Queenslander (Brisbane), Saturday
17 February 1877, page 6
Postal Arrangements
at Kingsborough
A public meeting was held at Kingsborough, on the 20th ultimo, to take
into consideration the existing postal arrangements, more especially as
affecting that township. Mr. T. Jackson was voted to the chair, and resolutions
were adopted unanimously as follows :
(1). ''That it is the opinion of this meeting that the postal communication
between this township and the seaboard is unsatisfactory, the last mail having
been delivered by the mailman on his way from Thornborough to Cairns (the port
for this district); thus not giving the inhabitants time to reply to return
mail"
(2.) "That the Postmaster-General be communicated with requesting
him to instruct the Postmaster at Cairns to make up a separate bag for this
township, to be delivered either an hour before or an hour after the one
delivered at Thornborough.''
(3.) "That this meeting is of opinion that it would be nearer for the
mailman to go to Thornborough via Kingsborough than to go to Kingsborough via
Thornborough."
A resolution was also passed that the Minister for Works be requested to
put on a road party to improve the communication between the various townships,
reefs, and crushing mills; and a committee was appointed to forward the
resolutions of the meeting to the respective Ministers to whose departments
these matters belong. The request for roads calls for no special remark; but
the censorious tone adopted in reference to the postal arrangements is scarcely
justified by the facts. The resolutions are so framed as to convey the impression
that a permanent postal service was at the time in existence, and working
badly; but this is not exactly true.
There was some time since a mail running between Thornborough and
Byerstown, connecting at the latter place with the Cooktown and Palmer line;
but representations having been made to the Postmaster-General that this branch
line would be uncertain, if not utterly valueless, during the summer months,
owing to the swollen state of the Mitchell River at its crossing place on this
road, the mail contract was terminated on the 31st December last, and tenders
were invited for a service between Cairns and Thornborough. Meanwhile, to
maintain postal communication with the Hodgkinson, two or three special mails
were despatched between Byerstown and Thornborough, and on the 15th ultimo a
special mail started from Cairns for Thornborough, at the exorbitant cost to
the Government of £20 the trip; and this mail, the first from Cairns, and of an
experimental character, must have reached the goldfield a few days before the
meeting, and is evidently referred to in the first resolution passed at the
public meeting, as "the last mail having been delivered by the mailman on
his way from Thornborough to Cairns"—that is, on the return trip, the two
townships being within a short distance of each other. The residents of
Kingsborough must be aware that permanent postal arrangements cannot be made in
a day with a new district, by a track which cannot yet be dignified with the
name of road, and which is at present so far from being definitely determined,
that its course may be considerably altered a few weeks hence. We feel
perfectly sure, however, that the authorities will not fail to use every
diligence to meet the reasonable requirements of the new goldfield.
Tenders were invited for the conveyance of a weekly mail between Cairns and
Thornborough for a term of two years; one of the tenders received has been
recommended for acceptance, and the matter will probably be decided at the next
meeting of the Executive. The successful tenderer will we are informed, on
commencing the service, be instructed to run the mail between Cairns and
Thornborough via Kingsborough, although the information to hand regarding the
track is so conflicting that no decided opinion can at present be formed of the
desirableness of serving the Hodgkinson townships in the particular way
indicated. Possibly the arrangement most convenient to Kingsborough would not
be suitable for Thornborough. However, when the permanent mail is actually
established —probably two or three weeks hence —every effort will doubtless be
used to make it as far as possible satisfactory to all parties concerned.
