THE POSTAL SERVICE.

Southland Times, Volume VII, Issue 6, 6 July 1866, Page 2

THE POSTAL SERVICE.

(From the Weekly Age.) The notification by the New South Wales G-overmnent of an intention to discontinue their contributions to the mail service via Galle should not be construed into an unfriendly act. Our neighbors have now an overland postal system of their own. Short as the distance from Melbourne to Sydney is, it is nevertheless sufficient to make one colony choose the Isthmus of Darien as a crossing place, and the other the Isthmus of Suez. Both routes we believe necessary for the development of our commercial relations with other countries. Since the contract was originally entered into with the P. and O. Company, the relation of the Australasian colonies to each other has materially changed. New Zealand has now an importance which it formerly had not ; and the Sydney people are naturally desirous of making their communications with that dependency as complete as possible. New Zealand, too, may well complain of the dilatory and uncertain passage of the European mails via Melbourne. It is, •therefore, not surprising that New South Wales and New Zealand should be found joining in a mail service which, efficiently carried out, cannot be other than advantageous to both. But it could not be expected that Victoria would join in the scheme. Obviously it is cmadvantage that Melbourne should be the port of departure, and that direct and frequent communication with India and the Mauritius should be maintained. As long as we could compel New South Wales to contribute to the service via Suez, we were justified in securing all the advantages which accrued to us ; but we must not complain if New South Wales sets up an independent line for herself. She is not bound to consult our convenience, inasmuch as we decline to assist her project. That the Panama route possesses many advantages is undeniable. In the first place, communication will be established with the islands of the South Seas. In time to come those islands will contribute largely to the commerce of the Southern Pacific, and something to the wealth of the Australian Colonies. Secondly, a mail service via Panama will open easy communication with California and the Republics of " Chili and Peru. And lastly, the route is very much the be3t for passengers. To this latter consideration the contracting company cannot give too much attention. The accommodation on board the P. and O. steamers ia notoriously inadequate. At Galle, Australian passengers are bundled into a vessel where the best of the scanty stowage room is already monopolised, thereby increasing the horrors of the Ked Sea passage. From Australia to Panama is a pleasant voyage. Although nearly the whole way within tropical latitudes, the heat is never excessive. There will be no jostling nor overcrowding, and Australians will not be treated as they are in the Indian boats, with affected contempt. As a means of speedy communication with Europe, the value of the Panama route is very great ; that is if the company take proper steps to render it popular. We notice that the passage money to England is considerably less via Panama than via Suez ; and there is this very great advantage, that Australian tourists will be enabled, ii they choose, to join the American steamer, and so, at little additional cost, make their way to England via the United States or Canada. So much for the postal service to which New South Wales is committed. We heartily wish it every success. Turning to our own relations with the P. and O. Company, they are anything but satisfactory. The statement by Capt. Black, that a ten years' contract would lead to the constructien of a. class of steamers better adapted to the trade, is simply an admission that the service hitherto has been inefficiently conducted. The P. and 0. Company can have no excuse for their neglect. Hitherto they have had a monopoly of the communication with Europe via Suez, and they have made enormous profits. The maintenance of- the Suez route and an adherence to the P. 0. Company are widely different matters. We have yet to learn that other companies are unwilling to enter on a profitable trade demanding no very great resources. Now that New South Wales and South Australia have resolved to relinquish their interest in the contract, it will be necessary to reconsider ours. South Australia has not the justification of New South Wales. Were it not for the favor of the other colonies, she would have no steam postal communication with Europe at all, and therefore should not have so pertly embarrassed Victorian arrangements. * We grant that South Australia has ground of complaint because the steamers do not call at Kangaroo Island, and we know Gf no satisfactory explanation why that eon cession was not insisted on. The defection of the neighboring colonies will leave Victoria- responsible for the subsidy to whatever company undertakes the service to Galle. It is better so, because South Australia will not be in a position to .embarrass arrangements beneficial to herself, but which she traits contemptuously. If Victoria and New South Wales Lave each a postal service, the inferior colonies must take | what they can get. The Torres Straits service ol" Queensland is of questionable utility, and probably that dependency will join with New South Wales. Tasmania is content to adhere to Victoria; and South Australia, as we have said, must either take what is oftered or go without.