THE COLONIST. NELSON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 1869. THE NEW MAIL ARRANGEMENTS.

Colonist, Volume XII, Issue 1183, 29 January 1869, Page 2

THE COLONIST. NELSON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 1869. THE NEW MAIL ARRANGEMENTS.

Is there no public spirit left among that little knot of commercial men, who, when the Chamber of Commerce shone in itd glorv as a political entity, used to get.up meetings and create " public opinion" on various subjects ? Not the least remarkable of these was a rare petition published by the Chamber early iu 18(33, when the West Coast was iu its infancy, and which gravely proposed the establishment of an overland gold escort from the "West Coast to Nelson City ! In schemes like these the Chamber toiled amain; and we should imagine that the concoctors must feel thoroughly ashamed of a. document containing such a preposterous proposal, which was second only to Mr. Fitzgerald's famous bullet-proof movable fort for gold escort overland from Hokitika to Chriat-ehurch ! It is true the Chamber is defunct; but there are men who have an interest in the commercial welfare of this Province, and of the other Provinces of the Middle Island, and who need allow no differences on other points to interfere with opinions which, iu the case of the mail arrangements as proposed by the General Government, must be -pretly generally in accord. His Honor the Superintendent is at on.ce the chief of the Province and Parliamentary Representative for the city. Is it necessary that some formal application should be made * to him to induce him to take some action, which, in a question like this, we should have thought he would be disposed to initiate without auy outside pressure? The Otago Chamber of Commerce is taking steps to show the unwise course that is being pursued ; and although Nelson need not adopt entirely the opinions which are contained in the memorial of'the Dunedin Chamber, yet these propositions merit full attention, for there can be no doubt that the plan of the Government is the most inconvenient to the Colony at large, and at the same time the most costly.