New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4130, 16 June 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 1874.

The announcement that the Peninsular and Oriental Company has been endeavorto obtain the consent of the Post-master-General iu London to the delivery of the India and China mail in one day less time, and that of Australia in two days less than that now occupied, with a corresponding reduction in the time of the homeward route, is not altogether a matter for surprise. The directors required a thorough trial to be made of the Suez Canal before they dared to allow their immensely valuable fleet of steamers to venture through it, and they are now convinced, as all the remainder of the world has long been, that the great work of Baron Lesscps will prove an abiding one. The only surprise that there can bo in relation to the request of the Company is that it was not at once acceeded to. The facts are that the directors have been negotiating with the Homo Government for* the past six months, .and, until the advent of Lord Carnarvon to office, the matter seemed to have only got as far as the Circumlocution Office. The AgontsGeneral of Victoria and South Australia at once put themselves in communication with his Lordship respecting the offer of the company, and there can be little question that it will bo entertained. The London merchants and brokers urged its adoption very strongly, and its only opponents were certain steamboat proprietors who saw in it a diminution of their own carrying trade. In New Zealand, although our sympathies must remain with our more direct service to San Francisco, the efforts of the great Peninsular and Oriental Company, which so long brought our mail, to maintain its high prestige, will bo watched with interest ; and the move especially when certain alterations can bo effected in the time of starting the two mails, by which, instead of both leaving together the service shall be practically a fortnightly one—an arrangement that would bo beneficial to both lines. When wo have this, and a cable between Australia and New Zealand, our relations with neighboring colonies and with the countries of the old world, will naturally be strengthened. Commerce will increase, the arts will flourish, there will be more intercolonial reciprocity, and the work of civilisation will go on apace. In one respect, New Zealand will have an advantage over any Australian colony, save Now South Wales. Our communication with the old world by way of Suez, will bo as direct as will bo that of Australia ; and in the San Francisco route wo have direct connection with some of the principal ports of the islands in the South Sea, With this, and the nucleus formed of a line to trade to Fiji, wo bid fair to acquire a good share of the valuable trade that there is to bo established in the South Seas. It is not alone a desire to make use of the Suez Canal that has moved the directors to take the action they have. Hitherto the passengers and goods convoyed to the East have been landed from the steamer at Alexandria, taken by rail to Suez, and then shipped again for their destination. In consequence of this only light articles and such ns were of value could bo sent by the Company’s steamers, which consequently have usually travelled with very short cargoes on board. But if the boat should go straight through the Canal to India, China, or Australia as the case might bo, heavy goods could bo sent in it, and the Company’s revenue would thereby be increased. If this should prove to bo the case the Australian Governments will not be slow to take advantage of it when the term of thoir contract with the Company shall expire, and a fresh subsidy has to bo arranged for. But besides this the Colonics will receive an advantage iu obtaining a quicker receipt of heavy goods from London. The merchant on this side of the Equator gives his orders in London knowing that the goods will be throe months on the water in a sailing vessel. The Company will, if its vessels come through the Canal, bo able to deliver a largo quantity of these goods in half the time. The merchant will thereby save the interest upon Ills money during the time economised, and his customers will share in the advantage. It is scarcely necessary to say that tho saving of time will be appreciated by tho passengers of what is called tho Overland Route, and that they will rejoice to avoid tho miseries of transhipment, and a journey by rail over a hot sandy desert. By merchants and brokers tho change will bo welcomed because their bills will require to bo at two days’ shorter date, and they will have more time to conduct thoir correspondence and execute orders. Orders sent by one mail may be executed in time for despatch by tho following one. Ladies wishing to have tho very latest Paris fashions will appreciate this. Tho opposition of a number of steamboat proprietors to tho Company’s proposition illustrates tho changes that take place in tho commercial world, and tho liabilities to which men arc sometimes subjected other than those arising from errors of judgment. Tho opening of tho Canal entirely revolutionised the Eastern trade. Before, this wasdonoin thosmartost of clippers ; since, in fleet and powerful steamers, owned for the most part in Great Britain. . Notwithstanding tho proverbial go-a-head energy of our Yankee friends they are beaten entirely by tho British in the steam-boat trade—beaten in consequence of thoir infatuated and benighted adherence to what they call protection. Two-thirds of all the steamers in the world are owned in Groat Britain. British owners have 2558 ; United States but 420. Nor is it alone iu numbers that tho British have such a startling preeminence. Tho Canard Company has owned 148 steamers, and has never lost a life or a letter during tho many voyages its vessels have made across the Atlantic. In 1872, its steamers made 274 passages. Tho Now York Evening Post bewails British superiority as follows: “European gold builds tho steamers ; European seamen officer and man them ; they sail under and are controlled by European law; and over thorn float tho flags

of European nationalities.” They are likened to bridges, the whole of the profit and tolls of which accrue to one and only one of the parties to the transaction. After the change that took place on the opening of the Suez Canal, the owners of the clippers had to find other trade for-them. Now, if the Peninsular and Oriental Company should take a large portion of the trade done by the fleet of steamboats called into existence to take the place of the clippers, there must be a fresh trade found for the steamboats, to the loss and vexation, we dare say, of the owners. The ground of their objection is that the change gives an unfair advantage _ to a company that is already subsidized with money which they partly contribute. Wo cannot imagine that this argument would have weight with the Secretary for the Colonies. It is really ono that goes to the root of subsidies which are generally admitted to be necessary evils. At any rate, if we have.to pay subsidies it is very absurd that this should be a reason for clogging a company with a disability, thereby not permitting it to earn as much money as it could, or to fulfill its compact as expeditiously as it might. Moreover, it is to the advantage of the community at large that the Company should bo as prosperous as possible. And the directors do not want to secure all the advantage to themselves. They offer a valuable boon to the public, and, should their vessels ground in the Canal, they engage to make up for lost time by extra steaming. Their offer should be accepted, even though some steamboat proprietors suffer temporarily thereby.

The Parliament of New South Wales has at last boon moved by Mr. Parkes on the subject of the agreement entered into between representatives of the Government of that Colony, Queensland, and New Zealand, in Sydney, in February of last year, as to the laying of a telegraphic cable from New South Wales to this Colony, and another from Normantown direct to Singapore. As our readers are aware, the Government of this Colony dealt with the matter promptly. A Bill was passed last session empowering the Government to complete the preliminary arrangement entered into, and the Queensland authorities were not loss prompt. Mr. Parkes submitted the subject to Parliament on the 27th ultimo, but offered no explanation of the delay. It had been his intention, ho said, to submit the proposal long ago, but other matters interfered, and so the loss of time had occurred. Possibly Mr. Parkes would not have suffered so many months to pass if the interest of Now South Wales in the laying of the two proposed cables had been more direct. This Colony, of course, is primarily interested. Without direct telegraphic communication with England, such as our Australian and Tasmanian neighbors enjoy, we are in the background, and at a disadvantage in all matters in which early intelligence is important. Queensland has also a special interest in the laying of a cable across the Arafura Sea, and on to a connecting point with the Indo-Euro-pean lines. Her land line to Normantown -was constructed at considerable expense, and under many difficulties, only to reach a terminus at which now there is no business, for the settlement formed at the mouth of the N orman, after the Burke and Wills and Landsborough expeditions, has been for some time abandoned. Queensland benefited by the expenditure, however, for it was in constructing the line of telegraph, through a country previously but little known, and occupied by hostile tribes, who gave the contractor and his men groat trouble, that the goldfields of the Endeavor Elver, followed by the Palmer rush, were discovered. Queensland, moreover, was never satisfied with the position the Government of South Australia assumed. She was desirous of having some share in the through telegraph business ; but the Government at Adelaide steadily resisted her advances, hold steadily to their original purpose, and discouraged a proposal to connect the Normantown lino with Palmerston, so as to give the public the choice of a double trans-Australian wire. By the agreement which the last of the three contracting parties has now assented to, Queensland will achieve ono great object of her ambition, and the public will gain an advantage of no little importance in rates reduced by considerably more than one-half for messages to England, with the possession of two independent cables, so that if ono should sustain injury the other might bo able to maintain communication with Singapore, the great centre of the Asiatic lines. We have already explained the nature of the agreement provisionally entered into, and which wo may now regard as completed, for there cannot, we presume, be any doubt that the Upper House will, in such a matter as this, disagree with the lower chamber of New South Wales. Mr. Parkes informed the Assembly that the three Governments jointly guaranteed five percent, per annum upon a capital of one million, which it was estimated would bo the cost of laying a cable from Normantown to Singapore, and another from some point on the coast of Now South Wales to a point on the coast of New Zealand. What those points shall bo will probably bo determined when H.M.S. Challenger completes the line of soundings, which she is now running between Sydney and Wellington. It is estimated that the expenses of working the lines will amount to £12,000 per annum, and that sum is to be sot aside from the first earnings ; all the receipts over that amount to go towards the guarantee. The experience of the Port Darwin cable goes to show that a very much larger revenue than a sum of twelve thousand pounds represents will be earned by the Normantown lino, and it is arranged that if the profits exceed'lo percent. the surplus is to bo used for the reduction of 'the rate of charges, so as to make the use of the telegraph more easy. The rates of charge from the beginning have boon so fixed that a message from Australia to England which at present costs £5, will bo forwarded by the new lino for £2, so that the public will at once derive an enormous benefit from the competition of the two linos. The whole of the provisions, in fact, have been made with groat care for the interests of the Colonies interested. Four weeks in each year are to bo allowed to tho owners of the lino for tho necessary repairs to keep it in proper working order. Tho subsidy is only to bo assured while it is in such order. If tho northern cable at any time fails, and tho Now Zealand cable alone is at work, one-third only of tho guarantee will bo chargeable to tho Colonies ; if the Singapore lino is at work, and that in Now Zealand is silent, tho guarantee is to bo two-thirds. If both lines cease to work, then tho liabilities of the guarantors also cease. For a message of twenty words from Now Zealand to Australia tho charge is not to exceed 15s. ; tho charge for tho land lines for a message such as that referred to, is not to bo more than

Ts., while the Queensland Government is to maintain the overland line at her own expense ; and between Normantown and Singapore the cost of a twenty-word message is not to be more than 40s. for the first two years, nor more than 355. afterwards. All the details are to be arranged in London between the representatives of the three Governments directly interested. Why the Victorian Government is not also asked to join does not appear. Mr. Parkes made no reference to that colony, though there is no doubt she w-ill be a good customer, and all tho more so as messages via Normantown will be so much cheaper than those forwarded via Port Darwin, unless the competition forces the South Australian Government and tho proprietors of the Port Darwin and Singapore cable to reduce their charges at once. That tho guarantee will prove only a nominal affair Mr. Parkes has ascertained on what appears to be good data. Tho Inspector of tho Telegraph Department of Now South Wales estimates that twenty-five messages w-ill pass daily between New Zealand and Australia, the receipts from which will be ecpial to the sum allow-ed for the entire expense of working the double line. Ho estimates, further, that single-rate messages will go between Normantown and Singapore to the value of £24,000 per annum. Tho amount of the guarantee is thus at once reduced from £50,000 to less than onehalf that sum. The increase of business which is certain to come about with tho growth of tlie Colonies in prosperity —and the commercial importance of Queensland is now growing only less rapidly than that of New Zealand—will speedily reduce tho guarantee to nothing, or at most a nominal sum. We had no late information as to the manufacture of the cable, but it is known that as soon as the three Governments have formally ratified the preliminary agreement of 1873 the contractors will bo found prepared to pei-forin their part of tho work with the least possible delay. Tho nature of the bottom of the Arafurd Sea, and the narrow-er waters leading up to Singapore, is comparatively well known, and the experience of the Port Darwin cable shows that, once laid, tho line of wires is not likely to be disturbed, or to get readily out of working order. The experiments of tho Challenger—which may be looked for hero in tho course of a few weeks —will much assist the contractors in laying the Now Zealand cable, so that tho work may bo accomplished with certainty. Tho cables are understood to bo ready—if, indeed, the Queensland and Singapore line is not already at sea ; and wo may thus indulge tho anticipation that early in 1875, if not sooner, Wellington will bo in direct telegraphic communication with London. We shall then bo able to appreciate more fully than we do at present how important a work has been accomplished at a small or only nominal cost to New Zealand.