THE SIBERIAN ROUTE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIX, Issue 13137, 27 May 1903, Page 6

THE SIBERIAN ROUTE.

The reference to the Kalgoorlie-Port Augusta railway scheme in the forecast of the programme for the coming session of the Federal Parliament must have caused the advocates of the Port Darwin line some disappointment, for it has been generally held that tha two lines could not be constructed in the same decade. But the Port Darwin proposal is pfominent once more in our cable messages to-day, where it is mentioned in the correspondence that has passed between the Federal Government and tho Colonial Office concerning mail routes. The Imperial Government has recently expressed approval of tho Siberian route for the transmission of mails to the Far East, and here wo have Mr Chamberlain suggesting the sumo route for Australian mails. The construction of the transcontinental lino would undoubtedly shorten the mail time from Sydney, Melbourne and. Adelaide to India and' the East, and consequently to London, hut in order* to obtain the full benefit of 'the system the mails would have to be cent by tho new transAsian route. The. Siberian railway has been frequently described, and descriptive details do not concern us here. Tho important! consideration is that of time. Within the past month or two the Russian authorities, have been running fast through trains from Moscow to Dalny, the new Russian port in the neighbourhood of Port Arthur. Dalny is ice-free all tho year round, and will accommodate vessels drawing thirty feet. When the quays are completed the trains will bo run right to the ship’s side. It is characteristic of Russian methods, by the way, that tho Government should bo willing to spend over £10,000,000 in the construction of this harbour, but the enterprise is only in keeping with (he magnificent Siberian railway scheme. Once a. week, as we havo said, “ trains do luxe” run through to Dalny, and the traveller to Europe from the a Far East has now a choice of route. He may journey cither by sea through the ISncz Canal, or he may take the much, shorter land route. In the matter of time, the new service brings Shanghai within twenty-one days of Paris. The sea time for mails from Shanghai to London via Brindisi is thirty-three days, so that the preference expressed by the British authorities for the land route is well grounded. The journey from Dalny to Shanghai occupies now only thirty-six hours. In the course of a few months the through service will be run twice a week, and there really seems no reason why the Siberian route should not be preferred to tho extended sea voyage by tho great majority of passengers to Europe from the Far East. Of course, In the case of Australia there ds now a long ooa journey up the east coast to 'Manila and on to Hong Kong, and under existing conditions the Siberian route is hardly worth considering. But if Port Darwin, were united by railway with Adelaide tho eastern route could compete with, the Suez route, provided a rapid sea service were established with Shanghai, i