THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE MAIL SERVICES.

Press, Volume XXX, Issue 4098, 14 September 1878, Page 5

THE HOME GOVERNMENT AND THE MAIL SERVICES.

C" Sydney Morning fferald."J The proposition of the British Government to retain half the postages on Australian: letters after the close of the present year i* scarcely in keeping with the policy which ham been for some time coming into favor in th» Colonial Office, whichever political party msjr have been in power. That policy ia t» strengthen the ties between the mother country and her colonies and dependencies, and bind the whole together as one groat Empire. Disconnected and apathetic toward* each other, they may bo a source of mntual weakness 5 inspired by a common patriotism and by unity of action in all things possible* they will be a source of mutual strength. A. common postal service is one of thoee thing* in respect to which union is possible, and sura to be mutually beneficial if basnd on an. equitable foundation. Even foreign nation* are beginning to understand the value o£ entering into postal conventions with each, other, and it would be singular if Great Britain should throw her oolonies overboard just when they are becoming a most important portion of the Empire. If these colonies were obtaining, nnder tho existing arrangements, an advantage at the expense of the mother country, with nothing on the other side to balance the account,, there might be some reason for the demand for half the postage*, although even in that case the ohango ought not to be made before , the expirution of existing contracts. But that is not the state of the case, as a little attention to focts will render apparent According to official statements Great Britain spent for the year ending on the Slet of March, 1877, £4,010,107 on the Post Ofßce, including; £850,880 on account of all the packet services ; and for this expenditure she receive*! a net revenite of £6)007,939. That gives her a clear profit of two millions sterling; aTailable for the red notion of taxation, if she cared so to apply it. Her telegraph service also yielded a profit, though of muoh smaller dimensions; the income being £1,298,558, and the expenditure '£1,141,000. But her Australasian colonies arc in a very different position. A population of two and a hulf millions has covered a continent of three million square miles and its adjacent islands yritfe the means of postal and telegraphic communication. For the present year* we estimate their combined expenditure for the purpose at not less than £1,500,000, including both, the inland and foreign mails. For this expenditure they cannot receive, if the existing; arrangements are continued, an aggregate revenue of more than a million sterling, tmtiL that will leave them a loss of half a million to make good from some other source, instead o£ a! surplus proportioned to the two millions a£ the United Kingdom. Iβ it worthy of the mother country to higgle about half the postages on her correspondence with us, with, such a disparity between the two postal systems P , ,

After all, it may be that the British Government hare made their proposition merely as a protest against the extravagant jealousies of the colonies. Our three ocean mail earvices may be all useful, but they -would nofc have been established when they were but for , the dispute about the P. and 0. contract. Ifc was because she despaired; of united aotioa. that England at last consented to deliver and ; receive the mails at O-allo, Singapore, and Sam Francisco. Now she seems to be saving ia. effect, "If you can afford to spend two hundred thousand pounds ou separate mail ear- ' vices when a hundred thousand, if yob. couM only agree, would serve you as well, you caa afford to pay ue half the postage on our correspondence with you, and we dp not Wish ts». waste thirty thousand a year in feeding youjr, absurd and paltry local jealousies." It must be confessed that the course of pur postal, negotiations hitherto gives point to this censure, which may be supposed to be implied in. the action of the Colonial Ofllcs. Bat it imnot the happiest way of winning back the colonies to a good understanding with eadbt other, end of attaching them more oloiely 'to.. the mother country. It looks too much like ■; an attempt to drive a hard bargain with them,, and that at a time .when two or three of then*, have their hands tied by contracts which they have too high a sense of honor to repudiate, and which they entered into on the strength. : of England's promise of co-operation up to the point where the branch serrioee termina6«v If it be thought that the colonioa er» able and ought to contribute something, towards the general defence of the Empire, that, is another question, and seises../ the still wider question of the connection of. taxation with representation wherever oonstitutional Government exists. A federation of. the different States of the Empire may come in time; but, it oannotbe f preed : bj a» stratagem, and least of all when that etratoe gem bears some resemblance to repudiation. The postal arrangements now in force shonldL ; be preserved during the currency of existing contracts, and for the future, perhaps it is note too soon for the mother country to enter into negotiations so as to secure for her self and bee* colonies the greatest mutual benefit at tfaa . least expenso. , ..■; : '"U»iass3^