STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH THE WEST INDIES, MEXICO, AND THE PACIFIC. [From the Times, December 10.] Southampton, December 8.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 503, 29 May 1850, Page 3

STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH THE WEST INDIES, MEXICO, AND THE PACIFIC. [From the Times, December 10.] Southampton, December 8.

We have reason to know thtt the present positiou and r prospects of British steam enterprise in connexion with the West Indies, Mexico, and the Pacific, have recently occupied the earnest attention of the Lords of the Admiralty and the directors of the Royal Mail Steam-packet Company, and that arrangements are being made whereby the English steamers now plying to those important parts of the world will be placed in such a position as to enable them to secure that traffic which legitimately pertains to them, and which to so great an extent has been diverted, and is still being diverted, by the sadden and -powerful competition of rival, although not direct, lines of American steamers. The great and increasing injury in its various phases resulting from the active opposition of the Americans to the steamers of the Royal West India Mail-packet Company has been repeatedly exhibited in this journal, and

w« are happy td say that in the new organization of this important service some of the suggestions we have found it necessary to make are likely to be carried into effect. We allude more particularly to the great necessity which has existed for a change in the routes, and also for the employment of steam sbips of greater average speed to perform the Atlantic voyages, both of which measures have been urged in the Times as indispensable to accomplish the service with that regularity, rapidity, and precision so urgently demanded by the vast political and commercial interests involved in the intercourse with the "West India colonies and Spanish America, maintained by this scheme of steam communication. Nor has the peculiar importance of establishing a straight and direct line of steam communication to and from the Isthmus of Panama, which we have felt it our duty so strongly to recommend, escaped the observation of the Government and the Company, and we are glad to learu that one of the cardinal points of the new arrangements is the opening up of an independent and rapid route between Southampton and Chagres, in place of the present devious one adopted to that part of Central America. Mexico and the island of Cuba have also received that share of consideration which the extent of British commerce with the various parts of those states demands, and the intercourse with Havannah, Tampico, and Vera Cruz is not only intended to be greatly accelerated, but also to be kept up more frequently than before. The contemplated arrangements likewise embrace a plan whereby the communication between Great Britain and her ultramarine dependencies in the West, as well as with the foreign Antilles, with the Spanish Main and Pacific, will be in the aggregate greatly accelerated and improved, and the course of post to each place considerably shortened, thus enabling the mercantile community to bring their correspondence within a narrower limit in point of time, and thereby improving and promoting all kinds of business and exchange operations. A plan to secure all these advantages to the several interests has been prepared by the Royal Mail Steam- packet Company, and proposed to the Lords of the Admiralty for adoption and approval. Although not positively sanctioned by the latter body, yet as the evils of the present system are so apparent, their prejudices to the interests of the West India line, as well as to the public, so great, and the danger of delay so imminent, we believe there is little doubt that the permission to carry them into effect, with but trifling modifications, will be accorded by the Government, and that the hands of the directors being thus loosened, they will, without loss of time, hasten the requisite measures to put the new arrangements in operation. We proceed, therefore, to state the main features of the plan, which we understand has been prepared after due calculation of the respective and relative importance of the several places and seats of commerce comprised in it, and for the information of our readers at home and abroad, we shall contrast the accommodation proposed to be afforded with that which has hitherto been enjoyed. ' It is intended to lessen the frequency of communication by the outward and homeward steamers, and in lieu of the semi-monthly mail now despatched, will be substituted a communication once in three weeks with all parts of the West Indies and South America. This alteration and curtailment is, perhaps, the only objectionable part of the arrangements* It is not, however so objectionable in reality as at first sight it may appear, and in reference to several important parts of the West Indies that will be thus affected, it is anticipated that they will be far better served than at present, inasmuch as it generally happens that the outward steamers reach their destination so near upon the closing of the homeward mail, that parties, particularly those residing in the interior (say, for example, of Jamaica and British Guiana), are under the necessity of postponing their replies to the following steamer, and thus a whole fortnight is lost. Under fresh regulations, these places, being provided with considerably quicker communication to and from the mother country, and with a sufficient interval between the arrival of one mail and the arrival of another, will find that their correspondence will reach and leave them with far greater regularity and precision than by the existing method. At all events, if a mail twice in six weeks, instead of twice a month, shall after trial be found insufficient, and if the increase of traffic shall render it desirable, it will be easy to revert aftei proper arrangements to the bimonthly steamer outward and homeward. We are of opinion that in course of time it will be absolutely uecessary to keep up a fortnightly mail with all parts of the West Indies. Under the present plan it must be borne in mind that although the British West In-

dies have a semi-monthly communication, yet with the Gulf of Mexico, with Havannab, with the Spanish Main, and the Isthmus of Panama, and some other places, only a monthly mail is now established. By the details of the new scheme it is, on the contrary, proposed to embrace the whole of these places in the uniform three-weekly mail, so that in respect to such quarters the intercourse will not only be accelerated but its frequency increased . Another important point in connexion with the performance of the service is that the exceedingly objectionable route via Bermuda is to be abandoned. The d&our to Bermuda made by the West India steamers proceeding to the Gulf of Mexico has been a source of perpetual annoyance, detention, and danger to the ships. The peculiar dangers of the Bermuda Islands are well known, and there is scarcely one of the company's ships that has not touched the rocks in their vicinity, or been ip peril in approaching them ; and when to this it is added the set of the Gulf of Florida stream across the Atlantic, against which the outward steamers to Bermuda have always to run, it is not surprising that only on one occasion has an outward steamer been able to keep the time of arrival, and the mails forwarded by this route have constantly been delivered overdue at all parts of the West Indies, to the great inconvenience of the colonists. The Dee on a very recent occasion was 22 days reaching Bermuda, and her mails were deposited at Jamaica on the 34th day, such instances being the rule rather than the exception. The Danish Island of St. Thomas is very wisely, therefore, to be made the first point of approach, and the last point of departure, for the steamers of the new line. St. Thomas will also be the head-quarters for coaling, and for the transfer of mails, passengers, cargo, &c, to and from the various branch steamers diverging from and in connexion with the main line. The main (or trunk) line of communication between England and the Isthmus of Panama, touching only at St. Thomas, is to be accomplished by new steam ships, which are about to be constructed. They will be between 2000 and 3000 tons burden, with proportionate steam-power, and they are intended to attain a regular speed of at least 12 knots. The ships, it is stipulated, shall be of superior qualities to those vessels on the Cunard line of the Niagara and Europa class, which have performed such wonders in Atlantic steaming, but whose speed, taking the duration of the most successful voyage, has barely exceeded 11 knots, and on the average is not more than 10. As these steamers will be receptacles for the whole of the passengers, mails, specie, and cargo collected from the Pacific and the Spanish Main for transmission to Europe, and, by means of the subsidiary lines, from Mexico and the various West India Islands, concentrating at St. Thomas for the homeward voyage, they will doubtless be provided with accommodation for a large number of passengers and for the considerable freights that will have to be conveyed by them. The present steamers will be employed on the intercolonial and branch services, and will be in sufficient number to provide for the due regularity of this portion of the scheme, while spare vessels will always be at hand in the event of any accident or derangement from unavoidable causes. ! The main line steamer starting from Southampton will reach St. Thomas in 12 days ; at that island several branch steamers will be waiting her arrival. To one of them will be transferred the mail and passengers for Havannah and the Gulf of Mexico ; to another the mails for Porto Rico, Hayti, Jamaica, San Jago de Cuba, and the other ports intended to be accommodated by the Jamaica route ; another ship will receive the mails for the Windward and Leeward Islands and Demerara; these vessels having previously effected a mutual interchange of intercolonial mails for the various parts of the West Indies. Such operations completed, the through or Southampton steamer will instantly proceed to the Isthmus of Panama, while the branch steamers will as quickly depart from St. Thomas for their respective destinations. Homeward the mode of operation will be of a similar character. The Main steamer, from Chagres, having reached St. Thomas with the Pacific mails on board, will find waiting for her the several branch steamers which have come up from the Gulf of Mexico, Jamaica, Demerara, &c. These vessels will immediately transfer their mails to the Atlantic steamer, and she will without delay set sail for Southampton, having on board the mails, specie, passengers, and cargo from all parts of the West Indies, Mexico, Spanish Main, and Pacific ; the various intercolonial steamers remaining at St. Thomas to coal and prepare for the arrival of the succeediug outward steamer from England. In point of detail and arrangement this plan will have vast advantages over the old and intricate plan of two separate routes outward and two home-

ward, and the whole icheme will merge into one of increased simplicity with far less probability of derangement. The routes will be as nearly as possible as follows : — Main or Through line. — Southampton to Chagres, embracing the mails of the Pacific and California, and conveying all the West India and South American mails as far as St. Thomas : — Southampton to St. Thomas, 3,622 miles, in twelve days, one day stop* page; St. Thomas to Chagres, 1,120 miles, in six days ; total, 4,742 miles from Southampton to Chagres, to be accomplished in 18 or 19 days against 5,850 miles from Southampton to Chagres, via Madeira, Barbadoes, St. Thomas, Porto Rico, Jacmel, Jamaica, Santa Martha, and Carthagena, occupying 35 days as hitherto, and effecting a saving of 16 days. From Jamaica the mails will be sent by branch steamers to St. Jago de Cuba, to Grey Town (Mosquito), to Carthagena, and Santa Martha, by such arrangements as will facilitate in a commensurate degree their intercourse with and to England. Jamaica will besides be greatly benefited by being in constant communication with those ports on the main land between which and herself a large trade will be encouraged to mutual advantage. The same may be said of Belize (Honduras), the mails for which colony are to be sent from and received at Jamaica by a branch steamer instead of to and from Havannah as at present. The effect of the development of this new scheme when fairly in operation, cannot fail to be highly satisfactory to the Government, the company, and to the public. The traffic of passengers both outwards and homewards will necessarily be very large. The New York route now generally adopted by European travellers proceeding to Jamaica, Havannah, Mexico, the Pacific, and California, and which has been adopted to supersede the existing West India plan, will in turn be abandoned, and the whole trade again revert to its proper legitimate channel. It will be well if the West India Company bear this fact in remembrance, in the construction of their new ships for a great increase of passengers and in the revision of their passenger tariff, which is undoubtedly susceptible of modification. A keen competition will under any circumstances spring up, and a moderate scale of passengers faies would cause preference to be given to the line by a certain class, independent of any other advantages which it might possess. If the Americans are forced to take advantage of the experience of Englishmen in ' regard to the manufacture of machinery for their steam ships, it must be admitted that the proprietors of British steamers may learn many useful lessons from our transatlantic friends about the treaiment and accommodation on board ship. In point of comfort, attention, and civility to passengers, the Biitish steamers are far beh'nd those of America. On board some of the English mail steamers, passengers appear to be merely tolerated, and are frequently 'snubbed,' while at the same time they pay enormous rates of passage money. We allude to this circumstance merely for the sake of pointing out a great evil, which must be remedied ere that popularity so necessary to the welfare of these kind of undertakings can be attained. The Americans know better than to behave in this way to tbe customers of their steamers ; hence they make their vessels not only floating palaces in point of furniture and decorations, but they are essentially first-rate hotels, with every comfort, convenience, and luxury that the idleness of tbe most fastidious passenger during tbe inactivity of a sea voyage could desire. The fact is — and perhaps it is an unpleasant truth to tell — that the British steamers rely too much upon the Jarge subsidies paid to them by the Govern* ment for performing the mail service, and too little upon the resources of the legitimate mercantile and passenger traffic that would, under more judicious management and moderate fares, accrue to them. It is a broad asI sertion, but nevertheless a true one, that British steamers, instead of promoting the i travelling of a medium class of passengers, absolutely prohibit it by the enormous scale of |heir fares. The time of competition has now, however, arrived, and the grand notion of classing mail steamers as merely spare ships of war must be exploded before the British vessels will be enabled to assume that position to which they are entitled. Hauteur on the part of captains and officers must give place to civility and a desire to please, and then the invidious comparisons, now drawn, will in course of time become obliterated. Besides these considerations, it is to be hoped that in their through steamers the directors of the West India Company will provide accommodation for second class passengers. Unless this be done, the American steamers from Southampton and Liverpool to

New York will carry considerable numbers of this denomination of travellers, who are largely increasing, and who might as well proceed to their destinations in British as in American steamers. In the foregoing remarks upon the extent of traffic likely to flow into the line, both from this and the other side of the Isthmus, we have not alluded to the probability of this route becoming, at a not very distant time, the great highway to and from the islands in the South Pacific — New Zealand, Van Diemen's Land, and Australia. There can be no doubt at all about this matter. Public opinion is fully impressed with the conviction that the western route is the only one worthy of adoption to these important parts of the world, embracing as it does by far the most direct, expeditious, and certain method of communication with our vast colonial possessions at the antipodes. Considerations of expense to the public service may induce the Singapore or eastern plan to be carried out ; but in that case one thing is certain, that if intercourse is not extended from Panama to Sydney by means of British steamers, the Americans will speedily accomplish it, and even then the traffic for England must eventually be brought upon the line of steamers from Chagres to England. Having thus detailed the routes that, in all probability, will be adopted to maintain the scheme of communication thus to be reorganized, and pointed out the sources of traffic, as likewise the conveniences to bo derived by the public from the change as contrasted with the old system, the first inquiry will be — when, and how soon, there is a chance •of these desirable alterations being carried into effect? Unfortunately upon this point we are not so clear, and we fear that a considerable interval must elapse ere such steps will be taken as are indispensable to satisfy the exigency of the occasion. The large steam ships intended to perform the through voyage have to be be constructed ; and it is doubtful if four vessels of the requisite size and power could be built, equipped, and got ready for sea in less than from 12 to 18 months. Is it possible, therefore, that so much time must be wasted ere the present injudicious arrangements of routes are to cease ? If so, it - is pretty clear that a vast amount of the traffic (particularly that fo and from the Isthmus cf Panama, Mexico, and Jamaica) will be diverted to the American steamers, and the traffic so lost will not readily be regained, however favourable the subsequent arrangement may be. What have the Americans done in steam navigation in 18 n onths ? It is scarcely that time since the world was astonished by the gold discoveries in California, and yet in less than a year two lines of steamers have been placed in operation between New York and Cbagres ; another from New Orleans to Chagres was established ; and recently a third line of steamers, of 2,600, tons, has been started from New York, Savannah, New Orleans, and Havannah, to Chagres, and two of the five ships of this line are plying on that station, the other three being in process of construction. Besides these a monthly line of mail steamers has been established between San Francisco and Panama, and these vessels have been running for some months, with remarkable success, and without accident. The whole of these ships had to be built specially for the service, and those for the west coast sent round Cape Horn. Yet all has been accomplished in little exceeding a year. How much in so short a time ! Is the success of the Americans any longer an enigma, seeing that when the necessity for new enterprise is apparent, they instantly set about its accomplishment with energy and determination ? Unless, therefore, the directors of the West India Mail Company are in earnest, and act with corresponding promptness and vigour, they must consent to take leave of the better part of their passenger traffic, and to run their ships ostensibly for carrying the mails, but in reality merely to fulfil the contract, because most of the correspondence will speedily be sent through other channels, till some alteration be effected. Pending the preparation of the new ships, could not the revised routes be adopted at once by the existing vessels, and thus a considerable saving in time immediately produced — an instalment of that which is to comei