MAIL SERVICES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 194, 15 August 1907, Page 5

MAIL SERVICES.

A NEW PROPOSAL

SIBERIA V. CANADA.

LONDON, August. 14.

Reuters Ottawa correspondent states that the Canadian• Commercial Agent in Japan reports that a group of. London financiers are planning to develop trade between Great Britain and Australia via the Trans-Siberian Railway. *

It- is thought in Canada that the project might ..prove a serious rival to the All-Red route. ; ■"- SiBEHIAN POSSIBILITIES. The distance from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok 'by the Trans-Siberian Railway, is 9781 versts, or 6521 miles. At present the leisurely way in which the, .trains are run, or, perhaps, the necessary i consideration of the agricultural districts : tirr6ligh which the line - passes, make the twelve to fourteen day journey over the flat expanses of Siberia longer than it need be..

'At a continuous average speed of forty miles an hour, a special train could cover ..the whole route in 6| days, to: -which, of course, .would,have to be added the three days from St. Petersburg toLondon... The. r,oute. from to Vladivostok is the remainingsection of the route to'be Steamers running at upwards of 20 knots would cover, the distance (about 4,soomiles) in from eight'to seven days, sp that Sydney might very 'well be able to get mails from London, via the Siberian 'Railway, in two or ihree days short of three- weeks.