THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out faciam." FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28TH, 1862.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 90, 28 February 1862, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out faciam." FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28TH, 1862.

;- Mr. Ckosme "Ward has arrived, and is to meet the Committee of the Chamber of Com--0 merce this morning. His mission, as we un- ?. deivtand it. is to make on behalf of the Gene- « ral Government, contracts for a twice-a-moutli c mail service between Melbourne and Otn#o, y anfl a weekly or fortnightly inter-provincial \ service. £o far the services are such as we g have fo often advocated, but Mr. Ward pro--1 poses to relieve the Province of all direct conb trol over them, and to make them on behalf of the General Government. For this purpose r he has procured authority from Canterbury to ' annul the contract which exists between that I Province and Messrs. M'Meekan, Black f wood & Co., and he now asks for a similar c [lower from the Otago Government. 1 It is well that we should lay before our 0 readers clearly the difference between the °_ arrangements which Mr. Ward proposes to 1 carry out, and those which we have so often s advocated in these columns. By Mr. Ward's V arrangement, Otago will be divested of all '\ special control over the mail service. Supj. pose he enters into specific contract for a i twice-a-month service between Melbourne ■- and Otago, and] for another service between c Otago and the other Provinces ; the power of s modifying it will always rest in the hands ol p the General Government, and in the Assembly. ". Seeing tlint or.C firm already holds two separate - contracts for the conveyance of mails to Otago. and to Canterbury, and that Mr. Ward seeks v to cancel these, it is evident he will bu ' thrown upon the same firm for the new contract he desires to enter into. Tims, we may v reasonably suppose that the same parties will I hold the contract from Melbourne to Otago, .t- and from Otago to Canterbury. Then conies the question what securitjr can possibly be a given to Otago, that, however the contract may proceed at the commencement, a modification a will not afterwards be made, by which Canterbury will be constituted the terminus of arrival and departure of-the Melbourne steamers, and' the Mails be merely landed at Otago in passing. In strict justice, if the service be r , subsidised by the General Government, CanII terbury might demand as much, as bj- it the c delivery of the Mails would be expedited. s The protracted time which the Coleman s Company's vessels occupy on the voyage, S!is due solely to the delays attending t . the stoppage at the-different ports. A servicej :- which had regard only to the swift delivery ofi mails would require to be carried out eitherj h by vessels only leaving the mails at the various! ports without stopping, or else by the mails being transhipped, on arrival at a port, to another steamer ready to start on the instant. This last may be called a special service to each place where the mails are so transhipped, in contra-distinetion to a general service which would treat each place alike. Herein lies the whole gist of the matter, does Otago require a special service, or can it be content with a general service ? We have shown what it has to expect from a general service, namely, that it will be liable at any time to have its mails merely dropped or picked up at the port, without the vessel conveying them making any stoppage. No pledge that Mr. Ward could give could afford a guarantee against this course being adopted ; on the contrary, if the purpose be only the quick forwarding of the mails, such a course would commend itself as best calculated to secure that object. But will the views of Otago be consulted by a contract.of this kind. Let us see what would be the nature of the service if Otago itself were the contracting party,—a steamer to bring on the English mails direct to Otago, immediately on their arrival at Melbourne, and one to leave Otago iv time to catch the home mails. The provincial service would radiate from this point, and in fact Otago become the port of arrival and departure of the Melbourne and English mails on the one side, and the Provincial mails on the other. The steamers would have to make a certain stay both coming and r returning, and a margin be thus afforded t to guard against accidents. Supposing; from v. some cause or another, the provincial mails I were delayed; the steamer would be at Dun- c

edin ready to start to date, and Otago would be secure of catching the home mail. The steamers would nteo be eligible for jiassengeitraffic nnd for conveyance of cargo, which they would not he supposing the General Government had the power of compelling them only to drop nnd eail tor the mails without making stoppages. Otago, then, has to decide, whether it will share in with the other Provinces in such Mail Service as the General Government chooses to provide, or whether it will keep in its own hands the power of controlling the service according to its wants. As we have seiil before, there is no medium course. Whatever Mr. Ward's promises, his power of performance is limited. The contracts might be framed with the most liberal intentions towards Otago, but inasmuch as the General Government would be able to modify them, and Otago would have no control over them, thej' might be altered at any moment, to ttie serious injury of the Province. The power of objecting would then he utterly lost to Otago. It would not be possible to obtain another line of steamers to perform the contract, and any threat to withdraw from the payment of a share of the subsidy, supposing such threat could be carried out, would be met .with the reply": the steamers shall pas-: without leaving or taking up a mail at Otago at all. It is essential to observe that Otago whilst consulting its own benefit asks nothing that can injure the other Provinces. It simply desires a special service, but if the other Provinces are willing to go to the expense, the mails will be available for transmission without an hour's delay. Passing Southland, the steamers could drop and pick up the Mails, and if on arrival a steamer were ready to proceed north, the Mails could be transhipped without a moment's delay; and, in returning the Mails, the other Provinces could use their own discretion how close a shave they would make of it. If Canterbury desired a special service free from the contingencies that would attend a service which included other Provinces besides its own, all it would have to do would be to have a steamer sailing between it and Duneciin, timed to suit the dates of arrival and departure of the Melbourne steamers at and from Otago. The same can be said of Wellington and Nelson, and indeed there can be no question that sooner or later each] Province will desire a special service, and will not submit to the delays of a coasting steamer putting in at every port. By the plan we propose, before many months., Wellington, A'elson, and Canterbury would each have its direct steamers to Otago, and so place itself in direct communication with England. It wonld simply be a question of the size of the steamers; the trade between each of the Provinces we have mentioned and Otago, would pay a steamer of one size or another, and the mail subsidy would not require to be heavy. Otago would thus become the Depot of the Colony, in direct communication with eacii of the other Provinces. Giving Mr. Ward credit for excellent inten-l tions there is something very curious in his coining down just at the eleventh hour, and seeking to take out of the hands of the Province the contract which it was on the eve of making. By next steamer one of the contractors was to visit Otago, and the Provincial Government was about to make .1 contract which would secure on a proper footing the bringing down and returning the English Mail. A petition signed by almost every Merchant in town advocated this course. The Chamber of Commerce lias by a direct "vote affirmed the advantage of pursuing it, and the impolicy of handing over the matter to the General Government. What more can Mr. Ward require than that the Province will provide steamers to bring on the mails, and to return them ? Can he contemplate the scandal of bidding on behalf of the General Government against the Provincial Government for a bargain which the latter had more than half secured? Can he seriously suppose that Otago would give him the plenary powers he has obtained at Canterbury, and that he will be allowed to go to Melbourne, as representative of each of the Provinces and of the General Government, aud enter into a contract which will deprive Otago of all voice in a matter which, more than any other, concerns it? No one should ask to represent conflicting interests, and the interests with which Mr. Ward seeks to charge himself are conflicting. It is for Otago's interest to be made the port of arrival and departure, audit is for Canterbury's interest to be the same. If Mr. Ward is "really sincere in meaning Otago to become the port of arrival aud departure, why should he object to allowing the- Province to enter into the'eontract ? Any hints he could give calculated to increase its stringency would be gladly listened to. We believe there are many who will be tempted by Mr. Ward's oifer to relieve the Province of the expenses of the Mail Service; but we are glad to observe that the leading merchants, as represented by the Chamber of Commerce, are not amongst the number. If the service would cost £-25,000 per annum—whereas it will not cost, we believe, more than a third of that sum—it would be cheaply purchased. Once make Dunedin the port of arrival and departure of the English mail, and every Province of New Zealand will, as soon as it can afford it, have a direct steamer to Dunedin. Canterbury, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Napier, and even Auckland, v>-ill vie with each other in their traffic with Otago, to endeavor to secure, not only communication 'with England, but a portion of the stream of •'immigration which will flow direct to Otago from the home country. Witheach of theprovinces a direct trade will spring up. Otago will receive produce and ship it home direct to England, and in exchange will supply goods to procure which it will indubitably be the best market in New Zealand, We are not indulging in chimerical visions. Perhaps at first, two or three of the Provinces will join together in one steamer to Duuedin; but as time wears on, and each progresses, the slow coasting voyages wi!Lbeabandoned,and eachProvinceplaceitself indirectcominunicationwithOtago. Air.Ward comes down to repeat the coasting mail service experiment northward, which has proved so unsuccessful southward. Let us advise him to turn his abilities towards encouraging each Province to have a direct communication with England via Otago and Melbourne. What St. Thomas is to the West Indies and Spanish Main, Otago must be to New Zealand. In conclusion we hope the Chamber of Commerce will prove firm to its trust, and not stultify itself by forgetting the resolution it arrived at three days ago, Mr Ward's siren proposals notwithstanding.

We are glad to observe that several of the storekeepers in town have begun to follow- the example set them some time ago by .1 few residents in Princes-street, and are laying down 11 ilnp;ged pavement in front of their respective premises. Considering the crowded state of the principal thoroughfares, it is absolutely necessary that some protection should be afforded to pedestrians by the formation of a continuous line of footpath. We observe that Mr. Thatcher, of considerabla repute as a vocalist in the Victorian mining districts, is announced to make his first appearance before the public of Dunedin, accompanied by Madame Vitelli, on the evening of Saturday next.

; TABLE Olf FEES. £ S. A. , Wholesale Spirit License 20 0 0 ' Retail Spirit License (JO 0 0 Business License .. .. 5 0 0 : Miner's Right 1 .0 0 Registering Written Agreement .. .. 010 0 ■ Registering Transfer of Claim 0 5 0 FEES IN WAUDF.s's COUKT. : £ s. d. Hearing by consent, without previous Summons, including Adjudication .. 10 0 Summons, Hearing, and Adjudication ... 110 0 Juryman's pay, per day .. 0 7 0 .Mileage i'or every mile over tan wliioli the 1 Commissioner shall travel to hear any case .. 0 2 0 All Fees to he paid in-eviously to the issue of • Licenses or Summonses, or the hearing and adjucli- , cation by the Commissioner, or the approval of Ap plications for Leases.

The -weather for some time past ]m been all f that the most fastidious could desire, excepting I perhaps the dust,- which was rather abundant i yesterday. Harvest operations are iii a very ad- - Vanced state, and as all the farmers are intent upon taking advantage of the splendid weather, utmost all the crop is down. All accounts agree in representing the crop this year as most abundant, and, owing to the absence of the high winds which usually prevail about this season, the loss of grain by stacking has been avoided. The.Molyneux coach (M'lntosh's) was capsized yesterday afternoon on its way to Dunedin. The accident occurred at a sMiug about eight miles from town. The coach was full of passengers at the time, but, fortunately, no serious damage was done except to the vehicle, the roof of which was smashed in. The passengers had to be left behind, and the disabled coach was brought on to Dunedin without further mishap, the wheels and axles.being uninjured. On Tuesday evening a lecture, on the subject of Separation, was delivered by Mr. J. G. B. Grant, in the Royal George Horse Bazaar. The lecturer ran over the usual arguments in favor of Separation, adducing the success of Victoria and Queensland as illustrations, and proposed to get up a petition to the Imperial Legislature to which 25,000 signatures might be obtained. He pro--1 posed also that the provincial divisions should be abolished. A special meeting of the Dunedin Cricket Club :is to be held this evening for the purpose of electing a committee, and transacting other business connected with the club. We understand that Messrs. Plenty's new ■ steamer the "Western" will probably bring down ; the English mails, shonld they arrive prior to the ■ return of the "Aldinga." Before the latter left 1 sho had been fitted with her engines, having ! come out from England under canvas, and was . going to make one trip to Adelaide, after which, ■if inducement ottered, she was to be put on to Otago. We should not be susprised to see her at 1 the beginning of next week.