The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, JULY 4, 1863.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XX, Issue 1111, 4 July 1863, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, JULY 4, 1863.

We have succeeded, at last, in getting a detailed account of the various delays between the arrival and the issue of an English Mail in this province. We have for some time been anxious to get such a history ; —for it is evident that if the department has not the means at its disposal of reforming itself, the public must take the matter up and give it a helping hand. If we must ask questions —impertinent questions perhaps—it is not, we can assure the Postmaster, in order to " blind the public." So far from wishing to " throw an undue amount of censure on the staff" at Christchurch, we have often given that overworked staff credit for its exertions, and we have great pleasure in stating again our belief that Mr. LeCren and his assistants do their utmost to convenience the public. Indeed we had some idea that to find out the obstructives we must go to head-quarters at Auckland, but the letter from Mr. Wright, which will be found in another column, shows that he is satisfied with existing arrangements. Such satisfaction is unfortunate, but it obviates the necessity of the visit to Auckland.

In considering the question of mail delivery, the position of the colony must be first taken into account. A young and very wealthy community, whose progress and importance in a great measure depend on its rapid communication with the outer world, has determined to spend large sums annually to promote a good and regular postal service. Neither the Assembly or the Provincial Councils have ever grudged any votes which tended to improve this service, and thousands of pounds have been expended—sometimes needlessly—to subsidise steamers for the carriage of the mails. "Whatever mistakes Government may have made, the public has unmistakably shown its determination to spare no expense, if time can be saved in the carriage of our foreign mails. Under the circumstances of the colony this was natural enough, and the feeling of the people on the subject is one common to all enterprising races. Lest we should be tempted to forget that the Lyttelton Post-office is not St. Martin's- le-Grand, Mr. Wright has been good enough to give us some interesting statistics. They show very clearly how important the rapid and regular delivery of the mails must be in a country where the correspondence is so much larger, in proportion to the population, than it is in England. They suggest further that a people rich enough and busy enough for such a correspondence will insist on having the best postal service they can obtain. It may also be presumed that such a people will be intelligent enough to resent petty economies in important details, while their money is lavished on large steam contracts, good, bad, and indifferent.

Assuming that a small expenditure must not stand in the way of our receiving our letters and newspapers as soon after they arrive in Lyttelton as possible, let us see what are the arrangements which satisfy the Chief Postmaster at Lyttelton. At 9i a.m. the mail steamer came round Officers' Point, and the boats immediately put off to her. There is an old story of a poor Irish gentleman, whose formula for ordering out an old jaunting car for visitors was —"John, send round the carriages." It is not long since one boat —the harbor boat —used to go backwards and forwards, bringing as much of the mail ashore at each trip

as could be managed. But Mr. Wright says boats, so we suppose this is clanged. Still, it is difficult to imagine why it should have taken one hour and a quarter to get the boxes to the Post-office, Lyttelton, and three ; hours more to " discover " the letter boxes ; and to convey them to Christehurch. We are sure that the Postmaster used all personal diligence. This is not the point. It does not in the least matter what the mails weighed, or how many boxes there were. This is a question of more horses or more :

hands. We don't presume to suggest the manner in which the mails should be brought ashore or sent over the hill, but we have good authority for believing that they might have been got ashore at any rate by 10 a.m., and put down at the Post-office at Christchurch by noon. Of course this expedition would cost a few pounds.

But the Postmaster's complacency about the newspaper delivery is most puzzling. After all, the delivery of the letters is only a question of hours, the newspapers are a question of a day's difference of date. It appears that the newspapers are conveyed by the Sumner road in two carts, which are five hours on the road! The distance is eleven miles, and although the road is, in places, not a good one, spring carts with two horses do the distance with great case in a couple of hours. A decent fishing village ought not to tolerate such a mail service as one by carts at the rate of two miles and a fraction per hour. And yet Mr. Wright tells us, in all simplicity, that " from this" he thinks " it very improbable that newspapers will be delivered in Christehurch on the day of arrival of the English mail, until the opening of the railroad." It is a pity he thinks so, as the public hopes for his assistance in obtaining improvements. But it is not an " impossibility." If spring carts with two horses were ready to start at once with the Christchurch boxes, they might be put down at the Post-office, Christchurch, newspapers and all, within three hours from the arrival of the mail at the Post-office, Lyttelton. The argument of Mr. Wright as to size and weights of the mails, if it means anything, tends to prove that if the mail only consisted of 10 letters it would be delivered with all despatch, but that if there are 10,000 we must be patient and allow for " impediments." It strikes us that the larger the mails become, the more necessary it must be to discover and remove impediments. We trust that the mail will increase every month in size and weight, but it is to be hoped sincerely that we shall not have to wait longer for it on every occasion. It is not a very pleasant thing to be always applying to headquarters, representing increased wants and asking for increased expenditure, but the Postmaster of a thriving province must make up his mind that this must be his normal occupation. It is whispered that it is unpleasant and hard work. We shall be happy, on the part of- the public, to assist the local authorities in urging our necessities upon those at head-quarters ; but we must take leave to remind Mr. Wright that before he can' take a clear view of these necessities he must divest his mind of the hallucination that it is the interest of a newspaper, or that it is possible to " blind the public " on the subject of one of its greatest grievances.

"We have received something like complaints both from England and different parts of the Colony, that obstacles are put in the way of the transference of the shares of the Bank of New Zealand from the Colony to England. "We venture to call the attention of the Directors to what we believe to be a mistaken policy. The price of the shares in England being much higher than in the Colony, the ordinary result would be to enlarge the English register at the expense of the Colonial. We do not know if any legal obstacle exists to this being done, which in effect simply means that a shareholder may part with his shares to whom he pleases. If such a hindrance exists, the sooner it is removed the better will it be for the Bank as well as the shareholders. It is an exploded fallacy to suppose that the Colony will be benefitted by retaining within it the profits made by the Bank. On the contrary, both the Bank and the Colony will be strengthened and benefitted by the opposite course ; the one will have its share register enlarged, and the other will receive an addition to its capital from foreign sources. On the subject of Banking enterprises, promoted either in England or in the Colony, and to be taken up in both countries, a rather serious question arises of the construction to be put upon the " limited liability " or " companies " acts, in force in one or the other country. In the first place, is a Bank—for instance the Bank of New Zealand—incorporated by act of the Colonial Legislature under limited liability, one £ limited ' also as towards its English shareholders and clients ? For example, would the holder in England of a bill of exchange of the Bank, accepted at the English branch, and dishonored, have his action for the whole amount of his claim against any shareholder ? Or would any creditor have his action against

any one or all the English registered shareholders as not being protected by the Colonial law? Again, would a Bank 'limited' by the English law, where the shareholders are responsible fur only the amount of their shares, become in JS r e\v Zealand subject to the Colonial law where they are liable for double the amount of their shares ? These and other similar questions, arising out of a conflict of laws, must be answered before there can be full confidence and reciprocity in the dealings between the Mother Country and the Colony. .