NEW ZEALAND MAILS.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 38, 23 February 1884, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND MAILS.

Strancu; to say the Australian papers, received per Manapouri to-day, are as much puzzled as we were in New Zealand about the meaning of the cable despatch intimating that the New Zealand mails via Brindisi had been suddenly stopped in London. A Melbourne telegram in the "Sydney Morning Herald says :— " Mr Berry, the Postmaster-General, and his officers are wimble to give any definite explanation of the telegram received from London with reference to the carriage of the New Zealand mails by the Peninsular and Oriental line. The telegram was dated the 11th instant, and stated that Mr Faucet*, the Postmaster-General, had agreed for the present to detain the New Zealand mails (unless specially addressed to go via Brindisi) until the departure of the Sim Francisco mail, in order to allow New Zealand and Victoria to come to an understanding as to the rates to be charged. It is also said that thousands of letters and newspapers were, in accordance with these arrangements, detained last Friday, instead of being sent by the P. and 0. steamer. The New Zealand Government subsidise the "Frisco line, and their mail matter forwarded by that line is, of course, carried for the subsidy ; but letters, parcels, and newspapers have also been carried for New Zealand by the P. and 0. line, for which the Victorian Government charged the New Zealand Government at rates ot 2ob per lb. for letters, Is 6d per lb. for packets, and 9d per lb. for newspapers. The only suggestion which the officials here can give as to the cause of Mr Fawcett's action is that the New Zealand Government, or their AgentGeneral in London, have heard of the new arrangements into which Victoria and New South Wales have entered for the conveyance of mails for each other, and that they desire to enter into a similar arrangement, or one which they think will be more to their advantage than that which now e\isth. Hitherto, however, neither New Zealand nor the British Government have communicated in any way with the Victorian Government for an alteration of terms ; and if any loss or inconvenience is caused through the detention of the thousands of letters and news-papers referred to, it w ill not arise from any action or fault of the Victorian Postal Department." The conditions upon which ictoiia admitted New Zealand and the other colonies to the use of the P. and 0. sen ice, was? the payment of 23s 4d per lb tor letting Is (3d per lb for packets, and fld per lb for newspapers. New Zealand has made a similar charge for the use of the San Francisco service. As the rates quoted above merely represent the equivalent* for the actual postage collected, and a* the colonial Post-otfice is only credited with about two-third? of the postage collected in London, the anangements with Victoria have entailed a considerable loss upo" the several Governments lifting the service. With a view of partly recouping this 10.-s, the postage formerly levied by way of Brindisi — viz., Sd per haltounce—has been adhered to, although reduced to (3d in Great Britain and in Victoria some three years, ago. Victoria has made various attempts to induce New Zealand and New South Wale* to reduce the postage to sixpence, hoping by that means to increase the quantity of mail matter sent that way. Both Governments, however, declined— being interested in the San Francisco service, they -were indisposed to give special encouragement to the use of the P. andO. Service, for the purpose of reducing the liability of Victor on subsidy account by increasing their own. Since New South Wales concluded its contract with the Orient Company for the conveyance of mails, long negotiations have taken place between the Postmaster- ■ Generals of the two great Australian colonies. The result is a considerable concession by Victoria on condition that the charge for letters posted in New South Wales via Brindisi shall not be more than b'd per half ounce. The terms oi the agiee ment are a& follow :—: — " New South Wales to pay Victoria on all correspondence conveyed by the P. and 0. Company outwards and homewards the following rates, viz. : Letters, 15s a lb. ; packets, Is a lb. ; newspapers, 6d a lb. ; and Victoria to pay Ne>v South Wales on a 1 correspondence outwards and homewaids transmitted by steamers of the Pacific Mail Company the same rate 1 ?. " Victoria to pay New South Wales on all correspondence conveyed by steamers of the Orient Company, outwards and homewards, the follow ing rate-, vi/.., letter-, 12a lb. ; packets, Is a lb. ; newspaper-, 6d a lb. "Victorian correspondence to be transmitted by Orient steamer only when specially marked, the New South Wales Government, of course, having the option of acting in the same way w ith regard to correspondence by the P. and 0. line, it thought advisable. " New South Wales to i educe the postage on correspondence by the P. and 0. steamer via Colombo, to the rates now chargeable by Victoria. "Division of postage with the United Kingdom to be the same by both routes, i.e., on mails despatched from the United Kingdom by the Orient Company. Victoria to be credited with the same amount that she now receives on mails despatched for that colony from Great Britain by the P. and 0. line, and New South Wales to receive the like credits on correspondence received in that colony from Great Britain by the P. and O. line.'" With regard to the use of the Orient .service by New Zealand and other colonies, the terms which the New South Wales Government have oftered are precisely the same as those paid by the contracting colony, namely, 12s per lb. for letters, Is per lb. for packets, and Cd lb for newspapers. These rates are so much more advantageous than those demanded by Victoria for the P. and O. service— namely, 25s 4d per lb for letters that New Zealand will scarcely use the P. andO. service in the future, unless the Victorian Government abate their extortionate demands. We observe that the New Zealand mail by the Orient steamer Garonne on her last trip was larger than the combined mails per the same steamer for New South Wales and Queensland. These are the circumstances under which the need for a revision of the postal services of the colonies has arisen, and though the reductions herald the time when postal subsidies will be abolished altogether, the immediate effect will, we anticipate, be the equalisation of the postage rate for letters via Brindisi, the Orient Service, and San Francisco.

The hot-water circulating plant exhibited by Mr Waite, of High-street, and for which he obtained a first prize bronze medal, has been purchased by the Tauranga Cheese Company, and started by them on Friday last in the presence of a large number of interested visitors Everything worked smoothly, without a hitch, and the plant was pronounced to be the moat simple and complete that has yet been produced in the colonies, and eminently adapted for small factories, on account of its simplicity and small working expenses.