EAST COAST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9241, 19 December 1888, Page 5

EAST COAST.

[from our own correspondent.]]

Waiapu, December 10. DEFECTIVE MAIL ARRANGEMENTS. I have got something to Bay of our mail communication. On the coa3t line north of Gisborne we have only a weekly mail, and those who live to the north of the East Cape have only a fortnightly mail service. This weary road as travelled on horseback with a packhorse frequently overloaded with Government packages for schools and courts, takes three days to Port Awanui, and a day more to Hicks' Bay. We see the Union steamers pass our doors. The time they take from East Cape is to Auckland from 17 to 24 hours, and to Gisborne six or more hours, according to the number of stoppages on route. Of course the largest steamers of the Union Company which run from Sydney to Melbourne call only at the larger ports, and make a straight run from Auckland to Gisborne. But it is not too much to ask from our paid employes of the Postal Department that they should send our mails by the Australia and the Maitai, which steamers ply weekly along this coast and call in at six or eight ports (or rather landing places), landing goods and passengers from Auckland and Gisborne and ports beyond. They never by any chance land us a mail, for the simple reason that no mails are sent to us by the well-offi-ccred chief post-offices of Gisborne and Auckland. On the other hand, —to take one direction only, namely, south — the Auckland postal officials, with a lack of geographical knowledge which ought to have excluded them from the Civil Service, make up our letters and papers in one bag addressed to Gisborne. Now, if this saves bags, string, and sealingwax at the Auckland olßce, it entails additional work at Gisboruo, and greatly burdens the overland coastal mail-carrier, who would probably take the annual contract at a lower figure if he were assured that he would have less to carry, and never require a packhorse on this hilly route. Besides, look at the delay in delivering letters. _ Mails which would reach us from Auckland in (say) twenty-four hours, are carried on to Gisborne, where they havo to wait perhaps six days for the weekly overland mails, which take from two to four days en route. Of course there are days when the weather is too rough for the steamers to call, but such days are not —probably not five per cent. —and mails which could not bo landed at one bay could probably be landed at another without being carried on, as at present, to Gisborne. And even in the event of our mails not being landed bofore getting to Gisborno, we should be no worse off than we are now. The regulations of the parcel post state that for places called at by steamers, delay in delivery by overland route must he allowed for. This seems to imply that to all places touched at by steamers mails will be carried, but it is not so here. This, Mr. Editor, is a matter which cannot be allowed to let sleep, and must be agitated for till granted. I nope your own powerful pen will point out the fairness of granting this claim, and that you will endeavour to send to me and your other correspondents latest papers by the Australia and the Maitai steamers, to all places in this distriot at which they are advertised to call.

UNSEASONABLE WEATHER. We have had a very boisterous and versatile season. One day the thermometer is at 40deg. or lower, and the next above 80deg. Fall. This is indeed trying to weak lungs, but one the whole we are a healthy people and appreciate the blessings of pure air and ozone. The crops are plentiful, and although the Maoris have had empty stomachs in September, October, and November, early potatoes are now plentiful, and fish are redundant. The profits of the grass-seed harvest will find them in their annual supply of comfortable clothing. THE WOOL CROP. The wool harvest has been now pretty well secured, and from year to year there is a steady increase in this wealth-giving export. The details as to quantity cannot be supplied by me, but may lie gathered from shipping and Customs returns. MINISTERIAL VISITATIONS, ETC. Archdeacon Leonard Williams, and the Rev. Mr. Fox, of Gisborne, have been along this coast visiting Maori and pakeha alike. The Venerable Archdeacon is always welcome — would we saw him oftener. A Maori synod was held last week at "Hiruharawa Hou" (i.e., New Jerusalem), the new settlement of Tuta Nihoniho in Upper Waiapu. The Diocesan Synod of Waiapu meets at Napier on 18th December, being put off so long in order to secure the presence of the Bishop, who has been to the Pan-Anglican Conference in England. It is rather an inappropriate date, as it will deprive distant congregations of their pastors at Christmas time, which your correspondent wishes may be a merry and happy one to his numerous acquaintances amongst your readers, as well as to those with whom lie has not the pleasure of being acquainted.