The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1869.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 202, 28 August 1869, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1869.

As we stated yesterday the House of i Representatives has decided upon dis- ■ continuing the subsidies to the mail steamers both intercolonial and interprovincial upon the termination of the existing contracts. No doubt many objections will be raised to this, and fears will bo entertaiued that henceforth we shall receive our mails with great irregularity, and consequently that much inconvenience and annoyance will arise to business men. We confess, however, that we by no means sympathise with those who take this view of the matter, on the contrary we are cf opinion that the time ! has arrived when the experiment of getting our mails carried by unsubsidized steamers may be tried with great advantage to the Treasury chest and with but little inconvenience to the public at large. For some years if; has been a notorious fact that, notwithstanding the subsidy received by the Panama Company for the intercolonial service, an Australian company hare been running their boats between Melbourne and the Southern ports of New Zealand, and although they must have been at great disadvantage in competing with a subsidized line of steamers, they have continued to run and we may therefore fairly presume that the traffic proved j sufficiently remunerative without their ieceiving sny assistance from the public purse of New Zealand. We may possibly have to make up our minds not to expect the strict punctuality in the receipt of our ! English mail to which we have so long been accustomed, but this is a luxury which we may be fairly called upon to forego in the present state of our finances. No doubt it is an exceedingly pleasant thing to feel that we may, almost without fear of disappointment, look to receiving our monthly telegrams on every fourth Tuesday and our mails on the following Friday, but if by denying ourselves this luxury we can save some thousands a year, which may be expended in a far more profitable manner, there are, we should think, few amongst us who would be disposed to grumble even if the mails were a few days behind their time. But it by no means follows that the steamers conveying the intercolonial mails will alter their times of arrival and departure, because, as was stated in the House tbe other day, they will receive remuneration at the rate of a half-penny per letter which will be an inducement to them to sail punctually in order to secure a sum of money that is by no means to be despised, as the correspondence for the year is about 800,000 letters both ways. The * present intercolonial contract terminates in November next so that we shall have a fair opportunity of seeing how the new system works from that time until the session of the Assembly in the following June, and we trust that it may prove so successful that it will never again be considered necessary to dip into the public purse for subsidies for intercolonial or interprovincial mail boats.

Nelson AssEMBLiES.-^-The third Assembly Ball of the season took place at the Provincial Hall, last night, -when there was a very good attendance, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather.

. Bacheldek's Djorama. — There was a fair house last night to witness this exhibition, and we doubt not that the Hall will be crowded to-night, as it will be tbe last opportunity of seeing what all agree in considering a really excellent entertainment. Consecration of Synagogue. — The handsome little synagogue that has lately been erected in Trafalgar-square is to be consecrated to-morrow afternoon, with aIK the usual solemnities. Nelson Board of Works, — A meeting of the Board was held last night. Present, all the members. Plans were produced for forming Halifax and Brou-gham-streets, and committees appointed to ascertain the views cf the neighbouring land-owners, and whether they will be willing to bear a portion of the expense. Some other business of an unimportant nature was transacted, and the Board adjourned until Friday, September 10. Education. — On the motion of Mr. Ball the following resolution has been agreed to in the House of Eepresentatives: * That, referring to papers laid on the table of this House, relative to the state of Education iu the several provinces of j New Zealand ; in the opinion of this | House it is desirable, at the earliest possible period, to terminate the unequal distribution and lack of harmony which obtains in the administration of Educational Agencies under the independent actions of Provincial Governments, by the introduction of a comprehensive system of public schools adapted to the requirements of ] the Colony." \ Major Brown's Case, — Mr Curtis has given notice of the following motion : — " That every member of this House, without exception, is entitled to speak and vote according to his conscience ; and that the course taken by the Government in requiring Major Brown to resign the command of the forces at Taranaki or to j resign his seat in this House, on the express ground that he had given a vote against the Government, is au interference with such liberty of speech and action, is inconsistent with the free representation of the people, and is a breach of the privileges of this House." j