SYDNEY TO LONDON

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 18, 21 June 1913, Page 10

SYDNEY TO LONDON

PLEA l-'DR FASTER SHIPS. j Mr. iloiiuau, (lie New South Wales At- ' torncy-dencrnl. who returned to Sydney j Tom London a few days ago, in an in- ' tervicw. criticised the inordinate length- ; if time taken up by a voyage from Aus- ' tralia to England. "The mail steamers ' travelling at the average rate of ;150 ' niles a day, occupy live weeks on this journey from London to Sydney. This," - ■■ said, "makes it practically impossible ' 'or anybody to make the journey Home ' unless he has about five months to spare, ] for it is not worth while spending two ' months and a-half on the water unless ! ■ibout the siime period can be spent at ' !he destination." 1 "People wlio have five months to spar? in the course of a year are very few, - both in England and Australia. The re- 1 snlt.is that in Australia, the idea of visit- ' ing the Old Country presents itself as ra- ' ther a crisis in a lifetime—a thing to be done when a man lias retired from business or withdrawn from active life, and is beginning to settle down to leisure and moderate affluence. "On the other hand, Canada is only : six or seven days away, and a visit to Europe is a thing that can be readily undertaken by people who have the means, each year, as part of an ordinary holiday. The consequence is that there is a far keener interest taken in England in Canada than in Australia—a more living and continuous interest —and English opinion is very much more affected by. the presence of shoals of Canadian and American visitors than it is by the very infrequent incursions of Australians. "English people with a wandering turn of mind go to Canada probably ten times —probably more than ten times—as frequently as they do to Australia for the same reason. The voyage is so much shorter, anil, therefore, it comes about that when an ordinary Englishman interested in colonial affairs talks about the colonies he has unconsciously in his mind's eye the picture of Canada, given to him either as the result of a visit he has made, himself or received from Canadians visiting England, or indirectly from the same source through some third person. "It seems to me. speaking- with some dillidence and as the result of a comparatively short experience, that the Australian (iovemment should, as fur as possible, unite to shorten the journey to England in every reasonable way. The postal authorities should insist upon a considerably higher rate of speed in the mail ships. It is a disgusting state of I tilings that Australia should be the Cinderella of the colonies, compelled to put up with an obsolete standard of speed, and. T believe, also, of accommodation, in comparison with her nearer and more favored sisters. "This, we shall be told, no doubt, is a matter of money only, but it is such an important matter from the point of view of the general interests of Australia that T think all the (iovernments, of the States anu of the Commonwealth, would make a good investment if they met some portion of the additional cost bv contributing to an increased subsidy. The railway to Fremautle will, no doubt, shorten tlie jounicv bv some days, and ] understand that the Panama Canal may I open up an advantageous route, but that is a point on which I cannot speak."