THE PANAMA COMPANY.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 461, 4 February 1869, Page 3

THE PANAMA COMPANY.

An article appeared in the Sydney Empire on the termination of the Panama contract, in which attention was called to the advantages derived by the colony of New South Wales from the expenditure of the P.N.Z. & A.R.M. Co. in that port. It appears that the total expenditure of the Company in Sydney, since the opening of the service two years and a half ago, amounted to £150,000, whilst for the same period the total expenditure from Treasury on the service, including the subsidy, was something less than £139,000. The revenue received I for postage of letters and newspapers conveyed via Panama was nearly £IO,OOO, so that the actual cost of the service was ouly £129,000. On the other hand it is stated that the expenditure of the Company on coals and freight was not less "than £215,009, in addition to which they paid .£122,000 for salaries and wages, exclusive of £39,000 for labor, making altogether as above stated, £150.000, considerably more than three times the sum paid by the colony of New South "Wales fur the service. Looking, therefore, only on the pecuniary aspect of the business, the Empire I views the determination of the contract as a misfortune to the community, and does not consider that the other advantages which were beginning to accrue from the establishment of steam communication between Australia, New Zealand, and America, to say nothing of the fact that the establishment of a line of mail steamers to Panama stimulated and ensured the prompt performance of the P. and 0. Company's contract via Suez, were needed to turn the scale in favor of the Panama service.