FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1870.

Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 78, 8 April 1870, Page 2

FRIDA Y, APRIL 8, 1870.

The attention at present attracted by the trans- Pacific trade is deserving of the earnest consideration of our commercial circles. Commerce, like most other undertakings to which men's minds are directed, is subject to the "rush;" and although we do not generally look for hot enthusiasm from dull counting houses and musty ledgers, human nature will out, and

especially when distance lends -[enchantment to the view. Just now the Pacific is the cynosure of shippers, and it may be, perhaps, for us to realise some of the dreams that surrounded with a halo of romance the commencement of the " South Sea Bubble" of our fathers. In the trade that is Jikely to result from the present interest taken in the Pacific, it is in the highest degree advisable that we should look to our position and make good our relations. The commercial supremacy which nature evidently intended Auckland to acquire is not to be attained by a simple resting on the advantages that nature gave us. The position of Auckland should make her not merely the resting place for the steamers from the neighbouring continent, but this should be the entrepot of the trade of the Fijis, and all the neighbouring groups of the Pacific. But there is one link of communication that has been singularly neglected, and the formation of which we may regard as one of the necessary adjuncts to the San Francisco route. The people of Victoria have had the closest commercial intercourse with the Southern ports of the colony, while their trade with Auckland has been of the most roundabout and indirect character. There can be no doubt that if Auckland is really retained as the port of call, the keensighted men of Melbourne are too wise in their generation to leave this link wanting to connect them with their wide awake brethren in America. But it is in this very thing that our danger lies ; the commercial interests of Victoria are all with the Southern parts of these islands, and it would least disturb those interests if the port of call were farther South. It appears to be part of the scheme of Mr. Webb, of jN"ew York, in his projected line of steamers, to humour the prejudices of Melbourne, and no doubt with him their interests will be paramount. Is it not the interest, then, of our commercial men to seriously weigh this matter, and make more intimate our connection with Victoria by direct steam communication ? We have at present the point cVavantaqe and have something to offer. It would be in the highest degree to the interest of Melbourne to connect itself with Auckland, when we can call the San Francisco line our own ; but who can tell what complications there may be in the future, and what an influence it may have if the interests of Melbourne are thrown into the scale against us. A line of steamers laid on between Melbourne and the Waitemata direct, or perhaps with the Manukau, and a short auxiliary railway to the city, might do more than anything else, to finally settle the question of the port of call, and establish Auckland's permanent commercial supremacy.