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New Zealand Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 4749, 5 February 1877, Page 2

Wβ hear, of the doingsofrtlie Commissioners from- New Zealand to tho Telegraph Conference at Sydney, and of their speedy return home, but we have not been informed whether the Hon. Mr. McLean has made any arrangement respecting the San Francisco Mail Service That. still hangs in an ■ unsettled and unsatisfactory state. It can J scarcely be imagined for a moment that a I Minister should be in Sydney without 'bringing up this matter bf the mail contract. Everything was to have been done, beforo the. close of last session, during the few last days ori which the iHbuse met, but hero we'are in j February, and the great improvements which jwe thought within reach Have not cbirie. It ;is true that have had a taste of them, and that on two occasions service has' been done by our New Zealand boats, with most satisfactory results;' but as yet we have (had no announcement of a permauent change, inor even that theßubject is being considered [by any of theparties. The company, which ; was represented as being eager for a change, ; indeed,' determined to have one at once, has i either gone to sleep or become reconciled to ithe original contract;. the New South Wales ■ Government \ are apathetic; ,while our .Ministers seem' to be. doing nothing. We i suspect that tho hitch is with Now South I Wales, which considers that it is not to its ■advantage to make , any chauge. Mr. Kobert- ' son," the Colonial Secretary of New South 'Wales, in a correspondence on the subject j which has been already quoted by us, stated :~" The'diffidulty of'adjustment by no means the principal money difficulty, The difficulty is this : That wliile the company offers to do tho liue by way of 'Auckland or Bay , of Islands for £80,000, lN"ew Zealand only,consents that the united icolonies should pay .£65,000 for the service \ via. Say of Islands, or £70,000 by way of ! Auckland, neither of which proposals comes |up to the final offer of the company for i£80,090.- This government has written to jthe Government of New Zealand recommending them to come np to £75,000 for the' ■united colonies, but have been unable to get !a decisive answer .'from'.them. The letter of iMr. Clyde further speaks as if' both colonies < jdesired that the line should go by way of 'Auckland, whereas the fact is that this Government have always protested against Auckland being the port of call." When Mr. McLean returns to this country, we hopo ho will bo able-to announce that the ■money. dilliculty, haa boei; overcome, and Ithat the service will henceforward bo con[ducted as was proposed, which will bo a great improvement on tho present system. 'At present there is great uncertainty with regard to the service, and this, of course, is injurious to it. .Wo are informed by gentle'men who arrive'd from California by last mail, that there is great doubt at San Francisco as to whether tho service will bo continued or not.

It will , be seen that a meeting was hckl at the Thames on Saturday night " to consider the action of the Waste Lands Board iu the disposal of the waste lands of the Crown in the County of Thames." Apparently the intention of those who called the meetin" was to censure the Board for its action in accepting the offer of Mr. Bvoomhnll for Tβ Aroha, but happily those present took a better and more smsiblo view of matters, and the resolutions first .proposed wore withdrawn iu favour of an amendment seeking to impress upon the Board the necessity of. opening land in the Upper Thames for selection upon deferred payments. With this resolution all will agree. Wo are glad to think. that the appeal will be made to men who aro desirous to do what is asked. Every member of the Wiwte Lands Board would bo only too glad to open land at the Thames so that miners who were able and willing to settle should have an opportunity of acquiring hind. Perhaps the Board will be able to make the resolution passed at the Thames the basie of a representation to the

°-/ blo it L no v£r? of good with the land of the Thames district depends in a great measure the^medjate feasible andto&Pltulif and.we denotalaubi that the Board will endeavour to comply with it as speedily^g.thex££§j.'^ce D >-^^ S v S ;