Untitled

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4181, 14 August 1874, Page 2

If we may accept the testimony of some of the well informed correspondents of contemporaries in other Colonies, it is evident that, to make the mail service by the Californian route thoroughly efficient, some improvement will require to be effected in the management of mail conveyance across the Atlantic. On several occasions the delays which have been too readily attributed to inefficiency of the temporary service in the Pacific have been due to the slow speed at which the mails have been conveyed between the English and American ports, and for their occurrence the postal authorities at Home seem to be mainly responsible. It is asserted by the. London correspondent of the Melbourne Argus that the contractors do all they possibly can to promote the efficiency of the service, but the representations made by Messrs. Laurence, Clark, and Co. to the Post Office authorities have not met with the attention they deserve. Slow steamers, he says, still convey the mails, and unless some energetic action be taken by the Colonial Governments, or those who represent them, ho fears that the same state of things will continue. He stigmatises the system of management at St. Martin's Le Grand as one abounding with tho rule of "red tape," and urges the frequent direction of their attention to grievances as an absolute necessity in any attempt that may be made to have them redressed. Considering the large cost involved in connection with this service, and the increasing evidence which there is as to the propriety of maintaining it, it is certainly to bo regretted that tho spirit in which the work has been tindertaken has not been reciprocated at Home. There can be no excuse for the exclusive patronage of slow steamers on such a mail route as that of the Atlantic, and it is to be hoped that not only will an effort be made to maintain the Pacific service, but that the postal authorities in London will aid, instead of impeding it, as at present, by using the best means of conveyance at their command. Wellington and other cities of the Colony may well take warning, before commencing a system of sewerage, from the experience of the cities in the other Colonies which deserve to be venerated on, account" of their superior age. According to the description given by the correspondent of a Melbourne contemporary, tho oldest colonial city, Sydney, is indeed a "shocking example.'' "Every year," he'says, "makes it clear that we have spent a great deal of money to do a great deal of damage. The discharge from the sewers is not only silting up tho harbor, but causing an odour from

the foreshore at low water as pernicious to health as it is disagreeable to the senses.- Darling Harbor is almost wholly occupied by private wharves, and their owners feel the evil in two ways. In the first place, the ground is continually shoaling alongside their wharves ; and, secondly, it ia moat sickening to be on the premises at low tide." This condition of things, it appears, is commanding the attention of the Corporation, the Marine Board, and the Government; but each seems to be as responsible for some of the nuisances as the general public, and there is a growing disposition'tb institute a Metropolitan Board of Works, which might effect some good, but whose existence and action would also involve increased taxation. To be forewarned, is to be fore-armed ; and, if the Corporations of New Zealand cities situated on the sea are wise, they ought to take a • lesson from the mistake by which the citizens of Sydney have succeeded in making one of the most beautiful harbors in the world a nuisance to themselves, to say nothing of the costly curse which their system of sewerage is certain to prove to their posterity. As an illustration of the defects of the existing licensing law, the Westlaud papers quote the circumstances under which the hundreds attracted to what is known as the G-reenstone rush are now situated. There is already there assembled a considerable population of miners and those who minister to their wants; but the only licensed public-house is three miles distant. In the estimation of many, thia may be not only no deprivation to the digger, but a positive blessing, the scenes to be witnessed at a new rush, through the prevalence of drinking habits, being anything but creditable to society. The entire absence of the licensed house is, however, not without its disadvantages. It inevitably leads to sly grog-selling, if not to more open breaches of the licensing laws, and those who might, under the protection of a license, afford suitable accommodation for the transient or permanent visitor to the place, have no encouragement to do so. The consequence is that men are housed and fed in a rude, inferior style, and are much more ready to leave the locality than they wouldjbe were they able to procure a wholesome meal, or find refuge at a lire-side when their day's work is done. It is no doubt considerations such as these which have led to the introduction, in the new Bill of provisions for the ready issue of licenses in particular situations under special circumstances, and the propriety of that plan must recommend itself to everyone who has shared in the excitement, discomforts, and short commons which are the characteristics of a new rush.