Will it have any reasonable effect in producing some amount of harmony and some union of action among that very able and very honourable, but most untractable and mutually repel lent body °f men, the members for the Middle Island ?

The Panama Mail Company have as little cause as ourselves to wish for the permanent establishment of their ter minus at Sydney. Such an arrange ment implies on their part the main tenance of additional steamers in active service. The interval elapsing between he departure of an auxiliary steamer from Wellington to Sydney, and its return with the homeward mail, affords regular and ample time for refittine and repam; while at the same time jy the diminished strain upon the boats, these repairs are never likely tc De ot the same serious character. The evident advantages of this plan tel powerfully in favour of Wellington On the other hand, it will bt

' impossible, with the terminus ' at Sydney, for the Company to i keep their boats in a duly sea-worthy 1 state without laying on at best one \ additional steamer to start from Sydney soon after the arrival of the English Mail, and so afford a full month's interval of rest to the steamer's in their turn. Now, be it observed that this will in no case imply such provision against accident, as is meant by keeping a steamer in reserve, With Sydney as the terminus, thia arrangement will be no more than eDough to meet the stated requirements of the line; while, no doubt, subsidiary steamers will still be required in case of accident. Mr. Hall spoke very truly when he said that with the New South Wales government this question was a case not of postal service, but of workshops. On this very account we protest against any decision which definitively places the terminus at Sydney. The question was not mooted in the origi nal agreement; why should it be mooted now ? A firm refusal to settle the point at the present time would scarcely have been accepted by the Sydney Government as a reason for throwing up the agreement, at least in present circumstances, and while the case was not decided in favour of Wel lington. And, if the Sydney Govern ment did decline, we should have much preferred to see the New Zealand Government maintain an independent position. 