THE WANGANUI CHRONICLE AND RANGITIKEI MESSENGER. “Véritè sans peur.” Wanganui, May 23, 1861

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 5, Issue 236, 23 May 1861, Page 2

THE WANGANUI CHRONICLE AND RANGITIKEI MESSENGER. “Véritè sans peur.” Wanganui, May 23, 1861

We took occasion lately, to pall attention to the,, extraordinary by which. the mail comes to New Zealand, and to the condelay; in the reception of our home. news, and pointed out in how mu,ch- more,, business, like;.a manner tlm southern .provinces., of Canterbury and. Of ago managed the j r postal; communication with England. • We suggested., that the mail steamer coming to Nelson should,, take up the mails from the <Peninsulaf and, Oriental Company’s.vessels at Melbourne, instead of at Sydney as at. present, and that-it., would be worth while to pay the Coleman,, Company some bonus for such an alteration in,, their port of departure, if. the change could hot, be effected.otherwise. 'Since then the WeU,_ lington Independent, has stated, that the change . Could not be made without “ a large extra, cost,” that the Coleman Company could not ; be expected to sanction “ any. alterations .in their stipulated .route without a fair considera-. tion,” and further, that “ the General, Assembly alOiie can sanction an alteration, and authorise. whatever increased, subsidy such an alteration , may impose.” With these remarks our me-_ tropolitan contemporary dismisses the idea.'of an alteration of-the route between Australia and New Zealand, and comes down - with heavier than even “ apostolic knocks” on the shoulders of:our Postmaster. General, his offi-. cials at Nelson, and all and sundry conneetecL, with the detention of the mail there—a detention which we must .own is all the more, grievous, that it. is so much nearer our ow,a„ door, and is so;easy of prevention. _ Having lately received a copy of the Papers., lon Postal Communication laid before .the General Assembly during last, session, we find, (that so far as their details of the agreement, with the Coleman Company go, there is. nothing, to. hinder the change we have sug-.. gested. From these papers it- appears that the ports of departure,, for the intercolonial line of steamers may be altered without .the., of any solatium to the Company. In , the original contract appears the following, clause, which had. not.-been deleted last Oc-. tober. and .is hot likely tp haye begn so singe, ■W* That if during the continuance of this contract, the said commissioners shall deem it, requisite,.to alter the places . in New Zealand,; or either ..of such-colonies; from . and to which hey Majesty’s mails are to be conveyed by the contractors, the said com-. hiissioners shall be at liberty at any time or times, or, from time to time, to after the places. of / departure, and arrival, on giving a timely , notice in writing of such their intention to . the contracters the only limit to this power being, that such a change shall not necessitate. the employment of a greater number of- steam... vessels than was originally bargained for. Ifi» appears also, by another article in the agree-, ment, that this power of altering the routes', «f..the steamer may be delegated by tlie /4dmirally Commissioners to the Governor ofNew Zealand,’and that the power has been so transferred is evident from the subsequent negotiations between the New Zealand Government and the Coleman Company. These negociations-principally refer to an alteration that was proposed in April 1859, by which the Stafford ministry purposed to- give-to y the southern parts of New' Zealand the very ad-, vantage we are now contending for. The . original contract provided' for one line of steamers'-between -Sydney and; Nelson. By., this new agreement a "line was alse to be es-. tablished, between Sydney and Auckland; but if. wis,. stipulated that Melbourne might be taken as the port of- departure for the Nelson , line; A subsidy of -J66000 was to be given , for this additional communication. The Boomerang, running between,Melbourne. and/VYellington, was about to be withdrawn, and Mr. Stafford offered to the Government of Victoria the continuation, of the steam traffic between Melbourne -and Cook’s Straits, provided they would pay this subsidy of j£6ooo, the same . amount'Vs they bad been paying, but declined.; paying any longer, to the Boomerang, the inducement to transfer it to’ 1 the Intercolonial, Company being, that thereby Melbourne, instead of being-connected tfith one port, would , have direct communication with all the ports of-'NeWf Zealand; The inducement,' hoWbver, was not sufficiently great, and the'Victorian j Government did not' enter into the proposal. In October, I§6o, the' original extract, ’was i [reverted to, by which' one iinb ef steamers. v

"betweeo^Sjrilney;Cjtnd be con * tinued. It appears then Unit the Governor may at any time, by giving timely notice to the Coleman Company, change; the port of de? pgrture from Sydney .to, A/elbourne.- ~ A glance at the Time Table of, the Australian Mail services for 1861, as ••published,, in » late Gazette , will show what advantage would be derived from this change. According to this Time table an interval of four days .elapses between the arrival of. the mail steamer from Ceylon at Melbourne and its arrival at Sydney. For instance, the • mail which next comes to hand was to arrive at Me\ bourne on the 10th inst., leave Melbourne on the following,day, and arrive at Sydney on the 14th inst- The intercolonial mail steamer which brings over this mail; was to leave Sydney on .the 17th, and should arrive, at JVelson tomorrow,, the 24th. .The four .days thus spent between Melbourne and Sydney would not be ■ thejjmail; direct from Melbourne to -Nelson,; fof , the distance to be rutf is aomewhat greater, and the prevailing winds pre not so favourable. , But one day. ought to cover the delay arising from both of these circumstances, and thus tjiree days would be saved in coming, and -three days in going. Ihe gain of three days out of fifty-nine, the time allowed for .the transmission of the mail, is a matter of,so much moment, that we wonder at HQ attempt having been made to secure it. The only objection, so far as we see, that cab be urged to such an acceleration of the -mail is, that it would affect the business relations at present subsisting between Sydney and New Zealand. -.lt.would appear.that in 1860 the exports of New .Zealand produce from-the northern island and Nelson to New South f'Fales were valued at £78,356, and to Vic-

toria at £14,922, and that the imports from •' thersame colonies to these provinces were respectively £300,783 and £49,134 —the trade ' with" Victoria being thus little mrire than onesixth of that with New South Wales. Of the .traffic with Sydney A uckland. carries on threefifth s,'and as all her trade must now be carried on; with sailing- vessels, and as but a very small proportion of other exports and imports is carried in, steamers, the only difference, as respects Sydney, which the change would . make,, is iu the postal communication. We •would, have.six -days’; less, recent, intelligence .from Sydney and Queensland, and three days’ Jater intelligence from Europe, India; and the •other Australian -colonies than .we have at .... present.- There can thus be.little difficulty in deciding which is the preferable route, and it ip to be hoped that the matter may be brought under the.attention of the General Assembly . .9$ an early,day, and if .the propriety of the . change be apparent, that it will be made with ... Qut delay. .... Aiter the alcove, was in type,, we yesterday afternoon- received the Wellington Independ- : zr}* of last Friday, whose leading article again v discusses the subject; and comes to the same conclusion, as is stated Qbpye. But the Independent seems still to b.e ignorant of the fact .that the Governor has power to change the port of departure, as it says there is no reason against the change, “ except the. letter of their bond entered into with the. Admiralty.’’ As we have endeavoured to, show, the contract allows of that or any similar change, provided • no additional vessels are seeded in ponse- • . guence..