PROPOSED EXPRESS COMMUNICATION WITH AUSTRALIA.

Taranaki Herald, Volume II, Issue 100, 28 June 1854, Page 3

PROPOSED EXPRESS COMMUNICATION WITH AUSTRALIA.

A preliminary meeting of gentlemen interested in promoting rapid postal ami other commnmeiitioni) with tho Australian colonies win held on Thursday, nt the London Tjvern, to roniidcr tha beat means for cavryiiiß out that object. It was submitted that tho rapid progress made by tho colonies in material prosperity during the last few years, called for mcronscd cxertiona on the pnrt of the mother country to shorten tho distance hotween them, and that tho market for British manufactures and goods was aubjectcd to violent fluctuations in consequence of the want of onrly and rapid intelligence from Europe. To uicet tins admitted want, it was luggrntrd that a line of fast and commodious express etcum-ahips, of from two thousand to three thousand tons burden, and of five hundred horse powei, should be established lor the conveyance of mails, pnsscngcrt and goods. The legislature of New South Wales bad agreed, by a unanimous vota uf tho Council, to grant tlio sum of six thousand pounds lo the first company who should bring Sydney within a course ot post of one hundred aud twenty days with London, which grant was to remain in foicc for three yet>ra. No company bad, however, yet laid claim to it. It was believed that a secure, direct, and expeditious communication might be made between England, nnd Austialiu within tho averogo period of forty* five days. This, however, could not be effected unless torno means weiu adopted to prevent tho delay aud inconvenience of coaling nt (he vanout Btationa to which ships were now compelled to resort lor that purpose. To meet this difficulty, it was proposed to utc a compact and simple form, of marine engine, lor the application ol which a patent had been obtained by Messrs. Newton and Fuller, aud it was Hated that, in all probability, the saving of coal would bo at least ono-lialf of that already contained in the ateain»ships of the mercantile navy. IT was estimated that a vessel of two thousand five hundred tons and of five hundred horao power, Acted with theie onginoi, • would consume, on tha voyngo to Melbourne I or Sydney, oven supposing uho Kept up full steam tho whole wny, a thousand three hundred and lorty tona of coal in fifty days. This would be considerably less than half the quantity consumed by tho steamers now employed on the route. A gentleman who had lately arrived from Australia by the Argo, stated that tho comumption of coal in that vessel was enormous ; and that, after hnriiiK taken in twolve hundred mid fifty tone of coal nt St. Vincent, it w«3 ncee»Bnry to got two hundred tons more at Plymouth to carry the vessel to Southampton. From his know ledge of tho colony, ho could state that tho interval of two months, during which there waa no communication with I England, was severely felt in the colony, and that the frcc,uont result was a glut of goods in tho market at ono time, and «■ dearth at another. Several gentlemen having alluded to tha advisability of establishing tho description of communication suggested, a resolution wae pnisscd approving of the principle ol Messrs, Newton ami Fuller* engines, ns explained by those gentlemen, and tho meeting was adjourned, in order that an opportunity might bo afforded for widening tho basis of opeiations, and bringing to the support of the pro. jeet, in a public form, tho assistance of all who ware interested in the prosperity of the, Australian colonies Thk Royal Yacht Victoria and Aibert,— Wo understand that, in the event of war being deI clared, Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, j with that conmderation that has ever characterised: I her, will dispense with the yacht's services, for tho purpose of enabling moro than ono hundred of tho ' finest sailors in the world to enter a war-ship in deI fence of the country. ; Our readers will remember tliar n abort tima since, a Russian scboonei was driven by ktress of weather into the Boiphorous, when sho was seized by the Turks. It now appoars that the weather was a mere leint, and that the vessel was laden with missives addressed to the Greek merchants at Constantinople, many of the wealthiest and most influential of whom have been found to be bo seriously compromised that they havo been incarcerated. Reported Iliness op the Czar>— A letter from Vienna, dated Feb. 4, contains the following pajsago: — " My last advicei from St. Petersburg)* report tho Emperor as very unwell— .jt vfas said with erysipelas; but whether the indisposition was real or feigned my informant could not say, for for tome ten days pant ha had not allowed himself to be aeen." Gukat Nnws i'or Scotland—" It has been announced in Constantinople," snid the Earl of Aberdeen, " that I have received a hogshead of gold from St. Petersburg." The ne\t morning the Premier icceivcd a letter from tho authorities ot Abeidci n, begging to know when the hogihead w. lid In- <>• ;-.i,.— Vti'irh,