WAGHORN'S NEW STEAM ROUTE TO AUSTRALASIA via SINGAPORE.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 135, 14 November 1846, Page 4

WAGHORN'S NEW STEAM ROUTE TO AUSTRALASIA via SINGAPORE.

£From the Auttralian Journal, Oct. 13.] We noticed, a shorl time since, that Lieut. "Waghorn had published, in London, a pamphlet upon the above interesting subject. It appears in this pamphlet, (according to the. Liverpool Albion), that — Mr. Waghorn first grapples with the Panama route, which he says looks very well on the chart " to those whose acquaintance with -the map is confined to the school-room, and who do not reflect that space is to be reckoned, not by rule and compass, but by the facilities or difficulties of getting over the distance." He shows that the Panama route is utterly (impracticable : first, because, according to the recent survey of the French engineers, the • cost of catting a -canal through the mountainous region is estimated at 150 millions of francs,' or six millions sterling — an outlay altogether and at once decisive against any plan involving it : and, secondly, because the first and only stopping-place between Panama and Port Jackson is distant 3668 miles from the former, being one of the Marquesa Islands, where, if the most recent and best informed -authorities are to be -credited, " the maintenance of a proper station would be impossible." The Erench do all they can to encourage the ' idea that the Panama 'route is the only one ; i but the lieutenant shows, even if it were pos- ■ sible, the true route for our purpose would be that which should promote a more intimate , connexion with the Eastern or Chinese Arch- j dpelago, whose islands are so numerous that { ■over -many of them the British flag has never j yet waved. He proposes to accomplish this \ object by =means of the Peninsular add/Orien- ' tal Steam Navigation Company, Who, only two years ago, extended their Calcutta line to China, by having a branch service at Point de Galle, invthe Island of Ceylon, and thence proceeding through the Strait of Malacca, and so to Singapore and Hongkbng. At the time government made the contract with the company for the> route just' mentioned, they reserved to themselves the power of extension to* Australia whenever it might be deemed expedient to do so. Mr Waghorn calls upon them now to do so, . in the mode laid down in the subjoined table.

The Albion then proceeds to observe — Mr. Waghorn is of opinion that the whole of the above distance may be accomplished in twenty-one days, and dwells upon the peculiarities of the navigation in a way which shows Him to be fully master of its difficulties. He fortifies his views in this respect by citations from the recent elaborate surveys of Torres' Straits, &c, made in the Beagle, vn&er Commander Stokes, ±t.N., whom he strongly urges on the attention of the government, in connexion with this scheme ; as he does also Lieut. Earl, the linguist to the North Australian Expedition, and Commissioner of Crown Lands at Port Essington, of which .latter locality,™ particular, a description is- given, that fully justifies the appellation of a " second Singapore" bestowed on it by-Mr. Waghorn. To all acquainted* with the geography of the portion of the globe embraced in the above table, the 'figures introduced will be abundantly explanatory. . But to those who are not so, it would be most useful, were it practicable, to transfer the map prefixed to the pamphlet to our columns :' from which it will be seen at a

glance that the line is nearly as direct as possible from Singapore, at the southern extremity of the Indian Peninsula, to Sydney, at the south-east of Australia, passing Banca, Batavia, Samarang, Sourabaya, Flores, Kissa, Timor, PortEssington, through Torres' Straits at Wednesday Island, round by Breaksea Spit, past Moreton Bay, and into Sydney. Exclusive of the gain in the way of speed from the adoption of this route, Mr. Waghorn points out others that are not undeserving of attention at this particular moment. He says, that, "by establishing steam navigation between Singapore and Sydney, you at once create in that part of the world a steam navy capable of mounting guns of any calibre, when wanted, against an enemy, or of transporting troops to Singapore, and to Hongkong, China, or Calcutta, as might be needed. Also, that the necessity for fortifications in the South Pacific, and the Indian Ocean, would be done away with by these steamers, which would be fortifications in themselves, carrying within them the means of destroying any enemy they might meet with." There are also other advantages which he points out in reference to the improvement of the little known navigation of Torres' Straits, and New Zealand generally. But on these it is not here necessary to enter. Some of the sources of revenue on which the company (whatever it might be) would have a right to reckon upon are specified in the pamphlet. Large immediate returns from the ingress and egress of passengers and settlers to and from Calcutta may, with certainty, be calculated upon, says the author. "It is impossible," he adds, "to foresee the extent of this. A very large amount might be named, and yet fall short of the reality. I abstain from naming any sum. I ask those conversant with the state of things in this respect now, to ask themselves what it would be, with ■team, at the end of three or five years ; at the end of the first term of the government contract with the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company or others? Independently of all other sources of trade, which rapid conveyance in these regions would call into existence, and extend on all sides, one great traffic important to the empire in a political point of view, and lucrative to individuals commercially, would necessarily spring up in the breeding of horses in Australia for the army in India ; and on this head, too, 1 ajjpieal to the experience of all who know the existing mode of supplying our Indian army with horses, and who can compute the effect of ti regular, constant, and cheap importation of them from Australia," Having now stated the lieutenant's case, as nearly as may be in his own fashion, having regard to our circumscribed limits, we come to what he calls the chief end and aim of his address, namely, the amount of the grant from the crown which he asks for the Peninsular and Oriental Company to extend their operations from Singapore to Sydney, or for any other company, a new one if requisite, should the Peninsular and Oriental not come to fair and reasonable terms : for he says, that if any difficulty arose on that head, a company would be forthcoming in London in two or three months ; and when we see the strength of his committee, and consider the character of the man, it is exceedingly likely he would fulfil to the letter all he professes to undertake. He asks for £100,000 per annum, the contract, in the first instance, to be entered into for say three or five years, after which he thinks considerable letrenchment might be effected, but he advises that no foolish economy should be attempted at the outset. In preferring this claim, he reminds us that £240,000 per annum is given towards steam navigation with our West India colonies ; £190,000 is given for the same object in connexion with Singapore and China ; besides other grants to Cunard's line, &c, and that for an additional £100,000 you bring into comparative contiguity with England a region far more in want than any other of the harmonizing and moral influences thus to be imparted ; a region that would repay the generosity and care of the mother country with ten times the good to be expected elsewhere ; a region that has long cried loud against our mismanagement and neglect, and which accompanies those cries with the bitter and costly fruits which never fail to spring from the discontent that is born of injustice from England. Such is the pith of Lieutenant Wagh'orn's pamphlet,' extending to upwards of fifty pages. It~is~addfessed to the Right Hon. Mr. Gladstone, the Colonial Secretary ; and, in reference to thatrgehtleman, in connexion with his family relationship with Liverpool, one or two passages occur that may be 1 considered, indirectly perhaps, a little flattering to our local amour propre. outset, Mr. Waghorn says — "As Minister of the Colonies, your sanction is indispensable to any project 1 affecting those dej'en'dencies. As a meirffcer 'of the family of Gladstone, your, knowledge of the wants of the colonies, your intimacy with the

subject of colonization in its minute as well as its comprehensive bearings, peculiarly fit you to estimate my project at its proper worth. As a prominent servant of the crown, your approval will insure to it that aid from the Government which will at once give it a vigorous activity, and lay immediately the foundation of those benefits that must result from its adoption to England, and the vast territories owning her sway on the other side of the globe. High as is your position, legitimately attained, not more by great talents than by an aptitude for the business and the details of office, excuse me if I say, that nothing could be more creditable to your reputation as a statesman, nothing should be more gratifying, to the ambition of a Gladstone, than to bring this fifth quarter of the globe within that circle of rapid intercommunication with which England has, as it were encircled the rest of the earth. In proportion to the remoteness of Australia, New Zealand, &c, so will be the honour due to the minister who shall first counteract the disadvantages of its geographical position, and bestow upon it, if I may say so, the blessings of comparative proximity to England. Sir, you may be that minister. I implore you to be so. You have only to will it. I beseech you to will it ; and the consequences to this country and the vast colonies alluded to, vt ill not only eventually be immense, but they will forthwith begin to become great ; for, in connexion with Sir Robert Peel, you have it in your power, ere six months elapse, to open up the immediate and inestimable advantages of steam navigation to Australia and New Zealand." And at the conclusion of the pamphlet he says : — "It would be a source of lasting pride to me to be, in the slightest degree, instrumental in adding' to the chain that now connects India and China with Great Britain, the vast continent of Australia ; and I shall derive additional pleasure if it so happens that the minister my humble representation may have enlisted in the cause, be one to whom the colony might so appropriately own its gratitude as to the Right Hon. William Ewart Gladstone." On the merits and practicability of Lieut. Waghorn's plan we have pronounced no opinion, nor are we competent to give one of any vaiue. But we have much pleasure in laying the matter before our readers, and affording them a comprehensive key to the contents of a publication whose announcement has occasioned no little interest among a large and influential class of the community.

Madagascar. — Lieut. -Colonel Passet, coniroander-in-chief of the Isles of Mayotte and Nosse Be, has taken possession in the name of France of the three small isles of Nosse- Cumba, Nosse-Mitsion, and NosseFali, situate near the first two, at the southern entrance of the channel of Mozambique.

A Malay Festival at Graham's Town. — The Malays held a religions festival in the new store belonging to Mr. Teralett, this evening, where their noisy tambourines and wild chorusses of "allah! il allah!" attracted such a vast crowd of sixpenny visitors, that one of the centre beams gave way during a most interesting performance of sawing a man's head off with two saws at once, — an ominous lurch of the floor gave a hint to several to get down stairs as soon as possible ; one poor woman was thrown from the top of the stairs to the bottom, and dislocated her collar bone, and cut her head open. These Malay soldiers are certainly clever jugglers, and one can scarcely wonder at the anxiety of the Hottentots of Meurant's Levy lest they should "tover" (bewitch) their wives during their absence at Bathurst — many of them are very handsome fellows. This' exhibition is quite a novelty in Graham's Town. We understand the object of this festival was to prepare the men for, war ; and certainly the Priest took a very effectual mode of fortifying a man against the edge of the assegai, by placing him naked across a sharp sword held by two others, and then jaraping up on the kllow's back and treading him down on the edge of the sword. Some inflicted imaginary assegai wounds on themselves with great energy, and others went round with skewers stuck through their cheeks, shoulders, &c. — in fact there was roasting, and stabbing, and cutting, and maiming, and singing, and dancing, till the beams cracked again ; and we suppose the Malays may' now be considered fully prepared for active service. — Cape ' Frontier Times, July 1. '

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