THE POSTAL CONFERENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 1966, 8 April 1867, Page 3

THE POSTAL CONFERENCE.

From tlie.files of Melbourne papers brought: by the Tararua we are able to fu.niish.sqiTie.particulars of the Postal ■Conference. The Argus of March 22 .-says-;-r- ■ i The. Intercolonial • Postitl Conference has, .we -understand,: ended satisfactorily to the several'.delegates. Although it was agreed that result of th.dr deliberations should not liemade : pnblic until the 28ih inst., when jt.vyill be. published simultaneously in the ' different colonies, yet we believe we are not far. wrong, in: :stiiting that it was decided to maintaini .maii ■ communication with Europe ...by.thethree-routes, namely, Suez, Panama, ■andiTorres. Straits. The preliminary steps to permanently, carry out this arrangement will be to<■jn'emoridlise the Imperial authorities : to existing contract with the i .and 0. Company; and nt the same time to ask-the-.Jiotrie, Government to grant a moiety .of thejwhole oE ; the subsidy requisite for the .new undertaking; the other moiety to be conJributed-;. in'-i: Bgreed-to proportions by the different colonies. The delegates are sanguine' that, their unanimity and earnestness -in the: prayer of, the memorial will secure for ii more ;iittentibn than would be given to :.the. request:;of any one or two of the colonies independently of each ,oilier.-- 'The, sanction and assistance of the -Imperial Government having been obtained, the arrival and departure of the mails will be so arrariged.as to afford us all the benefits of .at-■least ■ fortnightly communication with

England. It is expected that the Torres Straits route will be of great advantage to Queensland, in indirectly helping to open up the northern portions of that vast colony. By the new arrangement on this route it is intended that the mail steamer will sail direct from Singapore, without calling at Batavia, as doing so would involve a loss of two days, Queensland undertakes to light and buoy the Straits, and ultimately to extend the telegraphic wires to Cape York. When this is done—and it is expected that two years will see its accomplishment—Australia will be placed within twelve days' telegraphic communication with England. Of course the different intercolonial Parliaments will have to endorse the doings of the delegates in Melbourne before any decided action can lie taken; but where the advantages are believed to be so obvious, it is not expected that difficulty or delay will ensue on this score. On the foMowing day, March 23, the Argus gives the following figures:— We believe we are not far wide of the mark when we state that the sum of £400,000 was the amount agreed upon by the Intercolonial Conference as a sufficient subsidy to carry out the recommendations of the delagates : and we believe we are also pretty near the truth in apportioning the moiety of the sum as follows—the other half to lie contributed by the Imperial Government:Victoria, £50,000; New South Wales, £50,000; New Zealand, £50,000 ; Queensland, £24,000; South Australia, £14,000; Tasmania, £12,000. The following article, with reference to the agreement arrived at, appears in the Argus of March 23 : If the results of the intercolonial postal conference, as announced by us yesterday, are not all that could have been de.-ired in the interests of this colony, it is at le;ist gratifying that they arc the issue of deliberations which have been conducted in a spirit which augurs well for the future of these colonies Federation has often been talked of, It is admitted that strong nations can never arise out of colonies which have a very limited ter • ritorial area ; and that if we desire to see Australia grow great and powerful, it can best be assisted by obliterating, excepting for local state purposes, the lines which separate one colony from another. But the colonies never before adopted a course of action so thoroughly federal in its character as that under which our future postal regulations with the mother country are likely to be conducted, or dealt so harmoniously with questions of interest affecting the entire group. This is but the beginning, we trust, of a movement which will ultimately unite the whole of the Australasian colonies in common bonds. It was not to be supposed that such a conference as that which recently assembled in Melbourne could do less than agree to maintain the three services in which the colonies represented were all more or less interested. It was obvious that New Zealand had ai vital a stake in the maintenance and success of the Panama line as Vicoria, Tasmania,

ami South Australia had in the Galle route; and that Queensland was not less concerned in the continuance of the Torres Straits mail; seeing that such a service was calculated to assist Iter development materially, and to open up a traffic of some importance with rich, fertile, and populous islands, with which we have at present but little commercial acquaintance, and about which, indeed, we are at best hut partially informed. It was obvious, moreover, that it is through Queensland that the southern colonies will be earliest brought into direct telegraphic communication with England ; and it has followed, almost as a matter of course, therefore, that Queensland, in consideration of the adoption of the Torres Straits route as that of one of the mail lines, consents to construct a line of telegraph to Cape York, and to light and buoy the inner passage, so that mail vessels may traverse it by night as well as by day, and so save the time now lost by anchoring at nightfall among the reefs. It is important, of course, that the shortest track practicable should be followed on this line, and therefore we are not surprised that it should have been resolved that the northern terminus should he Singapore and not Batavia. By calling at the last-named port a loss of two days, it appears, would take place—a material loss, when we know that in a few months Singapore will he in direct telegraphic communication with London, and that when Cape York is bound by the wires to Bowen we shall be within twelve days' communication with London. So long as the submarine cable between Batavia and Singapore is unserviceable, as it is at present, and while the north of Australia is not united telegraphically with Timor and Java, we may be content to prefer a direct service between Cape York and Singapore, for the sake of early possession of English news and mails. When the success of submarine cables between this continent and Singapore or Galle alters the ease, as it will before many years roll over, the arrangements can be revised, and a Batavian service will then enable us to cultivate those closer relations with the tropical islands of the lust, from trading relations with which we expect to benefit considerably. It was equally impossible for the southern colonies to refrain from recognising the value and importance of the Panama route. Especially valuable to New Zealand, we too hare a considerable interest in that service, from the manner in which it bridges the Pacific to us, in the commerce we carry on with California, Chili, and the eastsrn states of America, That trade, it is true, has been somewhat one-sided hitherto, but there are symptoms that it will not be so always, and, under the worst circumstances, as regards reciprocity, it is essential that we should have the earliest intelligence possible from countries which have been of so great service in times past in supplying our wants. It is but neighbourly to New Zealand that we should lend a hand to assist this line to establish itself, and we may he sure that the extent to which we shall use it will grow from month to month.

The three lines agreed upon not only throw a girdle round the earth, and bring us in communication, in passing, with some of the more famous places of the world, hut are the most advantageous we could adopt, both as regards rapidity of service, pleasure of travelling.and outlets for business. We may regret that a fortnightly direct service, between Melbourne and (ialle has not been determined upon. The time will come when such a service will be indispensable, and when Victoria must provide it for herself, if the sister colonies should be found unwilling to share the expenditure. The value of such a service, however, has heen so far recognised- that the departures of the steamers by the Singapore and Panama routes will be so arranged as to provide a mail as nearly fortnwhtly as possible. The expense of the whole will, we believe, be borne in fair proportion?, The Imperial Government will b< asked by the colonies jointly-and there is nothing unreasonable in the proposal —to contribute one-half of the entire subsidy, and the oilier half will be assessed according to a scale mutually agreed upon by the delegates. This scale will recognise, no doubt, the direct interest of each colony in the particular line mainly desired by it, and also the commercial value of the service rendered. The contract with the Peninsular and Oiiental Company will be terminated. It will be left open to tenderers in and beyond the colonies to make fresh offers; and if colonial steamship companies can perform the Guile and Torres b'traits services, so much the heller. The issue of the deliberations of the Conference, we repeat, cannot be regarded throughout the whole of the colonies as otherwise than satisfactory ; and as doubly so for the bond of union which it establishes between the colonies. The only source of regret is that we have paid the people of Batavia, who lately exhibited so great an anxiety for direct steam communication between their island and Australia, the poor compliment of overlooking them and their wants and offers. But the delegates could not do otherwise than they have done, and the establishment of direct steam communication between Brisbane and Singapore will at least give us roundabout connection with Batavia, and wdl not preclude the creation of a steam fleet for local service between that port and Cape York.