The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1878.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 558, 14 February 1878, Page 2

The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1878.

Wmat wo wrote the paragraph in refer- . enee to the non-arrival of the Oamaru ! portion of the Sues mail by the Waitaki on Tuesday, we had no idea of the extent ' to which the residents of the district had ] betn slighted hy the postal officials down , south. It will be remembered that the , Ringaroonia with the mails on board, arrived at Port Chalmers shortly after a • i/clwcfc tm Tuesday morning and we naturally thought that had any ordinary | ' effort been made the Oamaru portion of ' the mail might have been forwarded to j j this place by the Waitaki, whieh left Port j, Chalmers nearly three hears after the!, arrival of the" Ringarooma. Sueh a' ; course, however, was not pursued, and; : we felt that there must have been some j J very strong reason for the people of J t

Oamaru being kept waiting for their letters for fully a day and a half longer than appeared to be really necessary. | Bnt what are the facts of the case ! Why, simply these: Oainarn wa3 entirely set on one side as being unworthy of consideration, while every j effort was made r- '-'the people of !Tiinaru and Chrisfch.ire ! > !::»•!> * :r English letters as early as posstbi . ">• Susd on referring to our Dunedin i-S'-v.anges that the mails for Christchnrch and Tiniaru were at once sorted and forwarded to Oainarn by the Waitaki to be taken on by train ; but those for Oamaru were qnietlv permitted to reiuain in Dunedin for 24 hours, and were then sent overland bv the coach. The result of this proceeding is, that while the mails for Timaru reached tlitir destination on Tuesday evening, or in 14 hours after arrival at Port Chalmers, and those for Christchnrch got to that place early yesterday, the maib for Oamaru, which 13 within about four or five hours steam from Port Chalmers, did not reach hero until late last evening. A grosser piece of injustice has never been inflicted on any community, and we trust that the matter will not be allowed to sink quietly into oblivion, but that some action will be taken to briti" the subject under the notice of the Government. Sun ly the people of Onmaru are as much entitled to consideration in regard to the speedy delivery of mails as those of Tima-u and Christchnrch. and an effort should undoubtedly have been made to treat, this district in the same manner as the northern towns. But this neglect of Oamaru is not the oulv complaint to be made m rpgard to this" matter of mail delivery. Wherein, we should like to know, was the necessity for all the hurry and official fnssiness indulged in in order to get the mails for Christchnrch on board the Waitaki I Another, and if we mistake not, a better mode of forwarding the mails to the City of the Plains, was at the disposal of those w nderfully clever people, the post office authorities. The Ringarooma left Port Chalmers at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, or at about the same time that the train conveying the mails northwards left Oamaru. The Ringarooma is a fast steamer, and might with safety be expected to do the passage in sixteen or seventeen -hours, and if the mails for Christchnrch had been forwarded by her they would have reached their destination at "the very latest at 10 a.m. yesterday. On the other hand, travelling by railway is a somewhat slow process in this Colony, and, in consequence, the train with the Christchureh mails would reach Timaru '. at about a quarter to eight o'clock on Tuesday evening, and would have to remain there until the following morning, eventually reaching their destination at about one o'clock - some three hours later than would have been the case had j they been sent by steamer. Thus, it will ; be observed that the people of Oamaru were deprived of their letters for fully a day and a half in order that those of Christchnrch might receive their's three ; hours later than they would have done had the ordinary course been adopted. Here is a beautiful display of official ■ wisdom. The greatest lover of eirciimi locution would blush were he proved to be guiltv of such an absurd and utterly senseless proceeding. We do not know the name of the official who is responsible for all this, but, whoever he may be, a .pension should at once be given him. ; with a polite request to emigrate to Fiji or some other new and rising country. We want none of him. We are a plain people and cannot appreciate fully such men of g, i.ins. It may appear absurd, . but v.-e have a decided predeliction for I men of common sense.