THE EASTERN ROUTES TO ENGLAND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 651, 2 February 1859, Page 3

THE EASTERN ROUTES TO ENGLAND.

(Cbriimunicatedtp the "S. M. Herald..") i The- discovery 'of, gold in, Vancouver's Island— : althoughZspriie recent, reportsi appear to,,set it down as a, simiilar job to .the rufnours which caused so ruinous an,'excitement/ among usin reference to the • Eitz'roy^hasdirect^dZatf enf ion to the further occu- . patiori arid, inipfoV e.ment pf these in teres tin g, regions,. aridthere/are np/t/urifreqUe of an, adverititiouS; 'nature' attending these popular im,pulses,/origiriatirig,in/the,cupidity, of. ml'ri, "which, 'nevertheless/iiithe course of Providence, eventually ■lead.tb the bpehing upi of new highways for legitimate commerce and substantial good to the world..

Tlie settleriient/ of: British "Columbia, our only colony on,the. 'American, shores of tlie Pacific, has stirred/up the desire for the, disco very of a safearid, expeditious channel for the corrirnercial 'enterprise of , Englarid, which cannot be allowed to subside; and that we should,be satisfied with what is commonly called the/" Panama route," short as it is,ih cpih-Z parisbri with the/circuitous arid .dangerous one.formerly and exclusively .'used ;by way of /Cape. Horn is, in; this [ agei /of/, the world,, not to.be believed. •This line has/rip harbour /.worthy/of the nairie, at 'either'''''extremity/'". Steamers/and large /sailing vessels must lie six.or seven, miles off shore, arid.; goods have-to fie'conveyed:'by lighters, only at certain' times of the/tides,/and "iri fine weather, thus; entailing a heavy increase iri the,, cost of carriage, arid forcing, the great/bulk of the trade still to prefer the more ' hazardous, voyage , found the South ; Ainerieari continent. These 6bstacle3Z have, led; to other, plans being' from .time tp.tiriie proposed, all' with; more or less inerif, '. We have had several schemes for a/ship canal frpm the Atrato River in New Grenada, besides. Culleii's. famous proposal of an open ship, canal frofn Caledonia Bay on the Atlantic to Sari. Miguel b'ri the Pacific; and there was 'formerly a route by smallsteamers through the river Sari Juan/up to the, Lake Nicaragua, thence across tlie hilly; country to the Pacific on mules. This linp was long iriactive operation, and bid fair: at:onetime fbsupplaritthe/Panama railway,-in spite of IdelayVarid/iricbriveriierice''from frequent shiftings, uiitif 'Walker arid his followers caused it to' be abandoned;/■ Yet all thesei lines'; and canals labour underthe.heayy,disa,dvaritage of tlie, want of good h arbours/at pi- near, their tepnini, and'so Btrohg has been the'convictiori that we haye^ot opened up the best' and most permanent channel for pur commerce ( bver/the:America/ri,cpiitihent ( that e/yery yeai/bririgs fortli'spriie/iiew/prpj,^ this, grand object-in//; ■view// " " '", Z'.'.'V.'."." "' •'•' '': Z " Z , Among these there -is one which certainly: possesses' recoiririiendatioris heyo'nd all its predeces-

Bprs, r having two of the finest .harbours in thatipart of the world at cither extremityr—Port Corfez in the Bay of Honduras, and, the Bay of Fonosea in the Bacific, where .thelargest vessels can lie with safety close in shore. Tlie climateis salubrious, and the country, around each of the ports is rich in every necessary, and/even in some,of the luxuries of life. The railroad will.pass through a country.from the River Ulla to the Bay of Fonesca, Ibo miles, eminently suited for engineering operations, and where labour is cheap and abundant. It. has been carefully surveyed, and the English, American/and French Governriient's have stipulated for its defence and neutrality. A thousand miles will'bo saved by this', route "iri the distance from England to San Francisco or Vancouver's Island, in comparison with, any of the others, because it lies 600 miles on one, side of the continent, and 500 miles on the other northward of tlie Nicaragua or Panama routes.

But;the most interesting to Englishmen of all the schemes which have yet been announced to cross the/New World" is the.proposal for a line of communication entirely oh British territory. We are told that'" Canada, as' far as Montreal, is in direct communication with England by the St. ; Lawrence, and from Montreal, partly by the Grand, Trunk Railway and partly by Steam vessels, through Lakes Huron and Superior, there is a rapid communication as far as Fort William. A railway is projected, if hot actually begun, from Fort William, by "the Lake of the woods, the Red River Settlement and Suskachawan to the base of the Rocky Mountains ; theiice it proceeds round by the Southern. Pass, into British Columbia and-^the shores of the Pacific." Here there is no conjecture. The railroad from Fort William to the base of the Rocky. Mountains, and into British. Columbia, has not-only -been organised—it is not doubted to be actually in progress. The distance will thus be shortened to Vancouver's Island from two to three thousand miles, and the time it will occupy in a still greater proportion, considerably more than one r third of the line being by railroad./ Nor isthereany occasion to be afraid of.,the investment. The success of the Panama line is,held-out as an example for other schemes, and certainly, consider-: ing the many disadvantages it labours under, it has .been very wonderful. The railway was completed three years ago, and, cost upwards of £1,500,000 ; .yet, such has,been the increase, of the traffic and the throng of passengers, that it pays 18 per cent, upon the entire, capital, and its earnings fdr the present year will,realise, at least 30 , per cent. , There is no reason, therefore, to fear the success; of a line which, in addition, to. a large share in the traffic, both American and English, at present taken by way of Panama,-will have the advantage of the tide of emigration which, from : j'ear. to year, has been leading large bodies of our countrymen, and of 'Europeans to those fine regions of the earth.

But the great results which will assuredly follow the opening up of this hitherto, overlooked channel to the commerce.of the. Pacific, will, not be confined „to the limits (extensive though they be) of the continent which it crosses, or its adjacent States and 'islands. Australia will also be found to have a deep concern.in^this movement. • It points to a line of communication with these colonies, the merits.of which, or even the existence pf which, has not previously been suspected. ''

The claims of the. route to Sydney by way of Panama, are, certainly, in some respects, equal to those of the present line by way of Suez • ' but they are, much overrated.; Mr.Towns, an'acknowledged authority and an advocate of this line, writes to the ' Times' of.the 15th last October, and,: in quoting the investigations of Lord Jocelyn's committee, he falls • unaccountably into the Very error with, which he charges his ; friend Mr.;-, Wilson, '.' of not consulting his globe," which would have, shown him that the distance across ;the,Pacific :between Panama and Sydney,;on, the. great.circle, cutting right through New Zealand,;andhot turning aside to coal, is 7,680 miles, in . place .of 6,575 ■ miles, at. which he puts it down, and with.small difference; indeed this will be found to be the distance from all the rpoirits in Central America./; Along this arc there are no stations convenient for/coaling; and, althoughiia steamer could, easily, adhereto it from/Sydney after passing round, the; Nprth..Gape! ; pf-;N.ew Zealand, having In general a fair wind allthe way, it.would be impossible for any vessel'to return,on the .same, course ; so that'she would be Compelled to.make the detour byv .Tahiti; and amonglthe; .islands, thus; materially -increasing the distance to avoid the .strong winds and gales/from the westward*, which in the:direct line, wbuldretardiher progress after passing out of the South East trades

Prom Panama to. Tahiti, the first coaling station, the distance is about 4600 miles, and from Tahiti to Port/Jackson it is not short of 3300 riiiles. The former is a space greater by 1200 or 1300 miles than anyone stretch on; the Suez line, and as it would scarcely be, worth the delay to reduce it by establishing a station at the Golapagos, laying but a short way from.Panama,,the. steamers will not find their position iriiproved by the. change from the Western to the.Eastern route.' Neither.will they find much relief in. respect to. tlie. weather. Those who represent the Pacific Ocean as a placid lake derive their ideas of it more from what its name suggests than from any practical acquaintance with the wind and weather which prevail over' it.' The "South East trade "wind'oft'eri blows strong and continuous from EiN.E. to E.S.E. with a heavy sea, which on so long a stretch as 4600 riiiles, would prove a fearful drag on the most powerful'steamer. But a bi-monthly mail we must have. The machinery is already in motion, arid eriiulation and competition between two rival powerful, companies will serve to improve the efficiency of our mail service. We shall content ourselves, therefore, in the meantime, with ari investigation of the claims of a route which we believe; has advantage's' vastly above all the others proposed, and will (as far as these colonies are concerned) at no distant day supersede them.

Erom Vancouver's Island to Port Jackson the whole arcal distance is 6600, nearly on a south-west and north-east course. If we trace the great circle along this line, there are two stations laying on it, which divide it into three nearly equal parts, at easy distances from each other. The first is at the Sandwich Islands, 2280 miles ; the second is at the Kingsmill Group, 1980 miles ; and from thence to Port Jackson is 2340 miles ;—distances'easily to be accomplished by any steamers pf the class usually required for such voyages.

The Sandwich Islands are too well known to require recommendation here as a coaling station ; and the large group of the Kingsmill or Gilbert Islands, situated near the equator, contain many fine harbours and placid waters, where a. convenient coaling station could easily be found.

The winds to be met with on this route are not unfavourable to the progress either way of large steamers of full power, The observatioris of many navigators, such as Kotzebue, Cook, Dampier, Belcher, and Eitzroy, show the winds to be variable along nearly the whole of this track, but particularly to the north of the Equator, and on the eastern side of the Pacific.

The north-east trade—which 'may be supposed to be the severest trial to the'steamers in their progress to the north-eastward —not begins as far north as from 5 degrees to 12 degrees of north latitude, drawing well to the eastward, and at its northern limit often veering to the northwestward. Lieutenant Maury, in quoting from the logs of some of the celebrated American clippers from San Erancisco. by the Sandwich Islands, bound home, confirms this remark. On an average of the runs of five of these~the quickest on record—the 'north-east trade, in the meridian of 160 degrees west from 20' degrees north to the Equator, was iound five or six days out of eight to be from east to south-east, never to the north of north-east, so that in keeping a good full,swith topmast studding-' •sail, no easting could be made. The same writer, speaking of the passage by sailing vessels from San Francisco to the gold-fields of Australia, it page 46,0 of his great work on wind and current charts, directs navigators to prefer running down their ■westing in the south-east trade, " because," says he, "they^are more steady, reliable, and certain than their congeners of the northern hemisphere." " Erom these remarks it' appears' clear that the winds which a steamer of full power, and not depending on assistance from sails, would experience along; this are so various and uncertain; that she would not have to contend with any nrolonsjrd re-

sisfance like that from Point deGalle to St. GeorgeV Sound, or, still less, like that from Tahiti to Panama; while at the same''time she would have the benefit of frequent fair winds either way, and thus we argue the high probability that the length of the passage would be so materially reduced as to make the accomplishment of any scheme for establishing this route an object of the deepest interest to the Australian colonies.

The distance, as we have said, will be reduced from England to Vancouver's Island from two to three thousand miles, and it is affirmed that tha passage will be easily accomplished in from lata 27 days. This will not appear so surprising when, when we consider that so much of the line is to bo travelled by railroad, and that the steamers on the Atlantic are of the highest class and are frequently overhauled by engineers, having all the appliances for repairs of an English dockyard.

Having readied the shores of the Pacific, Mr. Towns and other advocates of the Panama line put the passage to Sydney down at 28 to 30 days. If we therefore take their data, without making any account of the other advantages which we have claimed for the route by the Canadas, we may safely calculate on running from Vancover's, Island to Sydney, one thousand miles less distance, in 22 to 25 days. This will reduce the time of delivery of the mails to and from England to 41 days, in place of 55 and 58, according to existing contracts, and wa cannot despair of even a materially shorter time. Lefe us not forget also that this line is not on a foreign soil. It will have all the security of permanency afforded by its passage through a belt of English colonies along its whole course across the American continent. English capital will certainly prefer this Canadian investment to any of those proposed in Central America, agitated as it so frequently is by the broils of petty states and tlie aggressions of marauding adventurers. The islands along the route in the Pacific will present no obstructions to our establishments. They are, in fact, fortunately fop themselves, falling one by one, and group by group, under our sway, and thus we shall,,ere long, be able to say that the highway to Australia is specially our own.

To render complete the view I have taken of the future prospects of our antipodal communications, I wish it were possible to suggest at once the practicability of an electric telegraph in the direction indicated, exclusively (as it would be) in our own. /hands, and entirely beyond foreign interference. As far as Vancouver's Island this may be said to ha already accomplished, but in respect of deep sea soundings the Pacific has, hitherto, been a sealed book throughout its northern and intertropical basin, so that .lam.not in a. position to calculate with any degree of certainty on the success that might attend the laying of the required . submarine cables,- the integrity of which also might possibly be rapidly affected, or. even destroyed, by the rugged and varying nature of the coral patches lying under the sea.

A. 8., master mariner.

January 10th