OTAGO.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXII, 8 August 1863, Page 3

OTAGO.

[from oub own cokbbspokdknt.j Dcnedin, July 23. The English mail did not arrive uutil to-day, tho Alliarabra not having left Melbourne until the 17th, although the muil arrived there on tiie 15th. Apropos of the mail service, a scheme has been proposed by the Daily Times, which, now that it ia known the Panama. scheme is knocked on tho head, appears to p"rovide the-best substitute for it. This is no less than to employ the Aldinga in a direct service between Otago and King George's sound, via Hobart Town;- The Daily Time* makes the following remarks : ' ' * "The Aldinga with the greatest ease could do the voyage to tho Sound, touching at Hobart Town,-in ten days. Allowing, the ten days each way, this would give her ten spare days in the month. '_ At least six of them she could wait at the Sound after the duo date of the overland steamer, when, in case the; latter did not appear, she could return to Bunedin- to "be , ready to take the mails back. The English steamer would then carjjy the mails to Melbourne j and they , would come on, as at present, by the first boat. Buch a contingency, however, would not .probably! jupp^m once in the twelve months. Daring the last' six ,' months the overland service has been worse'perfora&l thau at any other period of the contract; - Yet 11) ' ex* animation into the dates of the vessels arrifin'sfat King George's Sound, shows that only, once during that time would the Aldinga, supposing she ran to that Sound as suggested, have bad to come on without the mails. That was once in March, when the P. and O. Company's steamer was many days overdue owing to detention at Point de Galle, through the stranding there of the steamer Nemesis. On the five other occasions, overdue as the steamers were, she could have brought on the mail and have allowed from two 'to six days for replies. When the Aldinga's swiftness is taken into consideration, and also the time which the Suez boat occupies in coaling at the Sound, it Will be seen there is a considerable economy, besides the saving of distance. A glance at the map will show how direct the route ia from the Sound to Otago, by way of Hobart Town. In fact .ten days is an over-et> tiraate of the period the Aldinga would consume on the passage. She would reach Otago with the mails certainly not more than twenty-four hours later than the P. and O. boat arrives at Sydney, taking into account the detention of the hitter at the Sound and Melbourne. And the Sydney people have, almost invariably; several days' interval between the arrival and outgoing of the ma%" • * The Times goes on to state that, under the proposed arrangement, Otago would, at least ten months out of the twelve, be able to reply per return mail, and thai* v under favourable circumstances, the same opportunity would in a limited degree be afforded the people of Canterbury and Wellington. As to the cost of the service £25,000. a year, it is considered, would be sufficient — a Bum only £8,000 more than, under Mr. Header Wood's new arrangements the present unsatisfactory service costs*. Of this probably Tasmania, which would benefit; equally with this colony from the near arrangement, would contribute a considerable portion. An instance of how, under such an arrangement as the one proposed, we should benefit, is afforded in the case of the present mail from England. The P. and O. boat arrived at f King George's Sound, at midnight, on the 6 t lh> Late'; as she was, the Aldinga could have delivered Jnejmajis in Otago by the 17tb, three days after its arrival in, Melbourne, and would have allowed four days inters val of post for Otago, and two for Canterbury',, assuming that a coastal steamer was in readiness. Tire due date of the P. and O. boat at the Sound is, I think^ • the sth or 4th. The proposition certainly seems ia very feasible one, and will probably receive the sup* port of the mercantile community. Another proposition by the same journal is to modify the existing contract so far as to release the Aldinga from that portion of her engagement which. ' necessitates her having to remain in Melbourne till the 9th of the month, and, instead, to permit her to return to Otago immediately after delivering her New Zealand mails, and in the interval until the 18th, to make a trip to the Manukau and back. The Timet^ saya :—

" The Northern trade would be muoh more profitable to the contractors than the Adelaide one into which present arrangements force them, and in consideration of their being allowed to go into it, and of the subsidy they would receive .for the carriage of mails, it is expected they would consent to relinquish a portion of the subsidy they are now paid lor the Melbourne Service. The money so saved, with the £200 per month at present available for the carriage of the down mails would go far towards subsidising a steamer to wait in Melbourne for the arrival of the .English steamer, and to depart immediately afterwarda The arrangement would stand thus :— A separate steamer for the down service, and the Aldinga to do the up service and one northern provinces' service, • month. It is circulated that she would hare time; after her return to Otago, to go to the Manukao, and * be back again by the 16th, two days before her son* traot time for sailing to Melbourne." „ ' : In the meantime, Mr. Reader Wood has, after conferring with the various Chambers of Commerce, offered a bonus of £350 to any steamer that, 'failing the Aldinga bringing the mail, will sail with the-Eng-Heli mail within twenty-four hours of its arrival at Melbourne, and deliver it in Otago within nine days. , The recruiting for the Colonial Defence Force for the Wellington province is going on briskly here, and 1 understand Mr. Leatham, the Inspector, baa already succeeded in enlisting a considerable number of suitable men, who will leave in the' Claud Hamilton' tomorrow. Just now, many hundreds of men might be enlisted in Otago. Mining affairs are dull generally throughout the gold-fields, chiefly owing to the bad weather,' and, heavy floods. The new rush to the Hog Burn has ' assumed large proportions ; there are now about 5,600 . persons on the ground, and a townnhip is rapidly* ' : springing up. It is expected this will turn' out*' valuable gold field, as recent accounts are decidedly favourable ; from four to six dwts. to the dish being the prospect. I am sorry to say that it has been found necessary to place the whole of the Victory's passengers in quarantine, and they will probably have to remain »o for some considerable time, as fresh cases of small-pox are said to have broken out. The women and families, about 200 souls, are located in comfortable quaiters on Goat Island, near Port Chalmers, and thejoutfg men are still on board the ship. Too much caution cannot be exercised in the proper inspection of immigrant ships now arriving from England. Volunteering is going a-head he/c spiritedly. We have now one corps in active working order, and' two others in course of formation, namely, a Scottish Hide Company, and Volunteer Artillery Company.'

Snow has fallen very heavily up-country within the last few days, in some instances entirely closing the traffic, there being six feet of snow in some places. Cobb's coach was .snowed up the other night, driver and passengers having to pus the night aa they best could in the coach. The lake escort, due on Tuesday last, is not yet in, probably being stopped by the snow' or the floods. Dunedin weather has been wet and cold.

A Tbaotion-Enginb tob Avbtbaxu.— - A sew traction-engine has been tried at Rochester, manufao* tured by a firm of that town, fop a copper-mining company in Australia, who intend to use engines of the same kind for the transport of their ores from the mines to the coast, a distance of 120 miles. The eeth nomy, it appears, wilJ be great ; the transport at prosent costs £120 a ton, while with the traction-engine it will not" be more than £2. Tbe engine in question drew a load of 40 tons contaioed in six wagons, turned sharp corners, travelled along narrow atreeU, ascended hills of which the rite is 1 in 12 and 1 in 8, tbn rate of spaed throughout the trial varying from three to six miles an hour. The result may be considered m satisfactory, and conclusive on the question m to whether steam-power can be advantageously used, on common roads — Chamber it Journal. A venerable old man says, M Let the slandered Cftk* .comfort—it i» only at fruit tree* thatthwtei, HaKUT 4 "