THE PANAMA ROUTE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XV, Issue 1137, 21 May 1858, Page 3

THE PANAMA ROUTE.

To the Editor of the Southern Cross. Sir, — Having been commissioned , a few years since , by an Anglo-American firm of Steam boat Proprietors , who proposed to establish a line of Steam packets to Australia via Panama, to make enquiry as to the best port, for such line, to touch at in New Zealand, and as to the probable encouragement both public and private, that was likely to be given in this country to such, an enterprise. I was led to consider which would really be the most expeditious and advantageous route for Steamers to the Australian Colonies. The repe»ted failures of the Europe .n and Australian Royal Mail Company's vessels, has confirmed me in the opinion that the course from England west, about across the Isthmus of Suez is contrary to nature, and must ever prove the most tedious and disadvantageus route to the Australian Colonies. If we contemplate the map of the world, we shall at once see that by following this course they are for the most part fighting against nature, they have to steam against the trade winds most of the way. Crossing the Line and going to the eastwaid, as a matter of necessity J you have both wind and current against you, causing a vast increase of wear and tear of the machinery, to say nothing of the necessary retardation of the voyage. This, I believe, is in a very great degree, tha cause why the mails do not arrive in due season at Melbourne and Sj'dney — why we have such continual and vexatious delays. Had the European and Australian Royal Mail Company simply followed the dictates of common sense, and common honesty, and established the Mail route as Mr. Wetton promised, they would not have fallen into their present difficulties. Their insatiable thirst for gain has ruined them— by following a previous course they have grabbed at a shadow and lost the substance, and if they ever hope to retriove their character, they must follow the route pointed out by nature, or if they do not, the sooner thef relinquish their contract with the British Government the better for themselves, and the more beneficial to the public.

As I have before said, it must be plain that irom the nature of the prevailing winds, that the course of .» vessel tiavelhng from England to Australia by the shorter route must be cast-about, crossing the Isthmus of Panama. By this route you are tor the most part faVoured by the trade winds, y^ur course is easy and | pleasant both to ship and passengers, hence your voyi Hge ii much more likely to be prosperous and sp°edy. i Go against nature, you are far more likely to fail in j your undertaking, as experiencp has already shown. I From these facts I think it is the duty of the European and Australian Royal Mail Company to adopt , the following plan of operations which will at once j give them the most extensive ground for business, and | it' properly and liberaUy followed out, render them one of the most powerful commercial companies in the world. Let one of the "West India line of packets start bimonthly from Southampton, carrying the mails and passengers of the West Indie?, the West Coast of North and South America, and the Australian Colonies. Having crossed the Isthmus of Panama, the mails and passengers for the Australian Colonies embark on board n vessel, which conveys them to Sydney, touching at Tahiti and New Zealand. Twice every month a steamer should sail from Sydney, calling nt Melbourne, the West Coast of Australia, and Point de Galle, conveying the mail and passengers to England, via the Isthnvis of Suez. By this means a continuous route will be established round the world. It will facilitate pleasure, as well as business, and ere long will be considered the grand tour. The Company might issue through tickets extending over many months. , so as to affird facility to every class of travellers. By this means si passage round the world would be consummated in about three months. There is no doubt but the roite would ensure full ships, as it would be the quickest and most pleasant route that could be adopted. Passengers would take the trip for the benefit of thsir~ health, as well as for the novelty of the voyage. The only possible objection to the plan, is that the return steamer would not have sufficient trade. This objection, I think, would not hold. The steamer returning to Panama would ha^e to seek the Westerly passage wind, ha\ing got what load she could ut Sydney. She would 'touch at New Zealand, parsing through Cook's Straits, and making the West Coast of South America, calling at all the principal ports arrive at Panama and transfer her cargo to the West India Line, en route to England It should be remarked that this return steamer woulfl do the work of some of the Company's vessels already running along the South American coast, and save their expense. \ [The steamer which conveyed the mail and passengers to Suez might carry passengers to India brought by the ■\essels which takes the Australian mail and passengers to England. From India the vessel would return to Sydney by the north of Australia, and thereby not only establish a trade to India, China, and the East, but also connect these parts with the Australian Colonies — by these means forming a net work of commerce unrivaled in the world. The many ramifications that could be connectod with it, would include the greatest and richest portions of the earth ; and while it formed the most efficient mail service, would hasten with enormous speed the civilization of all parts connected by the Pacific Ocean, and serve to spread the truths of the Gospel to the most distant isles of the ocean. I That the absolute lequirenients of commerce and civilization in the region of Australia, demand the immediate completion of such a line of steam eommunica ' tion, there cannot exist a doubt. Necessity demand* it, and it will be had. In the launching of the Lewathan we may behold another promise ot good to the future of these regions. She will not be an opponent to the line already indicated, but an adjunct, filling up the deficiencies, taking in the West Coast of Afiica and the East Coast of South America, rendering more perfect that net work of commercial intercourse which it will bo the pride and glory of England to establish around the world. In all probability the route of the Leviithan will *■& exactly contrary to the European and Australian Royal Mail Company's vessels. She must of necessity go west about. She will have to pass around the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn ; for if she goes contrary to nature she will feel its disadvantage , so she will have to gain the benefit of the We-teily passage wind. Starting from England she will take her course to the West Coast of Africa, call at the Cape of Good Hope, then seeking the Westerly passage wind in her course to Australia, calling at the ports along the Coast, she willauhe at Melbourne and S}dney. Again, taking her departure from Sydney, "he will pass through Cook's Straits, calling at Wellington, New Zealnnd. gaining the Westerly passage wind, will pass around Cape Horn, and in her homeward cour.se will call at the ports on the East Coast of South Ameiiea and the West Indies, finally aniving in England in about three months from her departnie, Should such a course pio*e pecuniuily advantageous many such vessels will be built, and one will start monthly and form a second circle of steam cornmunieation around the world, giting to England a prodigious advantage in commeice over all the nations of the earth, proclaiming her the harbinger of science and ciwlization to the most distant regions of our globe. I remain. Sir, Your obedient servant, S. J. SnuTrosii. Auckland, N.Z , May 19, 1858.

ITALY. Several gentlemen who have returned from a tour in the region lately devastated by the earthquake have communicated to the 'Times' correspondent at Naples some interesting particulars :—: — These gentlemen had passed nearly a fortnight in wandering from one place to another. According to them the shocks continue throughout the entiie district to the number of fi\e or six a day, sometimre tolerably strong, and generally occasioning the fall of many of the ruined houses. The hair-breadth escapes which they had are rather a matter for piivate narrative, but they much heighten the colour of the terrible picture they draw. Their trip was extended far beyond Polla, and into the very centre of volcanic action, as Potenza, Brienzd, Tito, any many other places of mournful ielebiity. The scene of desolation was beyon 1 the power of description. The actual labour was not to rebuild, but to destroy ; the few houses that remained standing were insecure, and one would have said uninhabitable, but that the people in their misery still clung like rooks to their falling habitations. The country in many parts still gaped with wide fissures of the breadth of two arms, and when they had closed had done so unequally, one tide being many feet higher than the other. .Some of the incidents which they relate seem more like fables than facts. An infant had been dug out alive, after having been under the ruins eight days. Its mother fed it too bountifully, and it died. A gill of eight years of age had been disinterred after 11 days' biuial, and was still living. Mules had also been dug out alive after 21 days' burial. Onp of the monks told my informants that on the nipht of the 1 6th December the shock was so violent as to throw him out of his bed through the window into the gaiden of the monastery. At Veggiano a poor woman had lost her husband and two children beneath the iuins ; two yet survived, but they quickly died of hunger, and tne wretched mother hanged herself. Tales of wonderful and tragic interest abound, and if the redder doubts their possibility he has only to read Oolletia's graphic description of the earthquake of 1753. The people had not settled down to anything like regular occupation, but were grubbing among the ruins for whatever they could find, and seeking for the bodies of their fiiends, of whom hundreds still remain as yet disinterred. Supplies were slowly coming in for the poor people, but loads there were scarcely any, and much had to be transported on the backs of muleß. The province of Basilicata is the largest in the kingdom, and yet has not more than one carriage road through it of any importance. Potenza will not be rebuilt on the same site on which it stood, but perhaps lower down in the plain.