TRANS-AMERCIAN MAIL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14245, 20 June 1908, Page 10

TRANS-AMERCIAN MAIL

• .« '■NEW ZEALAND IN 18 DAYSI (FSOK Qua OWS0 WS COBEESPONBEST.) ~ _ v LONDON, May 8. .Mr E. Foudi Wright has just returned irom Mexico and North America, where ho nas been investigating po36 ibiliti e s of new and shorter mail-routes to Now Zealand, ■uw ono specially i„ view on the present «M"on has lts AtUntio port at New York, wL w° , outlet at Topolobampo or wnS ? lr (1 Wri eht intcA-iowed roprc-. forward ""** ttrTo *» «**. ™* *• forwards me some notoa . Ho writeg: _ obtl n uni 1 Tt'!" , POint 1 <oultl nofc ootam until 1 had had a private interview. Mexico will K ive » sSimX to this road-just what amount I do not know "! present. There is, however, pfft/K on the road that can be delivered at afi 16s per ton, and it ia considered that So w.l be an ample supply of oil for fuel obtained east of Chibuabua in landlljoin ing the railway. J "The German American Steamship Co has a contract with the Orient Railroad bv which it ,s agreed that all passengeVs or goods not otherwise directed out be booked for the German American line of steamer. Further, the Orient Itailroad is' very anxious to develop tho said lino of steamers, so much so that I was asked if the German-American Co. put on fast steamers would they be subsidised? I said certainly not, as the British Empire was not gomg to subsidise German steamers any more than Germany would subsidiso British steamers. "The Orient Railroad Co. admit that by making up a special train for passenger's and mails it could be run between Topolobampo and Kansas City, or vica versa, a distance of 1660 miles, in 40 hours. In tho same way the distance between Kansas Citv and Chicago, a distance of 458 miles by tho Santa Fe road, can bo run in 10 hours, and. the distance from Chicago to New York is' 960 miles over the New York Central, tho : journey .being covered in 18 hours, ,or a total distance of 3078 miles in 63 hours-or, say, mL hoUr \ or ,, thr66 dl - v «. allowing for delays, lhe mails, continues Mr Fondi Wright are now delivered between Ne v York and London in srx days by the Lusitania or tho sister ship, or a distance of over 6000 miles —more than half tho distance between London and Auckland—in nine days. • To prove that this is practical, I mav mention," proceeds Mr Wright, "that a gentleman a few weeks ago left London at 11 a.m. on one Saturday and ho arrived in Kansas City tho next Saturday in time to have dinner with friends at Bpm Add another 40 hours to reach Topolo'bajnno, and you have exactly 9d lhr; and that is without any special arrangement. So it just rests with Australasia as to wh&r timo tho mails are delivered in Sydney. , "If the Topolobampo service -were nev>r to some into existence, 'there is still an-' other very nearly as good, for at Guaymas (pronounced Ymus) there is a railway-con-necting with tho Southern Pacific' at Ben-' son. This railway company is just as anxious to see a steamer service as ia the ■ Orient railroad. There is no prospect «f----obtain- cheap oil at this point for fuel . but I have at on very good authority that' a railway will he built into a coalfield at' this point in six months; tho field would be of great area; in fact, I am told that Mr Hanuman, the American railway mac. nate, has fr0m.250,000 to 300,000 acres cf this field, which is said to be semiantracitc, and tho best coal in America. "The importance of this will bo understood,' proceeds Mr Wright, "when I tell you that three-quarters of a ton.of this semi-anthracite is said to bo equal to ono ton and a-quarter of the best bituminous. On the same authority I state that Mr Harnman docs not control the whole field, and that there are others who.have areas of the same, field. The seam, I understand, ■is 40ft thick, about 100 ft below the surface; and that, owing to cheap Mexican labour, it can be put on board for about 8s per ton. • _ " I would say, in conclusion, it is certain in the near future that, if ,tho British Empire docs not put on an efficient liue cf steamers from . America to Australasia, either the German American Stamship Company or the Southern Pacifio Kailroad (which now has a line of steamers of about 10,000 tons each running' from America to the Orient) will put on a line of steamers to New Zealand and Australia. If this' ■'& dono it will be equivalent to what has been, done by Japaa in wiping out the P. and.O. in the Bast. This is, as far as I can see, tho aim of tho Littlo Englandor, but not of, those of the British Empiro who wish to follow in the footsteps of tbeir forefathers who made the Umpire what it is."