THE EARL OF CARNARVONsaid, that before their Lordships separated he wished to put a Question on the subject of Postal Communication with the Australian Colonies to the noble Duke the Colonial Secretary, of which he had given him private notice.
§ THE EARL OF DERBYI believe the noble Earl was a member of a Committee of your Lordships' House who specially reported against the continuance of the practice of questions being put and speeches made on subjects of which only a private and not public notice has been given.
THE EARL OF CARNARVONThe noble Earl is perfectly right. I was a member of that Committee; and if he thinks it courteous on his part, at the close of the proceedings this evening, and at this late stage of the Session, to debar me from saying the few words I intended to say, I will not further detain your Lordships.
§ THE EARL OF DERBYNo, no!
THE EARL OF CARNARVONsaid, that as his noble Friend withdrew, as he understood, the opposition he had made—
§ THE EARL OF DERBYI made no opposition.
THE EARL OF CARNARVONproceeded to say that he would very shortly state the point to which he wished to direct attention. At present there were two lines of postal communication between this country and Australia, the one by Panama and the other by Suez. Towards the line by Panama the country made no contribution; but to the postal communication between Suez and the southern coast of Australia the Treasury paid au annual subsidy of about £70,000. An inter- 1330 colonial conference had lately taken place at Melbourne on the subject, and it was then proposed that three lines of postal communication should henceforth be established between this country and Australia—namely, the two at present existing, the one by Panama and the other by Suez, and the third which should form a branch of the Great Peninsular and Oriental line, and pass from Ceylon to the northern coast of Australia. It had been proposed that the Imperial Government on the one hand, and the Colonial Governments on the other, should each bear a moiety of the expense, which apparently stood by one calculation at £140,000 each, and by another at a sum not exceeding £200,000. He did not wish to recommend the increased expense which such a subsidy would entail on the Government of this country; on the contrary, he saw many strong and reasonable objections to it. He should be satisfied if the noble Duke (the Duke of Buckingham) could assure him that the subject would receive the consideration which was due to its own importance, and also to the feelings generally of the Australian colonists. It should be borne in mind that, corresponding with the vast increase of the population, of the exports and imports of these colonies, and of the enormous development of their material resources, there had been, so to speak, a raising of the standard of intelligence and education. Thus everything which made frequent and rapid communication between this country and those colonies became to those colonies a matter of very great importance, in a social and political, not less than in a material, point of view. There could be little doubt that the single monthly postal communication which had hitherto satisfied the wants of the Australian colonies was inadequate to the requirements of their present condition. He therefore, before the close of the Session, recommended this question very earnestly to the consideration of the noble Duke the Colonial Secretary. He did not wish to exact any answer on the subject at that moment from the Government who had, perhaps, not yet had sufficient time for forming an opinion upon it. All he desired was that it might receive at their hands that attention which its importance demanded.
THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAMsaid, the Question which the noble Earl had put to him was one which opened up a matter of very great importance both to 1331 this Empire and to the Australian Colonies; and he certainly thought he might refer to it as illustrating the expediency of the rule laid down very recently by the Committee of their Lordships' House, to which allusion had already been made, that questions of magnitude and not of extreme urgency should be preceded by some public and general notice. The noble Earl had been kind enough to give him notice that day of his Question; but had he given a more general notice he should have been able to obtain, by a conference with the noble Duke the Postmaster General, much; more information to place before the House, showing more fully than he now could do the position of the matter to which the noble Earl alluded. It was true, as the noble Earl had stated, that these Australian colonies, not deeming their present postal communication sufficient, had invited the Home Government to consider what arrangements were expedient for improving that communication, and those colonies had proposed a very large and comprehensive plan, involving a, very great extent of ocean voyage, and a very large expenditure of money, of which they show no indisposition to bear a fair proportion. The questions they had raised were certainly such as deserved very serious consideration on the part of the Home Government before the proposals were rejected or materially modified; but they could hardly be considered with regard to those colonies alone. Those colonies had now attained a magnitude when postal communication with them became of great importance, not merely as connected with England, but in relation to almost every other part of the globe, and particularly to China, India, and America. All that had to be taken into view by the Government before arriving at a definite conclusion as to the proposal made by those colonies. There was another point which was likely to be of as great importance to the colonies as any particular route or any particular number of mails, and that was the cost of transmission and the rate to be charged for the conveyance of letters. All these were waiters of great interest in connection with the question of over-sea postal communication to the colonies and to India; and they deserved very careful Consideration, because while to many of the colonies the advantages hitherto afforded by the Post Office arrangements as to letters and papers had been very great, yet the colonies ought now to consider whether, in some 1332 cases, the reduction of the rates of postage might not be of more advantage than the multiplication of the number of routes. The question would have to be considered very shortly; and he had to point out to the noble Earl that there were other considerations mixed up with it besides the expense of communication with Australia alone, and which would require some little time from various departments of the Government before any decision could be arrived at. He could assure the noble Earl that the subject was one the magnitude of which was not likely to be underrated by the Government, and that the Government were quite aware of the importance which was attached, and rightly attached, to the proper adjustment and extension of the present system.
§ House adjourned at a quarter before Eight o'clock, till To-morrow, a quarter before Five o'clock.