DIRECT STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH MELBOURNE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 296, 24 October 1864, Page 4

DIRECT STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH MELBOURNE.

A\ E have _ repeatedly urged upon the notice of the .1 rovineial authorities the necessity foi bestirring themselves in tlie matter ot' postal accommodation for Auckland. Other Southern Provinces have taken the initiative in thi matter, and the mercantile community and public ol Auckland will henceforth lie under the disadvantage ot" being unable to return answers to i heir English correspondents and agents until one month after tlu.se of 'Wellington. .Nelson, and tlie South have been able to reply to letters received by the same mail. This advantage over us has been gained bv those Provinces by subsidizing steamers between tiiose places and .Melbourne, which leaving Melbourne with the English mail the moment it urrnes return in time to catvli the out-coiii" mail on the 2(ith of the same month. In hind \\ e wait for tlie mail, to coine round from Alelbourne via Sydney, and are content to leave our letters in return to go by the mail which leaves on the 2(jth of the month after. This is a state of ihings which the mercantile interest cannot allow to continue. If Auckland is to retain its present commercial standm" in JXew Zealand it cannot be ccuitent to receive" its English mail a week later and to answer its contents a month later than the Southern Provinces. To do so is to fall behind the rest ot the world, to become in very truth the commercial " Sleepy Hollow " of JNew Zealand. "We cannot aii'ord to do this. We cannot reinse to spend our money for so necessary a purpose, and the next questions which naturally arise are—"\\ ho will undertake the work ? Who pa\ lor itp llie Intercolonial Company are. we see, about to place two steamers upon 'the line between Melbourne an.l Auckland, but do not intend running (hem so as to meet this postal requirement. On the other hand we find that tiie lirm ot Wool ley ut (Jo. are prepared to make arrangements for a moderate subsidy to Jay on a swiit. steamer, and to undertake the carriage 01 the mails so as to enable the Auckland people to return an answer to the European letters as iptickly the new arrangements enable their ■southern iellow-colouists to do. The proposal of the .Melbourne lirm through .Messrs. Woollenis to lay on a first-class steamer of equal speed as the well known-and well proved •Aldinn-a,' which shall leave Melbourne immediately after receiving the English mail 011 board. She will lie a screw steamer of 033 tons, 180 horse-power ■apabie of carrying 400 tons cargo, besides coal" lor seven days, and of accommodating 40 saloon and 170 steerage passengers, and having a Jraught ol twelve and a half feet of water. The subsidy required would be received in two porions—one for bringing on the English mail to Auckland, the other portion dcp<rndimj oa the irriral of the outgoing Auckland mail in Mel-

bourne before the2Gth, the day of departure of the English mail itself. . , Now we have absolutely set our, fficeagaiiiSt granting SiibsidioS: tt» steamerS as iotten unsound in principle. To pay a steamer a sufe of monejr, monthly or annually, for the carriage of mails is quite another thing, and therefore let it be understood that in recommending a subsidy for a steamer to run between Auckland and Melbourne we do so as a specific payment for a certain work performed — the conveyance of the mail, and not to foster trade between the two colonies, nor to advantage the men of bnsinesss of either, at the general public cost. It, therefore, comes to be a consideration how much we can afford to pay for this service. Is it worth a charge of £SGO or £900 per month to receive the English mail some seven days earlier and save exactly a month in the return mail* Our own opinion is that it is So, and we hafg reason for saying that this siim will he.all that will be asked for the undertaking- and as we said before, oh the condition fcif a certaifl forfeiture if the Auckland mail is not conveyed to Melbourne in time for the English mail, leaving there on the 26th. It is proposed to,lay.tiiis vessel on direct to Auckland, and. if fair facilities arc afforded for loading and unloading, it is confidently expected by her owners that she will be able to carry out the object sought—quick postal arrangements. When we find a Provincial Government willing to subsidize fivp separate lines of steamers for purely local objects, we shall indeed be, surprised if'.- they refuse, to entertain the question of a subsidy for an..object which affects every inhabitant •of the Proriti.cq and wli'ch will conduce so much to the material advancement of its commerce, more especially wh'-n a company offers to perform the work for a lower subsidy than any vet paid for an intercolonial service. It is, we should think, a question which the Chamber of Commerce will not allow to be burked.