AN OCEAN PENNY POSTAGE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume I, Issue 40, 4 May 1853, Page 4

AN OCEAN PENNY POSTAGE.

[From the •' Ag<""]

We think tlint no one who read* the accounts of the vast emigration at present retting from our shore* — buth acro»9 the Atlantic, nnil N the golden land of tho lin<.t— can come to any cither (■oncliutim than that now, if ever, it the time' (or the agitation of an ocem penny pixtnge. On every ground wo hold Hiirli a miMsuro to lie a i)erc->i>ity in the series nf our advances in civiliziiinn— a nrctssi ty moral & physical — for thn auhi' at oiicjof frienJly cutmnuiii. cvlion and common ill convenience. Within the 'nsl ten yrari Ihut nrresstty hni (frown .1 tlioujitl I t'tinct vaster nml ttrmi^er than it evor ni hcfuie Every vini^rini who ern-tici ilic sen lem in n friend or acquaiiiuiii'e nt linn.; no that fur every cmi^rnn, there ia ii ficjli addition to tho necessity fur c<icu|> commanicilion. Few, inJced, no hope tel fir h upon the vny:if^« wuhouc a pm^ uf rJinc.iibrinot 1 . or a (lu'b of Oonliiil feeling to\vjrd> aonio one l-l l bchi n'l. Cim iiuylhin;;. thm, bu mar.: iin,mrt>int or more, reasonable than tli,il Cory facility wh.ch oAii0 Aii lin, nhoulil be, given to promote an d fivour the presci vatio.i of tlic bond* which bind i l»t* cmi;r<im ia the linrk-vvooiln, i.ml thoemigrait in the bnuli ; to his friends mid atfluuiiituiices at, home? In a nnlional sense, wo 100-, upon it hi of great owe* (lucnce that colonists thould never come to consider themielvcs at utterly segregated from the mother country, and the yrowtli of mich a feeling is likely 10 be promoted by nothing m <re than difficulty nnd expense in communication. A. member ol a work" ing family goos forth to push his fortunes in Canada or Australia. He is poor himself; his relations at homo arc poor also. The expunge of n trans, oceanic letter makes a considerable hole in the weekly earnings, and although everybody is glad to bear the expense for at leait the first half-dozen timts, yet there erceps on a feeling that George or Tom ought only to write at such intoivals as really furnish them with something important and tangible to (Ay. Not thnt there in any conscious diminution of affection on either side implied in the Arrangement but, in the Ion;; run the want of cummuincition. of close, frequent, anil vrhut iv _• cunnot ik-fi to better than, " sensation*! " commnnica.i.n, begins to blunt the sentibililim anil deaden ths remember-

ance. George or Tom writes! perhaps, onca a twelvcmonlh on the Decision of George clearing anew aliottincnt, or Tom hnv.fif; acquired a new .tlicep-oFrf 1!<; bnt what we won Id wUh (6 encourage > would be irnsntionnl and social coiretpondcnce' —letters treating of every dd.y liabiti and thoughts • and feelings— letters which would keep up old re« mrmberiu>cc< and old friendships, md dcepeu and imprest Upon the seller's mind thnt he win still belj in the genial tiex of the »ld country and of home, i It is a favori'e doctrine to preach that oar cola . ' uiej are integral pails of J llio mother couolry, and that a Canadian or nn Australian is an Englishman — although to a great extent undar.a local Government, and nayli'i: only local taxes— us fully aud

( rulya» is a Yorkshire or a Sumersctahire mnn. If ,0, then why should not the Putt Office treat him hi luch? Why tboutd not the colonies bu placed poetiolljr on the footing of the " integral parti " of England, if, as it is contonded, they ought to be so plncad, politicly ami commaroi.illy? There can he uo doubt but that nrtive an 1 uncetning correspondence would tend to keep up tho connexion of tlie colonies with (he mother country, longer limn it would olliorwiao lust. At the same time, we thould he far Irora wishing to confine the bo in of cheap intcr-com uiriicntion t<i nur own uolnnies,

Why, then, should not the United State', whom ttis equally onr intercnt and our duty to bind to us, ha linked by the lirigli' >iud "cni.il clmiii of nheup communication as well vi the olomen? Belter t open teals than to open lire— to pelt each oilier wiih post-bags than with thirty-lira pound hills The common language, alone ought lo be a RU'licing argument, if lint of common blood and common fiecifom failed'

We wish that. Mr. EUhu Burriti and hit frietd—whose good intentions nnd energetic efforts for the promotion of pence nnd harmony over thn world ingenciiil, we hnva every respect lor — would give up certain chimeras, which, for tlie present, at all event*, nre unattainable, and apply their undivided energies 10 tucli piacticable p,o 0 preservatives as ocean penny poatai;c. Wo know very well, indeed, that it was Mr. Elihu liurritt himself wh 0 oiii^iu;<teil or virtually so the penny pontage idea; but ho teems latterly to have neglected it and run wild among the impracticable sohimrs of univeisat European ppnrc We 101 l Mi. Burritt that his efforts in this direction, however well meaning, a re n the [ire mnt stme of E\ o ie, 11111 ily Indicruu 1.