The German Colonial Flest.

Thames Star, Volume XVI, Issue 5069, 14 April 1885, Page 2

The German Colonial Flest.

What course may be followed by the German Reichstag when the proposals supported by Prince Bismarck for the establishment under a Government subsidy of an extended service of steamer lines to Africa and the East are submitted to its full body, it is not possible to foresee; but as far as this, measure has at. yet been discussed, it is evident that the representatives of the German people are not inclined to give it support. On its discussion by a subcommittee, very great reduciion in the original programme was recommended; and when subsequently brought under consideration, the proposal was wholly rejected. The leading features of that programme have been made public by certain brief communications by cor* respondents in Berlin of the English papers, but we have been at some pains to obtain its full details, which we give as prefatory to a glance at the subject from the point of view of those who, as Englishmen, have had wider opportunities of becoming acquainted with the difficulties and expense of working ocean steam lines than have been available to the German nation at large. The full details of the proposal were as follows:—1. A monthly departure to East Asia, which included— (a) A main line from the German coast to Hongkong, via Rotterdam, respectively . via Antwerp, Lisbon, Suez, Colombo, and Singapore ; (b) A main branch line from Venice or Trieste via Brindisi, respectively - from Genoa via Naples and Alexandria; (c) A branch line between Hongkong and Yokohama, via Shanghai, Nagasaki, and a harbor in Corea. 2. A monthly de- " parture to Australia, which would inblude —(a) a main line from the German coast to Sydney via Suez, Adelaide, and Melbourne; (b) a branch line from Sydney via Auckland, Tonga, Samoa Islands, and Brisbane, returning to Sydney. 3. A departure to British India in connection with the East India and Australian main lines, a line between Aden and Bombay. 4. For communication with East and West Africa : a main line from the German Coast to Delagoa Bay via Havre and Cherbourg, Garee, Angra Pequena, Capetown, Natal, Mozambique, and Zanzibar. In addition to this main line, a reconstruction would be required of the now existing German steamer line to the West Coast of Africa, with a view to keeping up a regular postal service with the Western Coast. These proposals incurred the following conditions:—(!) The departure from East Asia and Asstralia, as well as the departures from Germany to Zanzibar, and from Aden to Bombay, would have to take place every four weeks, the steamers of the latter liite having to correspond once with the East India, and once with the Australian boats. (2) The undertakers would have to maintain the lights and landing arrangements on the African coast at their own expense. (3) Unjustiaed delays of the steamers would subject them to a deduction from the Government subvention, while more rapid passages, would be credited. (4) The steamer* were to hoist' the German colours, and to forward the mails free of any payment for that service. (5.) The contract was to extend for fifteen years, the undertakers earning freight and passage money, the tariffs for both being under the control of the Govern* ment. while certain consideration was to ""* be exercised for the marine and special requirements of the German Empire. (6 ) A guarantee for the fulfilment of the contract bad to be deposited. (7.) The Government subvention was to be paid for each voyage. The subvention offered tke whole before-mentioned service was £285,000-annually. Such was the nature of the full proposals which two Committees of the Reichstag have considered, and which have yet, as we presume, to be dealt with by that body as a whole prior to their final acceptance or rejection. They are certainly of ample scope, for they cover the greater part of the routes at present worked by our own Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, in addition to those providing for our African service; yet it will be observed that the subvention asked for it is but £285,000, while the Peninsular

and Oriental Company reeeire £90,000 more for but one section of the services proposed. We all know the difficulties with which the director! of that company have had to contend, and the very abl* management which has been required to enable them to pay to their shareholders decently remunerative dividends. This! indeed, has only been aeoonpliihed ift«r

■everalyeari, during which those di?idends were practically in abeyance, and certainly could by no means be classed as 11 remunerative." We fail, therefore, to see how,, if the ablest management atid the widest experience has succeeded in accomplishing nothing more with a subsidy of £375,000 and much less extended cround to work, the proposed German lines could possibly be expected to pay those who might be induced to invest capital on them. We can well understand how great has been the desire of the German Chancellor to secure the aid con templated to his newly inaugurated colonial policy; and can estimate there . from the disappointment it will be to him ' should the conclusions of the German Parliament support the adverse vote given by its committee ; but we can believe tbat among the members of the lßlter body there were commercial men whose'experi rnce of steam shipping, although,perhaps of more limited scope than that possessed by ourselves, fully leads them to concurrence in the view we have expressed, that such services us we have above described could possibly be long carried on under so limited a subvention. They, as well as ourselves, know how completely the carrying trade of the East has now become established in existing channels, and how diihcult it must be to divert it. This could only be accomplished indeed by carrying at rates temptingly below those j of our own steamer lines; and these are now down "to the lowest remunerative *?point. That this is the ease is strikingly evidenced by the reduction in such rates to which the Peninsula and Oriental Company has had to submit since the opening of the Suez, Canal cleared the way for active competition in the steam shipping trade to the East. Priorto that opening, that Company received £20 a ton on its practical monoply of the silk snipped from China. A similar monoply on the indigo from India secured it £18 a ton. and for all the cotton space permitted its vessels to carry, there was received £15 for every 40 cubic feet Now, if we contrast with such rates the facts that even for the highest description of goods but £3 per ton is at present paid, and that cotton has to be carried as low as 20s per ton, it must .be evident that the change which has come over the condition of our Eastern carrying trade is such as could not possibly admit of further reduction in rates. How, then, under under such circamstaroes, could the German line hope to secure any considerable portion of that traffic which has become so firmly established in the British stea» mer lines? It is certain tbat for many years its steamers must run either comparatirely empty, or carrying freights which could not possibly cover working expenses—so much for the commercial aspect of the proposal. But we can readily understand bow greatly other considerations weigh with Prince Bismarck, in desiring to have always at command for Imperial purposes a large, well-equipped; fleet of transports. Such accommodation was wanting to the French Government at the time of the Crimean war; and a very large proportion of its troops were con- # Teyed on board of vessels hired of the Penintular and Oriental Company. Napoleon the Third saw thenceforth the desirability of possessing such a fleet of his own, and hence arose his establish* ment, under a heavy subsidy, of the Messageries Imppriales, now the Messageries Maritimes. Directly an empire embarks on a wide colonial policy, tbat policy involves .the possibility—even the extreme probability—of distant complications, necessitating a resort to force, and the transport, therefore, to far-off localities of large numbers of men, and a heavy amount of munitions of war. Prince Biimorck is not the man whose eyes could be closed to such a contingency, •nd hence, doubtless, his desire to secure the establishment of a fleet which would be of the utmost assistance should it occur. But it seems to us that he must have been misled by bis •dvisers as to the terms upon which he could secure such aid : and it is scarcely likely that, even with his great influence over his countrymen, their representatives are ever likely, should they finally reject the present offer, to consent to one involving the payment of the*higher subsidy which can alone, as we have endeavoured to point out, secure the permanency of the services which their Chancellor covets. From our own national standpoint we can afford quite to disregard the conclusion, favorable or unfavorable, to the scheme which the Reichstag may arrive at -but we believe that further competition in the Eastern trade at present is undesirable in every interest apart from that which the German-Chancellor evidently has in view. —At the same time, the judgment of such an authority should contribute to bias the action of our own Government in keeping such a fleet as that possessed by the Peninsular and Oriental Company avail - able for direct transport when the time comes for considering the renewal of the. contract for the conveyance of our Eastern mails.—Engineer, 6th February,'lßßs.