THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam." WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1861.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11, 27 November 1861, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. " Inveniam viam aut faciam." WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1861.

We are glad to find that enquiries have been made of the Government, by an energetic member of a Melbourne firm, on the subject of the establishment of an Electric Telegraph between Dunedin and the Heads. The object contemplated in the enquiries is.simply that Government should afford, when practicable, every facility on the line of country through which the Telegraph would run. Theline which the Telegraph would take is still an open ques- j tion. That by Port Chalmers would involve a j

submarine communication in shallow water, an evil to be avoided; and that by Portobello would, if direct to the Heads, cut off all communication with Port Chalmers, a result not to be dreamt of. However, if the enterprise be desirable, and that appears to be beyond question, it will be the duty of the Government to grant reasonable facilities for its effectual workipg. Let us take a glance at our neighbours in Victoria. A system of telegraphic communication has for some time been in operation under the auspices of Government, and upon the whole with satisfactory results. The funds have been furnished by the Victorian Government, and the total expenditure up to the close of last year, provided for out of annual appropriations of revenue, amounted to £16.3,000, extending over 1504 miles of country and embracing 42 stations. The returns for the} 7ear 1861, not including Government messages, amount to £28,000, which shows a loss of £2800 for the year; buc crediting the Government messages at ordinary rates there would be a profit of more than 11 per cent, a per centage which would be added to, as the network of telegraphic communication spreads itself over the Colony. It has been felt in Victoria that even this profit would have been largely increased had the Telegraph Line been in private hands, and its usefulness to the public also much enhanced. Indeed, we believe it is not unlikely the whole of the Victorian Telegraph lines will before long be disposed of to a private company. T&ie system of forwarding Government messages free has resulted in the transmission of so much of this kind of communication that private messages suffer. Again, the dispensation of telegraphic communication resting in the hands of the Government, an immense amount of jealousy is exhibited by various little towns, and political influence is even brought to bear on it, instead of the commercial necessity regulating the matter. For instaice, if an extra wire were required by press of business to be carried to Ballarat, the Government would not dare go to the expense without asking the House, otherwise every little place with which telegraphic com-" munication would be sheer madness, would raise an outcry about favoritism. And when the question came to the House it would be turned into a discussion, members for other districts would ask what their constituencies were to receive as a quid pro quo, and would only be bribed into acquiescence by the " logrolling" system that flourishes so banefully in America, and which bids fair, to become indigenous to Victorian political life. We do not believe in Governments undertaking what private enterprise can arra should effect. Even when Government assistance is necessar}', it is much better given in the shape of a minimum guarantee of profit, which it becomes the shareholders' interest to increase. Who ever heard of an undertaking being completed by Government as cheaply as it could have been done by private enterprise ? Who ever heard of its being conducted,'when, completed, with the same economy and due regard to profit as it would in the hands of private individuals ? And here it must be remarked that high prices and profit are not synonomous; on the contrary, they are generally unassociated. In California, there are twenty private telegraph companies, and messages are sent for a few pence, when in Victoria, under Government auspices, they cost shillings. The telegraph is thus made in a measure to supersede the post. In point of economy and usefulness, it is preferable to entrust works of the kind to private enterprise rather than to the Government; and there is another point in which the distinction is important. Nothing tends so much to deaden that healthy "go-a-headism," which should take root in a young country, as Government usurping, the fields of enterprise in which private capital may find profitable, employment. Every one, instead of working for himself, becomes a waiter on, on Government patronage. Schemeing for political interest takes the place of industrious energy, and contractors instead ol honestly carrying out their contracts, study only of how much they can defraud the government, which, whilst it takes-on itself the functions of private individuals has not the energy to carry them out in their integrity. It is quite unnecessary to offer guarantees of minimum profit to private individuals for such works as lines of telegraph. Grants of the ground are sufficient, perhaps for the first line in a new country an exclusive privilege for, say, six or eight years might be ceded. We trust these hints will not be thrown away on the Government in any arrangements it may make.