PROPOSED NEW STEAM MAIL SER- , VICE VIA THE CAPE.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1799, 2 December 1862, Page 4

PROPOSED NEW STEAM MAIL SER- , VICE VIA THE CAPE.

Thb foftowitfg scbeme for Ibe establishment of a monthly mail service between England and ( the Australian colonies, has been submitted to ] the Government and tbe mercantile. public of ' Melbourne::— . s The service is to be performed by seven suitable steamers, with full steam powers, taking ' their departure from Southampton, culling at ] the Gape, of Good Hope, or going on direct to Melbourne or Adelaide, as may" be arranged^ . ■ returning by way of Mauritius and the Cape of '< Gppd'Hdpe- ' " The mail would leave Southampton twelve days alter the present mail snip's departure, or seven days after the post, by way of Marseilles ; and the length of the voyage to Adelaide or Melbourne would be sixty days-r-probably less. The mail would leare the colonies fourteen days from the present'aervlce by tbe P. and O. Company, arid be transferred at the Mauritius to tbe steamer fdifAdeb,; and be fifty-five days to London.' Passengers; would have the option of concluding the voyage by way of the Red Sea, or by coining on in the same . ship in which they originally embarked, by way of Cape of Good Hope ; the entire homeward voyage occupying sixty eight days, probably less. .P. AND' O. SERVICE. Mail leaves Southampton, 20tb of the month ; London, 26th; arrives, Melbourne, forty-five days.' : •'"■ ; ■ ; . ' •" Mail leaves Melbourne, 26th of the month ; arrives, London,l4tb ; forty-nine days. '' .' '\'" t .' ' ' NEWSSERVICE, . * Mail leaves Southampton, 2nd of the month ; arrives Melbourne, 2nd ; mail sixty days. ' s ■Matt leaves Melbourne 10th of the month arrives London jsth ; mail fifty-five days. The subsidy required would be £54,000 a year, and the contract might be -made in . the same way as is now, done with the Mauritius mail service, that is the colony paying the subsidy and receiving tlie whole of. the postage, the Postmaster General acting as, ageat, . j'^q^ostmX^r.^Qeverair.has.. consented: to 2e\inquish4di». favor of the colony, retaining Id only- for land carriage to and from South' amp ton. , Passengersi— The rates proposed for first class passengers are calculated not to exceed £90. If the Colonial Government desiie it, the company will make arrangements to receive a limited (about 10 for every 100 tons) number of third class passengers at a rate not exceeding The Union Steamship Company have for five years past held the coutract for the mails to the Cape of Good Hope. With what punctualitytheservice has been performed may be inferred. from the following extract from the Postmaster General's sixth report .— "It appears that the packets which made their voyages most frequently in less than the contract or appointed time were, those between Devapport and the Cape of Good Hope, belongiDg to>tbe Union Steamship Company, these packets having done so every voyage." - Thecontract time is 40 days— the steamers have averaged 31 days. ° „, Steamers.— The present fleet of the company, afloat and building, would enable them to begin the! service with one ship of- 1100, one of 1200, Jwc> ot 1300, and three of 20C0. Besides these, a ship of 800 tens would be stationed at the Cape, as a spare ship in case of accident. Should the contract be once fairly -started, and be found to answer, the smaller ships would be replaced by others of 2,500 and 3,000 tons as experience will show to be desirable. jAdvantages.^-The advantages the establisbrneut "of* this line would give to the ' • colonists direct communication with the Mauritius and the Cape. It is likely that the former colony will contribute towards the subsidy for its mails to and from the Gape. A' second rapid means of communication with England, not liable to be interrupted by European politics. Quick passages at reasonable rates, without incurring the dangers of Cape Horn. Speedy transit for goods at a comparatively low-rate. The advantages of having Melbourne as the port of arrival and departure, whereby a sum little short of the whole subsidy would be annually disbursed in the colony.