THE PORT OF CALL QUESTION.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 4001, 18 June 1870, Page 6

THE PORT OF CALL QUESTION.

T II K W K L LI N G 10 N CO .VI MI I' I 1 E. A MEi/ilXG ot this committee was held m tbe }?>lk nist., at 3 p.m., at the Ton n. Fioard Office, 15 Pearce, .Esj, bein^ in the chair. Tbe meeting was not veiy nuraei 1ously attended. The chairman read a letter from H. 8. .Harrison, Esq., of Whanganui, iu answer to "the circular sent by the Correspondence Committee, requesting his co-opera-tion in establishing an eificie.it line of steameis between Austialia and San Francisco, via Honolulu) aud Wellington. Mr. Jlanison professed linu^eU favourably inclined towards the piojeU, and pro uised to use all his influence, legislative or otherwise in suppoiL oi it. A second ietber from Mr. 'l'uiLis, Sapeuntcndent of NeLon, was read, the writer of which, without pledging himself to support all the opinions held by the Committee, said he considered the port of call for such a service ought to be i.-\ Cook Stiait. A third letter from Mr. Carrington, Supoi mtendent of Taranaki, was also read, expressing n opinion that steam communication w ith California was dejnablc. A reply to Mr. Vogel's letter to the cliauman was agieed upon. The icply was to the effect That a copy of the resolution or the committee, parsed ou the 2nd June, liad been sent to Mr. Vogel, not for the pai-pose of provoking di w xa r ision, Imt simply a"3 a matter of courteoy. The letter also slated that, in using the m ord " impracticable' 1 m lefeience to Mr. Vogel's proposal to run the mail steamer from Auckland to Port Chalmers, it was not the intention of the committee to lefer to the cnpibil'tios of the port of Otago or any other lurbour. A vote of thanks to the Melbourne delegates was passed, and it was intimated that a public meeting would be shortly c\llcd, in order that the committee might inform the people of Wellington of their piocecdm^b, and to which it was pioposed to invite the Wellington members of the House of Representatives.

A SNEER AT AUCKLAND'S APATHY. When 13 the deputation on the porb-of call question gouig to Sydney ? is a question which is jusfc no>v in everybody's mouth. Will our mercantile men, by their extia oidinaty apathy, suffer the advantages of the port of call to slip out of our gtasp? Even the V/ellington Post has a sneer at us, for we find the; i olio wing paragraph in that paper of the 7th : -"It is not likely, however, that they will muster 'pluck* enough among them to send a deputation to Australia ; the gr-at affair will end in talk, as they have been so long in the habit of having everything done for them that they have no idea of helping themselves."

THE POSITION OP VICTOBIA. Speaking of the reception given to Mr. Collie and the Wellington delegates at Melbourne, the Post says. — "There are conflicting inteiests m Vu-tona as veil as cvoiywhere else, and some of these mteiests aie in opposition to the scheme we are to anxious to favour. The Pi evident of the Chamber of Commerce is one ot the pi o pi ic tors ot the line of steameis now running between New Zealand iiiid Melbourne, and would of course warmly support the San Fiancisco line if Wellington were made the tei minus, and the mtei colonial trade fell into the hands of his company ; but this would neither suit us nor Mr. Webb : the line muit have an Australian terminus if ibis to piovo a success. It is evident that nothing definite will ba done in the matter in Victona until the confeience, which will take place in about a month, has met."

WILL VICTORIA AND NEW SOUTH WALES UJSTIIE? It is jusfc possible that Melbourne and Sydney may agree to sink then- inutii.il jealousies over tins question, in oidei that, by uniting their stiength, they may secure a ranul and efficient service between San Fiancisco and Australia. ;In the event of tluir doing so, rh"y would be ceitam to leave New Zealand out of then calculations altogether, or to count upon it only fur such contribution as would be denved iiom a pio rata charge on the carnage of its mails. If Sydney and Melbourne unite, the boats would mil fiora San Fiaucisco to Melbourne, calling at the F-ijis and Sydney. Melbourne would thus become the Australian terminus of the new line, judt as Sydney is now the termiuus of the Suez line. II will be asked what cour-,e New Zealand ought to puisue in the event of Melbourne and Sydney vniting in tlie manner we have suggested. Two services between San Francisco and Australia caunofc, it is clear, be maintained, and the uu on of Sydney and Melbnunt! will ceitamly imply the establishment of a lii >t - class line of steanieis against which no other could hope to contend. JJoth Melbourne and Sydney are interested m the Fijis, and they would in all probability insist on the steamers calling there, so that New Zealand Las small chance of being considered in any arrangement they nngiit makj. But Sydney and Melbourne may not unite. Both may be obstinate on the question ot the terminus, an i Melbourne may even object to the boats calling first at Sydney. This is, ot course, possible, and in some respects probab e. We think, however, that the chances arc 1.1 favour of a union, and thit New Zealand will have to content hei jolf with a bianc'i s>ei vica either from Sydney or Melbourne, as may be found most convenient;. A Wi llmgLou paper says that a modification of the scheme proposed by Mr Collie had been favou.abl} spoken of iu Melbourne, and mentioned in the Chamber nt Commerce theie Acc-oiding to this plan, Wellington would become the terminus of the ime, and Austialia w oulcl be connected by biauch boats. Tnis pioposal seems absurd in the extreme, when we beai in mind the relative position of the colonies, and the anxiety always manifested by Victoria to have Melbourne recogni&ed as the commeicial centre of the whole group. Besides, if Victoria will he content with a branch service fiom Welling' on or any other New Zealand port, it follows as a matter of course that New Zealand will havetobeeome responsible for the whole of the subsidy No dehnite conclusion cau be arrived at till we know how Mr, (Jolliw's proposals have been received by the Government of Victoria. This colony cannot, many case, afford to indulge in " big " schemes. It is high time to recognise the absolute necessity of cutting our coat according to our cloth. * # *■ Amid these distracting elements, might it not be the wisest, simplest, and most economical course for New Zealand to allow these rich and powerful colonica to carry out the service in their own way and at their own cost, and be content with coiincctina; itself at the terminus, as it now does in the case of the Suez service 1 — Lutiellon Times. \

WELLINGTON'S JEALOUSY AROUSED. The same paper of the 4th says: — "The selection of Auckland has raised, as a matter of course, the deep-seated jealousy of Wellington. The 'Empire City,' havm« tasted for a short time the sweets of the IPanaina service, and having well nigh collapse 1 since that liberal but unwise company retired from the field, has resolutely determined not o let the_ golden opportunity of securing • nother such chance slip through its finders* Actuated by these patriotic and disinterested views, the merchant princes, the shopkeepers, and beach-combers ol the Jiimpne City uavb assembled, and, th'ough their Chamber o* Commerce, memorialised the Government, and otherwise taken all proper step? to secure to Wellington the privileges belonging o a port of call. "

THE COLON rAL CONFERENCE. Mr. Fitzherbert, in his letter to the Wellington Committee says: — "My opinion is tbat much ■will depend on the selection of a delegate from New Zealand to the Colonial Conference, which is to assemble here in about sis weeks' time. Mr. Colde Ins wisely determined to wait till then."

Isaac Pliinnv r, of Wellington, rcakei applicatioa for letters ascnt tor inveu'iiig a new method of dressing and pre^arin^ phormlum tenax, or New Zealand flax, "by means of smooth rollers working horizontally, the flax passing laterally between them." It is also intended to secure, and make available $qt me, the piuu e.^u^'d twm tb© fibre,