THE OTAGO WITNESS. Dunedin, Saturday, October 23, 1858.

Otago Witness, Issue 360, 23 October 1858, Page 4

THE OTAGO WITNESS. Dunedin, Saturday, October 23, 1858.

A public meeting is advertised to be held on Monday next to discuss the great question of Sleam Communication. Of all questions which concern the public of Otngo, none can be of greater importance to us, Looking to the interest of Dunedin in particular, our advancement and prosperity depend upon the immediate establishment of Steam Communication upon the coast of the Province, which would make our port the gteat emporium of trade for ihe southern portion of New Zealand ; while such a service long delayed will inevitably lead to the diversion of much of our legitimate trade into other channels. There is no one, then, who will attend the meeting on Monday, more anxious than we are to give Otago a Steam service of its own, nor who would more readily secure such a service, and maintain it efficiently, by a vote of public money. But

the Steam service thus to be maintained at the cost of the Province must be such as is really needed to promote our material and social prosperity, for upon any object less than this, our revenue is yet too limited to be squandered. Let us examine, then, the object of the meeting called for Monday next, and see whether, beyond the affirmation of the general principle that Steam is desirable for the Province, the particular service which is intended to be advocated is the one we really stand in need of. The gentlemen at whose request the meeting is summoned, inform us that they aye anxious to see " Steam Communication along the coast of this Province, and directly with Australia." We most cordially corfcur in this wish, and we hail with 'the greatest satisfaction the arrangement made between the General Government of the Colony and a Company in England, (an arrangement to which the General Government is also a party, by aiding it with a subsidy of £12,000 a-year), and which in a few weeks will ensure to every Province of New Zealand a monthly communication with Australia by Steam, while there is a probability that the communication will be alternately with Melbourne and Sydney every second week.

Highly satisfactory as this intended Steam Communication between New Zealand and the two great ports of Australia must be to reasonable men in all the Provinces of this Colony, we are well aware that it does not satisfy some of the ardent and go-ahead spirits of Otago and Wellington, who require for their respective Provinces special Steam service to Melbourne of its own. Whatever may be said of such a service for Wellington, — a populous Province with a very large revenue, and with a promised bonus of £6000 from the Government of Victoria towards it, — the advocacy of such a communication between Otago and Melbourne shows clearly that its supporters have never calculated the " cost of their whistle," and that they have overlooked the important fact, that public money expended on schemes not strictly required for our welfare, frustrate those necessary objects whose performance cannot be delayed without inflicting the most grievous public injury.

In our endeavour to furnish a reliable data upon which a calculation may be made of the cost of maintaining the steamer " Queen," either upon the coast of this Province or to run between Otago and Melbourne, we have no other desire than that of preventing the public being misled on the subject : and we will do the gentleman who brought the " Queen " down from Melbourne the justice of saying, that we believe he has himself been greatly misled respecting the working expenses of such a vessel, for otherwise he would never have engaged her for ouv service. Of the " Queen," then, we will at once say, that her working expenses alone, in the trade it is desired to engage her for, would not be less than £12,000 a-year; and this assertion, let us observe, is not made upon conjecture, but is based upon an actual knowledge of what the vessel's requirements really are. This statement may nevertheless be doubted ; but look at what has been done by other steamers in the Colony. The " William Denny," a vessel about double the size of the " Queen," received a bonus of £6000 a-year to run from Auckland to Sydney : and although the trade between these ports is very large, exceeding probably the similar trade of any other two Provinces of the Colony, yet the vessel was sailed at a loss to her owners. The " Wonga Wonga," a steamer one-third les3 in size than the " Queen," received a bonua of £2500 a-year from the Auckland Provincial Government to maintain a coast Steam service ; and notwithstanding the very large coasting traffic of Auckland, her owners, after a trial of two years, during which they sustained a heavy loss, were glad to dispose of her. This vessel is now engaged in the coasting trade of Wellington, making occasional visits to the Nelson gold-fields, and receives a bonus of £2500 from the Wellington Provincial Government. This bonus, and the large trade she now does, enables her to pay her owners. The "Tasmanian Maid," a paddle-wheel steamer of 92 tons, after being actively employed for nine months in running from Nelson to the Aorere gold-fields, and along the coast, was found to have but barely paid her cost of working ; and the Company who had purchased her out of a public fund advanced to them for the purpose without interest, were compelled to apply to the Provincial Government for a bonus of £1000. The " Planet," a small steamer of 40 tons, receives a bonus of £1000 from the Canterbury Province to maintain a

communication between the port of Lyttelton and the Canterbury plains, but returns no profit to her owners. The "White Swan," the steamer at present engaged in maintaining our inter-provincial traffic, has a bonus of £6000 a-year from the General Government. This vessel is a trifle larger than the " Queen," and her working expenses, as we have heard on the best authority, are £13,000 a-year.

We hope we have said enough to induce the advocates of direct Steam Communicati')ii between Otago and Melbourne to reflect ;i little upon their scheme before they ask the Government to vote money for it. If such a communication is to be maintained, it cannot be done by a bonus of £3000 a-year ; nor do we believe that double that amount would suffice for the purpose. The Government steamers will afford every facility to persons in Australia to visit Otago, as well as all the other Provinces, and ensure a regular delivery of the mails ; nor do we see why cargo should not be carried by these vessels through the whole line, although to the Provinces other than those of arrival and departure a transshipment would be necessary. As these steamers, however, will all belong to one company, and as they are large roomy vessels, it will be manifestly for their interest to carry freight between Australia and all the ports of New Zealand. Against such a line of steamers, each receiving a Bubsidy of £6000 a-year, what chance would the steamer " Queen " have, running from Otago alone ? On reflection, we are sure it must be seen that such a scheme could only result in heavy loss and disappointment.

Having said how necessary we consider Steam Communication to be to the interests of Otago, we will now, as briefly as possible, point out the particular kind of Steam service which is needed. Every person knows that Otago, like all the other Provinces of this Colony, has an extensive sea-board, and that the construction of great lines of internal communication for land carriage is next to impossible. The great "highway" of traffic between different parts of the Province must clearly then be the sea, and coast Steam Communication is absolutely necessary for the development of the resources of the country, as well as to prevent our trade being snatched out of our hands and carried elsewhere. We beg our readers to reflect upon the fact, that out of 10,000,000 acres of pasturage country in the Province of Otago, the town of Dunedin is the outlet only for about 500,000 acres ; so that nineteen -twentieths of the wool produced by us, if it is to be shipped at our port, must be first conveyed there by sea. Now the serious feature of this important circumstance is, that unless facility is given to the southern woolgrowers to ship their wool through the merchants of this port, the whole trade of the south will very soon concentrate at the shipping port most convenient for that purpose ; while there cannot be a doubt that, if not forestalled quickly, a merchant from Canterbury will establish himself at Oamaru, — the only outlet for upwards of 4,000,000 acres of our pasturage country, and 1,000,000 acres of the pasturage of Canterbury,— and then, by the aid of steam, convey the wool from this large district to Lyttelton. Many of the northern runs, as is well known, have been taken up by persons who have no relations whatever with Dunedin : if we afford these parties facilities for getting their supplies from this port, their wool will naturally be drawn here ; but if we neglect doing that which it is so evidently our interest should be done, others will step in and profit by our folly.

For our coast service we require a steamer of about seventy tons, of a light draught of water, say drawing not more than five feet, and capable of stowing a large wool cargo. Such a vessel would be able to enter readily all our bar harbours, ascend many of our rivers, approach within a short distance of the shore in our roadsteads, and maintain a regular communication along the whole coast of the Province. This, then, is the Steam service that Otago really needs, and which should be procured at once, cost what it may. The agriculturist is as much interested as the sheep-farmer in getlitig his produce brought to market with facility, and whatever benefits the productive interests of the Province benefits all. In addition to a steamer for our coast, a small steam tug is needed for our harbour. It h not necessary to go into statements of the inconvenience we suffer from the absence of such a vessel, to communicate between- Dunedin and the shipping at the Port. If the vessel for this traffic was constructed so that she could use wood as fuel, her expense of working would be very

small ; and as a tug to shipping visiting us, which will now rapidly increase in nunVber, or in carrying cargo and passengers up and down the harbour, such a vessel would quickly find remunerative employment.

We are glad to see that our Government are alive to the importance of both these schemes, and are asking for tenders for them ; and every thinking man in Otago who has the welfare of the Province at heart, will give them his most cordial support.

The " White Swan" arrived here on Friday evening last, but brought no English mail, the non-arrival of which has produced an expression of general dissatisfaction ; but no intelligence had reached the other provinces respecting the "Australasian" with the July mail. We observe that the " White Swan" had been detained in Manukau harbour for some nine days by a north-wester, the heavy sea breaking on the barpreventing her getting out. Much dissatisfaction has been expressed at her short stay in this port on this occasion, seeing that the Sunday intervened her arrival and departure, and her mail was only delivered at 10 o'clock on Saturday morning, and closed again at the same hour on Monday. Had she brought the English mail, we must say that our merchants would have scarcely had time to peruse their advices, far less answer any of them, before she was off again on her return to the north. It is certain, then, that the stay of the mail steamers at Auckland and at this port must be extended so as to allow a fair time for answering letters. This is important, not only as regards private but Government correspondence. If the stay of the steamer is not long enough for this purpose, it is clear that we will practically only have a twomonthly communication with the seat of Government. The other provinces are in a different position, the steamer calling twice at each during the course of the month.

By thi9 opportunity we have received our files of papers from the various provinces, except, the Nelson " Colonist," of which only one number (Oct. 8) has reached us. From them we have given pretty full details elsewhere.