THE New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY). THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1890.

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 9107, 2 October 1890, Page 2

THE New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY).

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1890.

With which are incorporated the Wellington Independent, established 18-45, and the Hew Zealander.

When the contract for the San Francisco mail comes'to be discussed with the proprietors of the steamers, the question of the terminal port will have to be settled. That question is at present open. The terminal port must be either Auckland or Wellington. Hitherto Auckland has enjoyed that advantage. It is not surprising that the House of Eepresentatives has refused to accept the continuance of that arrangement as a matter of course. The City of Auckland has many advantages. Known from the earliest days as the Corinth of New Zealand, the place has been justly celebrated for its beauty and commanding position. But Auckland is not the capital of the Colony. It is natural that our communication with a great country like America should be direct with our capita!. That is not the case with the Atlantic communication between the American ports and Liverpool. But Liverpool is connected by a line of railway with London ; an affair of a few hours’ journey. Auckland and Wellington are not so connected, and will not be for many years to come. When they are,the will be considerably longer than a few hours. Travellers like to feel when coming to a country that they are to arrive at the capital. Wellington did not become the capital by any fortunate accident, nor through the caprice of any individual, nor by the log-rolling of any political parties. Whon.Auckland was the capital, a position obtained by the Northern city through the accident of earlier colonisation, the whole of Now Zealand felt the greatest inconvenience. Parliament determined that a more central place must be found, and after mature deliberation selected Wellington. Why ? Simply because the geographical position of Wellington was felt, to be unrivalled. The members of the Legislature find that for them the place is tho most central. The merchants are of the same opinion, as may be seen by the numerousfineeatablishments lately erected fortheheadquarters of numerous firms transferred from other centres of population. The shipping at the wharves tells the same tale, proclaiming that there is no such centre of distribution in New Zealand. Therein lies the crucial point for the American mail service. In the first place the majority of New Zealanders will get their letters earlier from Wellington than from Auckland; in the second place they will have a little more time to write before the mail goes out. Moreover a mail service does not rely entirely on the letters.' The letters occupy but a fraction of the space. There is cargo always, and there are passengers. Passengers, as we have observed, like to go to the capital, and they will not be less inclined to do so because the capital is also the geographical centre of the Colony. The outside passenger traffic is sure to prefer Wellington as the capital, and the New Zealand passengers will he better pleased to go the shorter distance. The cargo is not large at present, but it is at least not likely to be smaller, because the boats come to the best distributing centre of the Colony. Against all this, which is obvious, we have some rather wild assertions about tempests and earthquakes and the dangers ot Cook Strait; Tempests are not more frequent here than anywhere else in the Colony; that is an exploded fallacy. Earthquakes, can not be so bad in a city of so many brick buildings that have been standing for years. As for tho dangers of the sea, no steamer has ever been lost in Cook Strait on the line by which a mail steamer would travel through on the way to Sydney. If it comes to facts, the fact happens to be that the largest steamer ever wrecked on the New Zealaud coast went ashore at Tiri-Tiri, not far from the entrance to Auckland. The wreck of the Triumph is not yet forgotten. The navigation is not the simplest just there, though •of course it is well known that the Triumph did not come to-grief from natural causes. That we freely admit. At-the same time it is a fact that there is about as much against Auckland in that disaster as there is against Wellington in wild statements about tempests, earthquakes, and dangers of the sea, all of which form the staple of the Auckland argument. The contractors will do well to note that the Auckland advocates have no better resource than to warn them against the mares’ nests they will find hero. They may remember, too, that the predilections of the managers of the service have from the earliest times of the San Francisco mail been rather for Wellington than for Auckland. The reasons for that predilection are obviously the capital and the geographical centre.