62

F.—6

No. 258. [Extract from the Commercial Intelligence, London, of the 18th July, 1906.] To New Zealand in Three Weeks.—A Suggestion for a New Mail and Passenger Route. From Liverpool to New Zealand in three weeks, or, to be exact, twenty-two days ! Such is the glittering feature of a project which appears to be well within the range of practical politics, lo reduce the five weeks' passage via Suez by sixty hours the Australian Government have just agreed to pay an English syndicate nearly £250,000 per annum. For a sum that by comparison is a mere bagatelle the time could be reduced almost one-third, or, again to be precise, to twenty-four days and a half. The Australian Government, dissatisfied for several reasons with the present service, has undoubtedly entered into the new contract in a hurry—the new service will not begin until 1908—and it has apparently made the mistake, which New Zealand may rectify, of over _ looking the birth of a great new trade route—the Tehuantepec route. It is with the opening of this route—which is due to take place in six months' time—that the amazing reductions in the passage to the Antipodes already indicated could be given effect. The Pacific Route. The credit of being the first advocate of a mail-service via the Tehuantepec Railway terminal on the Pacific rests with Mr. E. F. Wright, a member of the Royal Colonial Institute, who has made a study of this question for years. An ardent Imperialist, with all a business man s keenness for the quickest possible communication with the colonies, Mr. Wright has gone deeply into the subject of'improving the Pacific route, and, having carefully covered the ground is convinced that his scheme for a service " from Liverpool to New Zealand in three weeks is not only feasible but eminently practicable. At present the time occupied by each stage of the existing mail route via San Francisco is as follows: — Days. Liverpool - New York ... ■•■ ••• •■• ••■ •■ , New York-San Francisco ... ■•■ ••• ••• •■• San Francisco - New Zealand ... •■• ••• ••• '"el New Zealand - Sydney ... ••■ ■•• ■■• ■•• ■•■ 2 Total ... ... •• •• ■■;• 31 By the Proposed Route the train journey would be from New York to Salina Cruz (the Pacific port of the Tehuantepec Railway), the times being — Days. Liverpool - New York •■■ ••■ ••• •■■ ■• New York - Salina Cruz ... ... ••• ■•• ■■■ 12 Salina Cruz - New Zealand ... ••■ ••• ••■ •■; lz Total (Liverpool - New Zealand) ... •■■ ■■■■ ••• 2^ New Zealand - Sydney Total (Liverpool-Sydney) ... ••■ ■•■ ••• 24£ It should at once be explained that the Pacific service in this table is reckoned at a twentyknot evS whereas the San Francisco boats do only fifteen knots. But Mr Wright points out thaYthe distance from Salina Cruz to New Zealand fortunately permits two twenty-knot boats to maintain a fortnightly service, allowing one full day at each terminal, whereas a fifteen-knot "rvuLwo,ad necessitate three Ws. That is to say, taking into account the charges tor interest maintenance and working on the third boat, a twenty-knot service would actually cost less than a not From San Francisco this would not be possible. As to the railway journey, the d See from New York to Mexico City, via St. Louis, is 3,110 miles, which, at forty miles per £v would be a fraction over three days, or, say, three days and a half, including stoppages, giving another half-day from the City of Mexico to Salina Cruz. New Sights for Travellers. Bearing in mind the great attraction the new route would be to passengers, owing not only to its quickne but also to the new ground that would be opened up to them, Mr. Wright's oontenton that the venture would be a profitable one cannot be deemed otherwise than reasonable. MoreSending huge sums to perfect the Tehuantepec route, is it unreasonable to su Pf nZ'that tfa Z>K would co-operate with New Zealand in subsidising the necessary line of Steamers? The San Francisco service, it may bo noted, receives very little assistance in the shape of subsidies There is some reason to believe that the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zeaknd assured of a fair measure of support, would gladly take up the service, as this forming i*hißhly important connection with the Tehuantepec Railway would have striking possibilities n a tugniy mpormiiiw K nMhpr noint ureed by Mr. Wright in favour of the project is that it would irtL an 1m by aTritish line, an! the vesting in British hands of the control the quickesTpassage across the Pacific. Such in brief outline is Mr. Wright's scheme, and we Ihink that HmeHts JL early and earnest attention of both the New Zealand and Mexican authorities.