The Daily Southern Cross.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3045, 30 April 1867, Page 4

The Daily Southern Cross.

LTJCEO, NON TJRO. " If I have been extinguished, yet then ii?e A thooiond beaooni from tho ipark I bora."

TUESDAY, APRIL 30.

"We hold over our leading article to bring up our arrears of mail and local news.

THE PANAMA MAIL. We have been requested to publish the following, by the postal authorities :-- " The statement published a few days ago in the Daily Southern Ceoss relative to a portion of the Panama mail being brought up by the ' Wellington' was incorrect, as the whole of the mail had been previously brought to Auckland. In yesterday's paper, likewise, the incorrect statement is" made, that only a portion of the mail had been received, whereas the whole of the mail has come to hand." Now, all we can say is this, that, on two former occasions, we have received letters by this route by late arrivals from Wellington. The present mail is far from being complete, the latest date by post being the 23rd February, whereas the mail left Southampton on the 2nd March. If the Panama Company had forwarded the parcels by the New Zealand Company's boats, -the matter would not have been so transparent ; but as they stand upon their dignity, the public are forced to take note of their flagrant shortcomings. Let us give a case in point. We have seen a bill of lading of newspapers shipped by the Panama and New Zealand Company's boats for Auckland, on the 19th of January, and these have not yet come to hand, although papers by two subsequent mails have arrived. They were left in boxes at St. Thomas, and are of course valueless. The agent of the Company here says that they are not liable for damages ; that the Eoyal Mail Company are to blame; and yet they do not scruple to issue circulars, and contract, on payment of £21 per ton freight, to deliver the goods in Auckland by the earliest despatch. But should the Panama steamer arrive late in Wellington, and the first Northern steamer belong to the Wellington company, the the Panama agent will detain the parcels until the next boat. By this means the Panama mail service has become obnoxious in Auckland. Instead of being a public advantage, it has become a nuisance and a loss, and the Company have been guilty of practices which would subject any private individual to an action for breach of contract. The Company, however, being a "foreign" one, although taking the money of the colony, has neither " a body to be kicked nor a soul to be condemned," and therefore may pocket the public money and laugh at us with impunity. The crisis in colonial politics is, however, approaching, when either the South must pay the entire subsidy, or discontinue it altogether.