THE NEW POSTAL CONTRACT.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 907, 3 January 1871, Page 2

THE NEW POSTAL CONTRACT.

[AUCKLAND fcVEUIXG NEWS, DECEMBER 27.1 It appears to us as though some complications are likely to out of the new postal contract of m»t a very pleasant character. Neither the Sydney n«»r the M Ibourne people are at all pleased with it, if we are to ju Ige by the latest papers thence to hand. IVy do not approve of Air M.ic.uiJrow's prop>s-i for making Port Cnalniers the la»t port of cull at this end of the line, whi"h has been adapted by his fjieud Mr Vogel, and incorporated iulo the new c mtract. What ever the superiority of the Ncilson-cuin-VVehb and Vogel liny in some respects to the Hall and \\>gel line, it seems that a great mistake has been committed in se-Jwi:;g io ignore New South Wales and Victoria altogether by it. Even with California and the whole of tile United States at our buck, we cannot afford to declare ourselves independent of those two colonies, however much we may threaten to <\o it with the mother country. If we do, uotli withstanding ail our * k big " talk, they are sure to eneck-mate us. There may have been some unneecessary delay on the part of New South Wales, a.id some unjustiliable reluctance on the part of Victoria, in contributing towards the Mall and Vogcl line. But that would probably have been much more easily removed by a little negotia lion, than by proceeding to threats. Sull the latter is a way Air Vogel has got into, ana he must, we suppose, he excused, so loll'* as lie is on the in est of the wave. His do;lies are too big for him, but no v\m hero must think of hi:.ting at thai with impunity. As neither nts arms, iiowevtr, nor those ol the Mioawbers, by whom he is surrounded, are k»ug enough »0 reach the oiher colonies, they take the lionty of speaking there- picuiy ueelj>. Hence the iud wing from the Sydney doming Herald of the 17 Lii mat.; —

" TIII3 new arrangement has been under* taken without any conference with the co-contributors, or, indeed, without theft interests being in any way studied, and, of course, this colony is thereby released from any equitable obligation for the future. In fact, New Zealand now dis* claims co-opnration and assistance. It asks for no favors and no consideration. It is content to take the sole responsibility, and to recover from the other colonies no more than it can compel them to pay. For voluntary concert is now to be substituted the domination of one colony, and helpless submission on the part of the others." With every desire to look as favorably as possible on the new contract, what answer can be given to the foregoing ? Or, as it is now settled that Mr Cowper is to go home as Colonial Agent for New South Wales by the next mail, what fair objection can there be to his seeing the authorities at Washington on his way, and requesting " that what America may do for the development of intercourse between Australia aud San Francisco should be so done as to place all the colonies on an equal footing, and so as not to establish either monopoly or preference?" If their case were ours, should we not act in a similar manner, and who could reasonably blame us for so doing ? But in what way would such a request as this be likely to be received by the authorities at Washington ? Would they en trtain it or not, iu face of the contract that has now been entered into ? Impossible to say. Yet, whether entertained or not, complications would arise out of such an application which would be sure to interfere more or less with the ♦success of the new line. If rejected, New South Wales would render no more assistance to the line than she could possibly help, She might even strike ia with Victoria for a line of her own. More unlikely things have been done, and may be done again. Even without this, the Argus, on behalf of Victoria, sees a way out of the difficulty, whieh accords with the views we expressed at the time of the publication of Mr Vogel's memorandum, qs to his having allowed himself to be overreached by Mr Neilson in the terms of, the contract. It is quite true that proposition No, 2 would best suit U 3, but it is equally true that we may be driven to the adoption of proposition No. 4, which would involve the establishment of a depot at Fiji, with two branch lines of steamers thence, one to New Zealand, and the other to Sydney or Melbourne, the terms of the contract as between the governments of New South Wales and Victoria, or either of them, and the contractors, being then matters of arrangement wholly independent of New Zealand. Li reference to this, the Argus remarks: —" This scheme will commend itself to Australians, and especially to Victorians, as the ra'st beneficial to their interests, In the first place it is the shortest, speediest, and route from Melbourne to Saa Francisco ; and in the second place, the advantages of a regular line of steamers plying between Melbuurne and Fiji must be patent to every person conversant with the fact that the industrial resources of that group of islands are being ueveloped to a great extent by Victorian capital and enterprise." Bat how would that accord with Mr V-gel's reasons for starting the Hall aud Vogel hue ? One of his chief assigned reasons, if we remember arignt, was to divert the tr a fron the Fijis, and to bring it from Honolulu direct to Auckland.