STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH THE WEST INDIES AND PACIFIC. (From the Times, November 2.) Southampton, October 30.

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 420, 24 April 1850, Page 3

STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH THE WEST INDIES AND PACIFIC. (From the Times, November 2.) Southampton, October 30.

In the Times of October 22, we published a state* inent showing the savins; in dutance and time that could be effected by an alteration in the routes of the West India mail steameis to and from the Gulf of >It-xico, by ari irling the port of Mob le. Such statement likewise 'xbbi'ed the cause of decline in the extent of > .io-enner traffic, and the fatill moie piejuflicial rfTi p jj wit ci m,iv be anticipated to follow a |vrM-.fenre in he . vittmjj plan, by reason ol the uct've coi'ipi titin" i ri.,diiized by lines of American intiil stenintr^. Thes" remark* eaibiactvi only the monthly Mexican Gult route, mid did not leiei to ihe separate monthly conununicMti.m now kent up by the Kojml West India mail steamers, between England, Panama, and the Pacific. Tue importance of the latter route demands a distinct notice, pu'Jicularly when viewed in connexion with the lines of American steam-thins in existence and in contempl«ti< n, tiid aNo as regards the imp ntance in a natirr 1 "' '■■ of view, cf the line to and from the Islhmi .. f iuma, across wh'wh a vast and increasing amount »jl traffic must flow to and from the gold region^ of Califomh, the west coast of America, the numerous ports in the Pacific, and probably from Australia and New Zealand. Before alluding more particularly to tins branch of the subject it should be premised that the scheme of communication established and kept up by the West India mail B'eamers is not a mere semi monthly mail to and from the British ultra-m -trine possessions, but comprehtnds a wide spread Atlantic communication between Europe and the French, Danish, Spanish and Dutch West India colonies, with the island of Hayti, Mexico, the Central Americ in States of Nic,irat;ua, Yucatan, Cos u Hicu, Venezuela, Columbia, and via Chagies an-i Panama with New Gienada, California, j Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chili. The communications regularly maintained may be classed as follows :— ] ,Mexico (including Vera Cruz and Tampico\ Mobile, Havannah, St. Jag'j de Cuba, Hayti, Bermuda, t Bahamas, Mouduias, Porto Rica, San Juan, Nicara- ' qua, Carthagena, Santa Martha, Liguayra, Cha?res, Panama, and the Pacific ports of the states of Chili, <■ Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. The British colonies of Jamaica, Demerara, Tiiiiidad, Tobago, St. Vincent, Barbadoes, Grenada, St. Luciai Dominica, Antigua, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitt'i aad Toitola ; the Danish i lauds St. Thomas

and St. Croix, the French Antilles, Guadaloupc, Martinique, &c. ; the colony of Cayenne, via Demerara, and Dutch Guiana. Neither^ must the regular intercolonial communication supplied to the West India colonies, nor in some instances, the beneficial intercourse afforded to a few of those islands with the mainland, be omitted in the j estimate of the extent of this scheme. It will, of course, be appareut in the apnlication and working details of so comprehensive and intricate a plan, that - all the interests concerned cannot be equally well tetved, and that certain colonies and seats of irnrie may complain that their particular interests aieonly imneifectly protected. The little island of Montserra', for example, on a recent occasion, petitioned, complaining that a direct communication was not kept up between it and the mother country. Jamaica loudly complains of the injustice of its mails having to be conveyed to Havannah, Nassau, and Bermuda, while it bus hitherto been found impossible to accommodate Jamaica with an unbroken route ro Ensland, for many reasons, one of them* beinej the cow paruti rely iiolated geographical position of the island, which lies out of the regular track of the mail to the other colonies. Whatever plan may be adopted, it is clear that some complaints will be provoked from the clashing of interests of small and relatively unimportant places, each anxious to posscssjthe shortjcut to and from Great Britain. The more important ports, colonies, or slates, should therefore receive the greatest amount of convenience, and the communication with such places should be facilitated to the utmost, while the smaller or less important places should be made subordinate to the jjeneral scheme, and be accommodated with the supplementa-y or branch lines, in conjunction with the main artery of communication. One of the gieatest faults of the existing arrangements for conveying and delivering the mails is that no through or tiunk line for direct communication has bc°n laid down and adhered to, to which all other lines of inter-colonial or branch mails should be tributary, and therefore, while several important placrs have been indifferently served, numbers have been badly accommodated, and but few properly attended to. The«e, however, il must be fully understood, are faults ra-hrr of the plan of routes than of the steamers or the company, as, with few exceptions, the West India mail service has been generally performed with the stipulated rpgulated regularity, and with more than the speed and rapidity contracted for. Since the first concession of the mail contract to the West India Sfeam Company, circumstances have arisen which attach to certain places greater importance than they at one time possessed, and which would srem^ to render some changes desirable, in order that th« interests of the British steamers may not be permitted to suffer, and that the new and formidable opposition of the river Power in the steam carrying trade of the New World should not completely divert and absorb the legitimate traffic pertaining to the British steamers. There is no part of the South American continent to which these remaiks apply with so much force as to the I'throus of Panama, now becoming the great high road for traffic to and from the whole of the western coasts of North and South America, We purpose, therefore, in the subjoined remaiks, to set forth the exact position of British steam enterprise in connection with this portion of the plobe, and to exhibit some of the causes whioh pt present produce the inconvenient and anomalous results that British steamers are frequently anticipated by the American rival lines, and that mails, passengers, and intelligence, reach England via New York, from certain points of the West Indies and South America, more quickly than they can be brought by the so called steamers. Assuming that from the Isthmus of Panama to England should be considered a main trunk line, say from Chagres to Southampton, we find the existing routes are as follows :— HOMEWAIID. -.»., Steamer Mlles ■ stops. Chaffres to Cartliagena .. .... 280 1 day. Cartbagena to Kingston (Jamaica) 470 2| days. Jamaica to Jacmel (Hayti) .. 255 £ day, Jacrael to San Juan (Porto Rico) „.. 388 Jday. Porto Rico to St. Thomas .... 65 2 days. St. Thomas's to F.iyal 2249 1 duy. Fayal to Southampton 1373 Total distance Isthmus to Southampton.... 5080 occupying 32 to 35 days, including the stoppages above refer- ed 10. One glance at this statement of the indirect route, and frequent stoppages of the Royal mail steamers, will fully account for the reason why American steamers faking a direct route, as follows, are enabled to anticipate them :— Days. Cha^reii to Jamaica..... .... s Jnniaioa to New York 7 New York to Liverpool 12 22 And for detention at Jamaica.. 1 Average detention flt New York, by reason of intermediate ariivals 3 Total, Chapres to Liverpool via New York 26 or a saving in time of from 7 to 10 days. It cannot, therefoie, be astonishing that the New Yoik route is preferred. What passenger would not with to shorten his sea voyajte a week or tea days ? Will the great hulk of the mercantile interest direct correspondence to be sent by the lengthened route, when their communications through other channels will reach their destination upwards of a week in advance of the British steamers ? and will not ihe valuable freights of gold, cochineal, &c, soon follow in the track of the mails and passengers to New York, as being the safest and quickest mode of transmission to England ? The West India steamers lea^e Chagres with an average fi eight of 1,000,000 of dollars (frequently moie) for England. This amount may be expected shortly to be much augmented by the supplies ot gold (rom the California mines, n.)d no doubt each monthly steamer will soon be enabled to embark from 1,000,000 to 4,000,000 of dollars in specie and bullion for delivery at the Bank of England. Can it be expected, therefore, that the merchants owinfj such valuable remittances will permit their treasure to be shipped by the West India s earners, which, with these frrge suras on board, stay idling by the way a day at Carthagena ; two, three, and sometimes four d-iys at Jamaica ; a quaiter of a day at Hayti and Porto Rico ; two days at St. Thorn as' k, and so on, wlun the insurance risk is greatly increased ? And is it not natural to expect that the New Yurk. route, so much shorter and more rapid, will completely supersede the present West India plan of intei course with the isthmm, unless an alteration be speedily and effectually applied ? A remedy may be devised whereby the whole of these evils may be removed, and the traffic now almost

entirely loit to or leaving (he West India steamers, completely restored. Such a desirable consummation can only be brought about by,— fiist, a chance of route with fpwer itoppae;es 5 second, the employment of steamer 1 ! cf greater pow?r and spsed to perform the Atlantic voyages. If the We»t India steamers were permitted to take a direct route, as follows:— Chaerr*s to St. Thomas's 1120 miles. St. Thomas* to Fayal 2249 " Fayal to Southampton 1370 •' The total distance from Chagres to Southampton would be, lay.. 4742 " And the distance saved thus : » Cbnf»res to Southampton, via Jamaica, Jscmel, Porto Rico, St. Thomas's, and Fayal 5080 " Chagres to Soutaamjiton, via St. Thomas's and Fayal ............ 4742 « 338 «« By employing the steamers of the Ctmard class, say with a proportion of 700 to 808 horse power to a burden of 2000 tons, capable of maintaining a minimum, average speed often knots, the through voyage from I Chagres to Southampton could be performed in twentyone or twjnty-three days, including (he necessary stopages for coaling at Fayal and St. Thomas's and thus a fortnight or ten days would be the real saving in time, while the New York route would be surpassed ia regard to the economy of time effected. The only alteration in the present arrangements necessary to gaard ajrainst a derangement in the intercolonial service wonld be the neceisity of having; a branch steamer to brine; up mails from San Juan Nicaragua, Carthagena, Jamaica, &c, to St. Thomas's, there to meet the direct steamer from Cdagres, which would also be joined at St. Thomas's by the vessel from Demerara with the Homeward. Windward, and Leeward mails, as at present. Jamaica would not be prejudiced by this arrangement, as that island would hate the fame accommodation as at present, while the employment of more rapid steamers would briny that place to within 17 to 19 days' 'voyage of England via St. Thomas's, instead of 22 to 26 days, as at pre~ sen*-. The' route outwards'to the isthmus pursued by these steamers is still mo r e objectionable and lengthy, and, if pricked out on a map, will prebably excite a smile. It is as follows :—: — Miles. ' Southampton to Madeira .. 1,287 steamer stops half-a-day. Madeira to Barbadoes 2,610 — one day. Barbadaes to St. Thomas's 420 •— quarter of a day. St. Thomas's to Porto Rico.. 65 — Porto Rico to Jactnel 388 — one day. Jacmel to Jamaica......... 255 — one day. Jamaica to Santa Martha .... 440 — quarter of a day. Santa Martha to Carthagena. . 105 — half a day. Cathagena to Chagres 280 —

Total distance., 5,850 mile* from Southampton to the isthmus, occupying 35 to 36 days, when, if the principle of a through or trunk line, via St. Thomas's were* adopted to which other lines should be tributary, the distance would be 4742 miles, occupying 22 or 23 days, thus effecting a laving in distance of 1108 miles, and 10 or 12 dayi in time, which would be principally accompliihed by the fewer stopages and superior speed of steamers under the new regulations thus assumed. To conform to this arrangement the Pacific Steam Navigation Company's ships might leare Valparaiio about eight or ten days later than at present, to be in time at Panama for the iteamers leaving this side of isthmus for England, and it may be estimated that the general mail service from all parts of the West Indies and South America would be accelerated from seven to te.n days, and the course of post shortened 14 to 20 days, thus bringing the correspondence with all the ports embraced in the scheme into a much shorter general communication wit!) Europe. That some arrangement, of which this is an outline, will be indispensable, if the Royal Mail Company intends to secure the traffic between England and the greater part of the New World, wurt be perfectly evident. The matter speaks for itself. A week's priority in mercantile correspondence is an age, during which a fortune may be made or lost, and if the pre« sent ilovv conveyances are continued, with their circuitous route and perpetual stoppHges, the whole of the mails, passengers, and specie from the "West Coast of America and some parts of the West Indies will be lost to the Royal Mail Company, whose ships will be almost entirely surperseded by the American stcameift. In a national point of view Great Britian cannot afford that the advantages of a communication primarily opened and established by herself, and so essential to her owu mercantile prosperity, should be diverted into another and a rival channel, precisely at a juncture when the intercourse has become, and is likely to become, increaiingly remunerative and important. The prosperity of the Royal Mail Steamp^cket Company, nay, its veryexistanre, is bound up in this question, and it must rise or fall exactly in proportion to its efforts to retain the traffic legitimately and propeily its due. Unless some alterations are made the English gteemers, compared with the American ships will, in the railway parlance, be merely slow Parliamentary ttaiua running against express mails, the former defeating their own object by continual and vexations stoppages, the latter distancing their competitors by their extreme rapidity and celeiity. That this climax is likely to result may be gathered from the immense efforts now making by theAmeri cans to increase and extend their mercantile steam marine. The building yards of New York are filled with stupendous steamers in course of constiuction, and alre idy many have commenced runnine. The line of steamers between Panama and San Francisco have been eminently successful. The name may be said of the vessels running in conjunction with them on this side of tlie isthmus from Cha»res to New York, the steamer Falcon, Crescent City, and Empiie City. While writing this your correspondent has bctoie him a description of the American steam-ship Ohio, the pioneer of a mail line of rive gigantic ships intended to maintain a weekly communication between New "York and the Isthmus .of Panama, via Havannab, in direct competition with the West ludia steamers. The Ohio is of 2GOO tons burden, and 1000 horse power. Sh« sailed from New York on her first vof age on the 30th of September, and returned on the 15tu October, full of passengers and with a toni"')oi > jiblf > amount of fcpeck\ The Georgia^ a sister ship, u nearly rendy for sea, and the other three are prejiaritisr. AH those »hip» are to attain a speed of eleven knots, and will have aicoawjo* OatiWiß for 250 passengers.

The present West India tteamers are beautiful model* of natal architecture, nnd in regard to their management and sea going qualities may be said to be unfiurp«w.d. When they were constructed in 1841 and 1842 it was not considered desirable to proportion so great an amount of hcifle power to tonnage as subse* q'lent successful experiments have demonstrated to be both safe and efficient for Transatlantic voyaging. The conssCQu-Kce ir. that, compared with certain Atlantic steaineis, they are somewhat deficient in speed, and several of them will not ayertge more than from seven to eight knots. Recent improvements in the boilers and machinery of others, such as the Mcdivay, the Thames, Clyde, Avon, and Severn, have augmented their tpeedi and these vessels are capable, under favourable circumstances, of making eight to ten knots per hour. Such a speed it, however, manifestly insufficient to meet the present requirments of ocean steaming when exposed to powerful competition. To effect an independent communication with Mexico and the Weit Indies via Bermuda and Havannah, on the one hand, snd with the West Indies and Pacific on the other, with such rapidity as it indispensable to compete successfully with the American steamers, new ships of the class now running between Liverpool and New Fork should be employed, while the present vessels could be advantageously provided with employment on the in. tercolonial or branch services, in conjunction with the main lines. This inhject acquires additional importance, and the necessity of an independent trunk line to the Isthmus of Panama (to which the other lines should be feeders,) and which should be carried out by steam-ships of greater power, is the more apparent, when taken in connexion with the disposition of the Government to extend steam communicaiion to South Australia tnd New Zealand by way of Panama, in preference to the originally contemplated route, via Southampton, Alexandria, and Singapore, from the latter of which placet the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Com. 1 pany proposed to extend their line to the Australian and New Zealand ports. It is understood that the Government will shortly be prepared to receive tenders for conveying thue mails by either of v the two routes referred to. The reipective distances are estimated as nearly as possible as follows :— Isthmus of Suez Route, Miles. Southampton to Gibraltar. ....... 1,150 Gibraltar to Malta 1,032 Malta to Alexandria 856 Alexandria to Aden 1,600 Aden to Ceylon ......2,159 Ceylon to Penang 1,209 Penang to 5ingap0re.......... .... 408 Singapore toßatavia 600 Batavia to Torres Straits 2,500 Torrei Straits to Sydney 1,800 Total— Southampton to Sydney 13,283 To which add,-— Sydney to Port Nicholson (New Zealand 1.200 Making a total of. ...14,488 from England to Australia and New Zealand. The present voyage from Southampton to Singapore occupies forty-nine or fifty days, nnd, supposing the remainder of the distance to be preformed by steamers at an average minimum speed of eight knots, the total voyage would occupy (including stoppages), lay eighty to eighty-four days The Panama route would stand thus — Miles. Southampton to Fayal 1,873 Fayal to St. Thomas's 2,249 St. Thomas's to Chagrei., 1,120 Panama to Tahiti 4,489 Tahiti to Port Nicholson (New Zealand) 2.280 Port Nicholson to Sydney 1,200 Southampton to Port Nicholson and Sydney 12,702 The distances used as above from Panama to Australia are not calculated for the great circle, but the shortest distance, or the track which a steamer would probably pursue. Thit, however, would necessarily be modified by the prevailing winds. From Panama te Tahiti the winds would generally be favourable— from Tahiti to Port Nicholson less so. Reversing the rule for opposite directions, different courses might be taken at various seasons. Presuming the voyage from Southampton to the Isthmus of Panama to occupy 23 days, and that the distance from Panama be accomplished at an average speed of eight knots as allowed to the steamers from Singapore), and allowing for the necessary stoppages, the voyage throughout would be performed in 68 to 72 days, or on the voyage from England to New Zealand and Australia showing an saving of 2186 miles in distance, and of 10 to 13 days in time. It is, of course, impossible to state with any degree of correctness which of the two routes, on the whole, possesses the greatest advantages, or which will ultimately be preferred, but of the Panama plan it may be said that not only does it offer the advantages of being the shortest, atraighteet, and moit direct track to the Australasian colonies, but alto that the difficulties and dangers of the navigation are far less, when contrasted with the dangers and intricacies of the navigation from Singapore to Sydney, northward of Australia, including the coasts of New Guinea, Borneo, Timo, and Torres Straits, which would have to be traversed connected with the Suez scheme. Reverting to our remarks on the subject of the West India steamers, it must be borne in mind that modifi« cation and changes in their present routes, which every day's experience is showing to be more necessary and desirable, can only be effected with the direct sanction of the Admirality. It is therefore to be hoped that ere long, the circumstances enumerated, operating so disadvantageous^ to the interests of the British steamveiseli, may bring about some alteration whereby the competition of rival lines of American steamers shall be counteracted, and the traffic conducted through its proper channel. If the Americans began late in ocean steam nsvigation t they have certainly made, and are making, great strides. Their efforts are not, however, tjo be feared, if they be met with corresponding energy and enterprise on the part of interests in this country. The Royal mail steam line must, «s a necessary consequence, fall into gradual in significance and disrepute, unless those efforts are made which the formidable opposition their ships are called upon to encounter so urgently demands. Nor can it be imagined that it will answer the purpose of the Government and the people of this country to subsidize a line of steamers to the extent of £240,000 per annum, the utility of which has nearly ceased and is partially superseded. It is a struggle for British capital and enterprise against the energy of the Americans, and, if the former be fully and fairly employed and skilfully developed in its own legitimate sphere ! Some determinations will doubtless soon be taken upon this important subject by the Admiralty, and then, armed with needful facilities, the Royal Mail Steampackat Company (to borrow the mode of expression from a Transatlantic contemporary) will only have "to put on (be steam" to insure a successful niult,