STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 494, 27 April 1850, Page 4

STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND.

The following article on Steam Communication with Australia and New Zealand is extracted from the Times, Nov. 30. The writer begins by stating the fact that the Lords of the Admiralty have recently issued a notification inviting tenders for the monthly conveyance of her Majesty's Mails to and from Sydney in Australia for a period of seven years certain. After stating the conditions of the proposed contract, the penalties for delay or non-performance of its stipulations, the number, tonnage, and horsepower of the vessels proposed to be employed with other particulars, he contrasts the route vid the Isthmus of Panama with that vid the Isthmus of Suez as follows : — The Panama route undoubtedly offers the advantage of being the shortest and by far the most rapid method of communicating with South Australia, while the plan by wty of Suez and Singapore could possibly be carried out st a less cost to the public service. A few observations on the relative merits of the two routes thus placed in juxtaposition may not be out of place to illustrate their respective advantages and disadvantages. We would preface these remarks by observing, that in the establishment of great national undertakings, and especially of steam communications with distant colonies, an undue parsimony is likely to become fatal to the object fought to be accomplished. For the sake of a small annual saving it would seem, to be scarcely worth while tcgiye the : preference to any route, that may eventually add not very distantly be supersedqd by another route, offering, if not the advantage of cheapness, at all events the advantage amongst

others of the greatest celerity that it is possible to attain. A signal instance of the truth of these remarks as applicable to mail contracts is now presented in the position of the West India Mail Company. If ships of greater speed had been at first employed in working the West India, Mexican, and Spanish mail contract, and if the mo^t direct routes had been adopted, with branch lines diverging from the main line of steamers, the utility of several parts of that gigantic and expensive scheme would not have been superseded to so great au extent as they now promise to be by the sudden and energetic competition of a rival power. An outline of the comparative distances j from Southampton to Australia, either by way of Suez or Panama, was exhibited in the Times of the 2nd November — they are as fol- j lows :—: — Miles. Southampton to Sydney, via Gibraltar, Malt*, Alexandria, Suez, Aden, Ceylon, Singapore, Batavia, and Torres Straits 13)288 Sydney to Port Nicholson, New Zealand 1,200 Total '. 14*488 Southampton to Port Nicholson, New Zealand, via St. Thomas, Panama, and Tahiti 11,500 Port Nicholson to Sydney 1,200 Total 12,700 thus showing a difference in distance from Southampton to Sydney and New Zealand of 2788 miles in favour of the Panama plan. It will be borne in mind as a peculiar advantage of the latter route, that steamers from Panama and Tahiti outwards would first pass through Cook's Strait, and be enabled thereby to effect a quick communication with New Zealand, without prejudice to the Australian mails, which would be delivered at, and brought away from, Sydney within a shorter time than by the Singapore steamers, while the latter would of course make Sydney first, and the New Zealand branch would have to be performed by additional steamers; thus England to Sydney, vid Suez and Singapore, is 13,288 miles, after which 2400 miles of sea voyage would have to be accomplished to bring the New Zealand mails to Sydney for transmission to England, while the distance from England to Sydney, vid Panama, calling at Port Nicholson, is only 12,700 miles in all. The eastern or Suez route presents the advantage of bein&more cheaply and more readily carried out, because steam communication is already advanced as far as Singapore, a distance of 8488 miles, whereas the western plan is at present advanced only to Chagres, a distance of 4742 miles. To complete the communication to Sydney and Port Nicholson only 6000 miles of fresh communication have to be opened, against 7960 miles to be extended from Panama to Sydney, leaving a balance in favour of the Suez line of nearly 2000 miles less to be performed by contractors, while, however, the Panama plan would have the advantage of 2186 miles total saving in distance, as before shown. Contractors could probably, therefore, tender at a lower price for carrying the mails by the longer distance, than could parties proposing to convey them by way of Panama, which would be the shortest and most direct route when completely and fully carried out. The pecuuiary effects of this difference in distance, which remains to be carried out, may undergo some modification from causes connected with the increase of passengers and goods traffic which would result in favour of the Panama contractors. It may be assumed from careful consideration that a much larger traffic of both merchandize and passengers would come to Panama than by the Singapore and Suez steamers. The intercourse springing up between Sydney and California, and the intercourse with the United States which will eventually arise, would all be drawn to and increased by the Panama line, while the same would be checked, if not entirely stopped, by the eastern line. Neither must the advantage of a steam communication between Great Britain and the islands in the South Pacific be forgotten in this scheme, and which would receive development by the Panama plan which is impossible by way of Suez. It is an axiom in steam navigation that no transatlantic or ocean steam enterprise can be properly supported unless under the fostering protection of Government in the shape of an annual payment for the mail service. But on the other hand, a proper development of the cargo, specie, and passenger traffic assists the contractor, by enabling him to carry GovernI ment mails at a more reasonable rate. It is doubtful whether, in respect to British steamers, these matters are so well understood as in America, where we see the contract mail | steamers have been built, and are being con- ! structed, of gigantic size with great capacity for cargo and accommodation for large numbers of passengers. The Ohio United States' | mail steamer sailed from New York for Chagres not long since, with 450 prssengers, all of the better class. The Crescent City sailed on the same day with 300. Ocean-steaming in Great .Britain has never contemplated such an accession to its receipts as this, and if some of

the English steamers were less men-of-war and more of packet steamers, perhaps the interests of both Government and contractors would be advanced, and the public service performed better and more economically. These remarks do not so forcibly apply to the present case, where it is not to be expected that a large number of passengers will at first be induced to travel. The only way the passenger traffic can be increased is by the adoption of the shortest, and consequently the cheapest route for the use of the travelling public of Australia and New Zealand. With a quick method of getting to the mothercountry, and at a reasonable price, our brethren at the antipodes would more frequently visit Great Britain ; emigration of the better class would be promoted, and the voyage would speedily lose its terrors if shortened to the greatest possible extent. With regard to the goods traffic, the Panama route certainly has all the advantages. There are no descriptions of goods, however I valuable, save jewellery, which could afford to pay the charges to which they would be subjected if conveyed vid Suez, including the expenses of transmission across the isthmus of Suez, trans-shipments at Ceylon and Singapore, besides the high freights current on the existing line to Singapore, which would be further augmented by the increased distance to be traversed to the ultimate destination. It is certain, however, that a variety of costly articles of merchandize, such as silks, gloves, and superior articles of wearing apparel and dress, could be conveyed by way of Panama at such a rate of freight that, while it would not be prohibitory to the articles, would prove remunerative to the vessels. The Panama railroad, to be finished in two years, will afford vast facilities for the transit of merchandize, mails, and passengers, not possessed by the Suez isthmus. In a short time, says a New York paper, " A traveller will light his cigar at the galley fire of the steamer at Chagres, and throw the yet ignited fragment that may remain, after crossing the isthmus by railway, into the waters of the Great Pacific." The dangers of navigation by the western route are far less than by the eastern one, and the stoppages are less frequent. We base our remarks upon the supposition that an independent line of communication will soon be established between England and the isthmus of Panama, the arrangements for which we believe are in process of adjustment, and the terms of which will provide for the straight course from Southampton to Cbagres in place of the devious course now adopted by the West India steamers, which, unless an alteration be quickly effected in regard to the Pacific traffic, must soon be superseded by the two lines of American mail steamers in operation between Chagres and New York. One advantage embraced by the eastern plan would certainly be the affording to the inhabitants of Sydney steam communication with Singapore and with certain parts of India ; this, however, might safely be left to the j enterprise of the colonists- themselves, who would doubtless prefer the most speedy communication with England to all other considerations, and would pronounce for a saving of a fortnight in the time occupied on the voyages, which is about the saving that could be j effected by the Panama route. The Admiralty are willing to receive tenders for the employment of steam vessels to perform the Sydney mail service, to be propelled either by paddle wheels or screws. Whatever miy be the peculiar merits and advantages of screws, when used as auxiliaries for the propulsion of war steamers, — and it cannot be denied that the absence of paddle boxes is an advantage to a ship of war — yet, to all intents and purposes, screw steamerare not fit for employment in the packet service, where speed and precision of performance are the desiderata. A speed adequate to the requirements of a transatlantic packet steamer has never yet been attained by a steamer on the screw principle ; and when to this are added the great risk of derangement, and the helpnessness of a screw steamer in the midst of the ocean with her screw deranged, it is evident that screws cannot be piit into competition with paddle wheel steam ships for packet service. "Many recent examples will demonstrate the truth of this— the British and North American Royal mail steamer Niagara, a fortnight since, came across from New York to Liverpool with only one engine working both paddles, and the voyage occupied but 12| days ; the larboard engine hav- | ing broken down and being perfectly useless. The West India mail steamer Severn having broken her starboard paddle wheel »haft in February last, actually made the voyage from Bermuda to Southampton, a distance of 3019 miles, in a little over 13 days, though pro1 pelled by only one wheel. The Teviot shortly before performed the same voyage with only one engine in 16 days ; and in March the Avon came fromSt.Thomas, a distance of 3622 miles in 26 days, with only one paddle wheel, although she encountered most tremendous' weather, with a succession of head winds the

whole way. Thus it follows that paddle wheelsteamers are never entirely crippled — one-en-gine may break down, but the other remains, by which both paddles can be worked at » speed of three- fourths the ordinary rate ; or one of the paddles may give way, leaving the other one to be worked by both engines ; btf one paddle only may be worked by one engine. Several accidents of this nature Kiv* happened within the past two or three year* to the West India and also to the United States mail steamers, but never has a*otal crippling of the machinery occurred, and the vessels have consequently been enabled 1 to make their desired ports in safety, and with little comparative detention. If, on the contrary, any of the steamers above mentioned had been provided with screws, they would instantly have become completely helpless, and would perhaps have been buffeted about in the stormy and tempestuous sea of the Atlantic, to the imminent peril of the crew and passengers, and could not possibly have reached their destinations. The fact is that screw steamers bear about the same comparative merits to paddle steamers for Atlantic or ocean navigation, that the atmospheric principle on railways does to locomotive propulsion, and hence there is no doubt that in future the paddle steamers will receive preference for the contract mail service. There is another consideration in reference to the class of steamers suitable for conveying Her Majesty's mails — that is, about their being built in such a way as lo be adapted for war steamers in case of necessity. That may be all very well, and it is doubtless desirable to construct packet steamers sufficiently strong for the mounting of heavy guns, but this should not be done at the expense of speed. Speed henceforward, with safety and precision, should be the all-important points for packet steamers. Let the British vessels employed on this service be more thoroughly adapted for running away than for fighting, and the packet service will be less liable to interruption in the event of war. A large steamer going 12 or 14 knots could run away from any frigate, steamer, or fleet, that might chase her, and her belligerent qualities would therefore never be called into requisition. As it appears by the preceding reraaiks that the quickest approach to the islands of the Pacific, New Zealand, and Australia, is by way of Panama, and that the longer but cheaper route to Sydney is by way of Singapore, and as there attach to the former plan various advantages which are not comprised in the latter, is it difficult to tell which plan oughtto be preferred ? Should the cheapness of the Suez route be permitted to preponderate against its greater length, its circuity, uncertainty, and increased danger? And putting aside tin pounds shillings and pence consideration of whether it is not advisable to perform the object properly at first, though at a possibly augmented cost, are there not other considerations, both national and political, which should lead to the adoption of' the most expeditious route of which the geographical position of our southern possessions is susceptible ? Most assuredly there are. Our great future rivals in the navigation of the Pacific and Indian oceans are already contemplating a line of mail steamers from Panama to the South Pacific, to embrace Valparaiso, the Friendly and Society Islands, New Zealand, and Australia. If Great Britain carries out the scheme, the Americans will most likely abandon it, on the ground that two lines are unnecessary ; but if the Government should perchance leave this field unoccupied it will soon be taken up by our transatlantic friends, and we may possibly have the mortification of perceiving that American enterpriie and capital are flourishing by the remissness of the English Government, who for a small consideration of expense, neglect to take the straightest and shortest course to a given point, and permit a younger and more energetic country to step in and reap the advantages- of her inertness. •* The claims of Australia and New Zealand ought also to be taken into account. These vast extents of territory exhibit but the bud of flourishing colonies ; of unexampled resources and fertility yet undeveloped, they contain perhaps the germs of powerful and independent States, which iv future ages may rival the powers of the Old World. All the interests, whether political or commercial, are identical in this matter, and therefore the quickest and shortest cut to those important parts of the world is the only bne worthy of adoption.