THE COLONIST. NELSON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 18f58.

Colonist, Volume XII, Issue 1175, 29 December 1868, Page 2

THE COLONIST. NELSON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 18f58.

lEE PANAMA. MAIL ROUTE, AND ERRONEOUS PROJECTS. In an article on the Panama Mail route, which appeared in our contemporary of Saturday morning, the following sentence occurs; — " It is not necessary here to discuss whether it was ■wise or unwise, on fcho part of the Government of New Zealand, to seek to establish a mail service between the Colony and England, by. the shortest and most direct route, or of the Company in undertaking' it." It appears to us that these are the very points which it is necessary to discuss. Ever so many public projects have been tried in this Colony, after bein<j advocated by sanguine but shortsighted journalists and others, whose desire to achieve great things : leads them to forget the main element in the case—the cost. These projectors shut their eyes and stop their ears so that they shall ! not hear the arguments against the scheme, nor behold the plain and simple figures which prove them. If they do look or listen, they refuse to be convinced, or they sacrifice an unwilling conviction to the mistaken, one might say insensate, desire, all.too prevalent here, to try new experiments because they are new, and because they are experiments. The Constitution of New Zealand has been well nigh doctored to death by experiments of this kind, entered upon not only without due calculation, but with a disregard to the dictates of the commonest prudence. And now, when a scheme, strongly urged, has proved-a costly failure to the country, its former advocates say " it is not necessary to discuss " its rise, origin, and progress. This, however, is a doctrine which cannot now gain much concurrence. That it has hitherto been too much allowed is the cause of numerous repetitions of blunders of the kind we complain of. With the failure of a project, puffed and advocated as such schemes have been, the puffers and unreasoning advocates should suffer some of the obloquy which attaches to such failure. It should never be forgotten that judicious discussion of any new scheme is its life-blood, if it is sound; because, if sound, such discussion, which really means the criticism of enquiry, will lead to a demonstration of that soundness. We can easily, understand the reason why some people may say at the present juncture, "do not discuss its origin;" for it is not pleasant to have exposed those palpable errors which have led to such disaster; and they would prefer their unthinking and mischievous advocacy to remain among forgotten things. But a too common mistake in New Zealand is, that past and unacknowledged errors are too easily forgotten, and people are too prone to be, and are again and , again led into further mistakes by the advice of those who repeatedly misled them before. Perhapß the comparatively shifting nature of the population, and its growth from outwards, may lead to an early oblivion of such things; but such forgetfulness is an injury both to the present and to the future. In any public disaster, or public good, we ought never to forget its cause nor its counsellors. Among the many Quixotic schemes which ordinary judgment and foresight could not fail to condemn, was the New Zealand Industrial Exhibition, held some years ago in Dunedin. It was condemned iv our columns at the outset as being an unwarrantable bubble that could do little good, because we had next to nothing to exhibit, and it would be sure to lead to great loss, Our prediction, winch was a safe and certain one from the premises, was of course verified: the exhibition was an acknowledged failure; and how the large t financial deficit which .it left as a legacy has * font made >up, W9 fcuow »gt, But we J» ow . J

that a beggitig petition for means to liquidate that debt went the round of the Colony to very little purpose, as we believe. Of course, the authors and advocates of this foolish undertaking would rather not discuss the question ; but it should be discussed, in order, if for nothing else, to act as a warning to overrsanguine or careless people who rush madly into what they eupposj to be a seem- ' ing present advantage without considering its very Beripus cost to the future. i With respect to the Panama route which it is stated will be continued in operation for ''_ another year at least, we trust that the . strain which this arrangement will necessarily bring on the finances of the Company, , will not tend to hinder the ultimate rerestab* lishment on a firm basis of the Intercolonial line. The mistaken ambition of the Company was, that they were not satisfied with their" very satisfactory position when they had only the Intercolonial service. In trying to grasp the large shadow of the Panama route, they have all but lost the substance of the Intercolonial line, which was regular, > paid reasonably well, and was found well, suited to the real wants of the community. If the Company are still to be burdened, with the weight of. the great ocean scheme,, to which local requirements and advantages ihave been of late subordinated, there is fotne danger of younger rivals interfering with ■ their arrangements, and perhaps making profitable to themselves that Intercolonial service,, for which hitherto a handsome: subsidy has.been paid. ,