'"iec, to the lowed poition of the working classes. Hitherto, the long and inegulnr period occupied in the transmission of coisvgpotulence between this country aid our most distant po -sessions, has discouraged those from cmiifrafnij whose affections hnvc not been hlun'cd by w ,nt or poverty. They have known that they would be peipclu.illy harnisscd by fear and anxiety nbout fueruLs mid relatives from whom they weie scpawited. But w 1 en a postal communication, rapid, frequent, and ic»nl.ir, is established, distance from friends will not be to sovtiely ft It. The pooiest classes also, finding those above their own rank wuotn thej have known iif this country dispoicd to emigrate, and to whom tluy could look up to in a distant land lor either employment, assistance, or protection, wilt be less, unwilling than they now are to leave a place, where both food and labour are scarce, for a spot whrre they aie abundant. Persons of rank, wealth, and influence, will shortly be enabled to viiitour most distant colonies, and contiibute also in some degree to lessen the dislike of emigration. The comforts and luxuries enjoyed on board large and well appointed steamers induce wealthy individuals to extend their travels, and in a short time hence persons possessed of m;ney and leibiiie will be able to pass by the shoies of India and China to view the wonders of another hemibpheie, without consuming more time or experiencing gieater inconvenience than used to be occupied and felt in a summer cruize to the Mediterranean. In a few weeks two lines of steam navigation will be found branching- off eat»t and west from this country. The one to the oast will, by means of n branch steamer fiom Sydney, extend from Southampton to New Zealand, and the other to the west, extending also from Southampton, through the Mexican Gulf to the bor ders of the Pacific Ocean ; and at no distant day pet haps an ocean pathway w 11 be farmed which will extend aiound the globe, and be on'y broken by the Isthmus or Suez, and that of Panama. It is consolatory to reiljct that, while other nations ire fighting for social existence, and preventing ao excess of population by (ratucidal war, we aie bridging Dvertlie immensity of the ocean to encourage clamorous and discontented multitudes to fly to a land of sxuberant plenty ; and that, ins cad of slaughtering men at the bairicudes, we aie enabling them to buildup a mighty empire in a distant land, ia which taey can enjoy every political and social blessing.

Tub Colonial Penny Postage.— lf the Government of Great Britain were capable ot doing anything, however insignificant, in a bold, energetic, and busi-nesb-hke manner, we might expect them to extend the blessings of the penny postage to the whole ot our colonus. At piesent a letter i-> cametl from the Land's End to John o'Gioata lur Id., but the cost of sending a letter to Canada or Australia is Is. or Is. 2d. Now) to the people oi'this country, who have become familiar with the benefits derived from Rowland Hill's admira^ ble scheme, and who have heard ministeis profess that the colonies arc entitled to all the privileges enjoyed by the mother countij, this cannot but appear a piece ol m-mstious injus'icd. We talk of measures lor thrc encouiugeiuenl ol emigration, but what measure could any one propose, which, at so sin ill n cost, would tend so much to promote emigration as the extension of the [Kiiny pos as,<' bystem to the colonies? At present, a newsji'pcr fro'n Canada or Australia c sti notlmi"- for positive, while a L'tler from cither of those two places costs Is. 2d. What inconsistency is there at'ie ! We do not object to the free postage ol colonial newspaper;, but if (hey can be canied for nothing, suiely lelteis might be biought from our most distant posbessions for Id. tr 2d. each. What a boon would this be to thousands of poor relatives left behind iv "the old countrj " by adventurous emigrants, who have gone to •♦ pu3li Iheir foitun s' 1 in the wilds of North America, or in the Australian bush ! Under the prcent system the cost of a letter is a heavy tax, the buiden of which has, no doubf, led to a breach of intercourse m thousands of instances where a kindly correspondence would have been maintained, but for it» excessive cost,— Mtmc/iestcr Examiner. A BItAHMIN'S NoiIONS OF ENGLAND AND THH li.\si India Company.— On one occasi u a Brahmin, who had long resided in Bangaloie, asked me to give him some account of En»l.uid. Before do.ng so 1 iequued bun to tell me first what he had heard. He .said, •' The, common belief among us is, that when you get beyond the cen, you find London]) atom (Loudon eilv) ; and that ono city ib the whole ot England. It has eighteen stieels: each street io inhabited by one caste ; each caste k distmgmahed from the other hy a peculiiir head-dress ; and over all these is the kms-durray ! ' Though the woid " company" is constantly on their li|>a, as designating the powei by which they aie ruled, searc-ely any of them, beyond the limits of the I'tbsidencie.s, has tbc least idea of its meaning. Whethiu it be man, noinan, or child, a country, king, or a,! my, they cannot all ; and veiy icw of tne millions who bow before thai potent nnme are aware that it dcnoli'6 a liaudlul of peaceful merchants. Many in the neighbourhood of English bettlemeuts aie said to be luuioi th« impression that the compnuy is au old wo.nau, who neter dies; but this is very likely to liiwe oii^m.icil with sonic wag among out uwu couri. uywiu—J Mmion to Mt/corc.