THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1880.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3534, 23 April 1880, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1880.

There is something wrong in the telegraphic communication between Grahams- 1 town and Auckland. A friend of ours had occasion to telegraph to Auckland yesterday morning, for the purpose of getting two men down by theEotomahana. Accordingly, he sent off a telegram at eight o'clock precisely. The Rotomahana sailed at 10 a.m , and at tea minutes to ten the telegram reached its destination. Fancy an electric message being an hour and fifty minutes in-going '40 miles ! why a good pony could accomplish the distance almost in the time—and Em English express would run 40 miles in under the same number of minutes. The message was sent in precisely at eight o'clock, but it was 20 minutes after, before it was wired. Here was a loss of .20 minutes. The telegram was allowed to remain at Auckland an hour, lying in the telegraph office, before being sent out. If this is the expedition with which messages are despatched by electric wire, the sooner we close the wires the better, lv a life and death matter it would be just the same. The public may feel uneasy after our friend's experience, and may think that if immediate medical help were required from Auckland, that their missives would remain lying idle for nearly half an hour before despatch^ at the^one end, and quite an hour at the other.