32

F.—6

At present a goodly proportion of the passenger-lists of Canadian passenger-steamers is made up of travellers to and from the United States, the route being the shortest. With a proper service of really fast steamers the best class of passengers from the northern and western states of America would be likely to choose a route which would bring them to this country in one to three days less time than would be taken via New York. Great advantages would accrue to Ireland by making it a link in a great through line, by the development of its tourist traffic by the construction of this railway and ferries. These facilities ol intercourse would also introduce English and Canadian enterprise and capital to Ireland to the mutual advantage of each country. The provision of the necessary accommodation at the Irish ports, and the construction ot the railway-connections, would take between two and three years, during which time the necessary steamers can be constructed. . ~ Blacksod Bay is a natural harbour of great capacity, and completely sheltered, haying a wide entrance from the ocean and deep water with good anchorage. The largest steamers will be able to reach the landing-piers at all stages of the tide. The carriage of full trains on ferry-steamers is no experiment, as it has been done successtully for years on more exposed waters than the Irish Channel. The transfer of the trams to and from the steamers takes only a few minutes. In addition to a direct service to the Scotch coast, loaded trucks could also be transferred on ferry-steamers to Heysham, to connect with the Midland system ; to Barrow, Fleetwood, and Liverpool, to connect with the London and North-Western, Lancashire and Yorkshire, and Great Central Railways, as well as between Dublin and Holyhead. A Bill granting the necessary powers for the works required in Ireland is now going through 1 arliament, and negotiations are in progress with the Government of Canada with reference to the subsidy for carriage of mails. All-red Line to New Zealand and Australia. Approximate Time-table. Atlantic Ocean, 25 knots. Pacific Ocean, 18 and 21 knots. Leave London, June Ist, Saturday, 7 p.m. Arrive Blacksod, „ 2nd, 9 a.m.; leave 10 a.m. Halifax, „ sth, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.; leave 10 p.m. "„ Vancouver, „ 9th, 10 p.m.; leave midnight. 18 Knot". 21 Knots - Arrive Honolulu, June 15th, 10 a.m. ; leave 4 p.m. Arrive June 14th, 4 p.m.; leave 10 p.m. Suva 21st, midnight; leave 6 a.m., 22nd. „ 20th, 9 a.m.; leave 3 p.m. " Auckland, ',', 24th, 10 p.m.; leave 2 a.m., 25th. „ 22nd, 10 p.m. ; leave 2 a.m., 23rd. Sydney, „ 27th, midnight. . 25th, 2 p.m. London to Sydney, 26 days 5 hours ... 23 days 19 hours. Auckland, 23 days 3 hours 21 days 3 hours. «

No. 104. Ocean Mail Communication between New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Extract from Speech by the Right Hon. Sir J. G. Ward in the Address in Reply in the House of Representatives on the 3rd July, 1907. JUST a few words regarding the position of the Imperial Conference relative to the mail proposals, especially in reference to suggestions that were made by myself. On several occasions on which I spoke in the Old Country, and at the Imperial Conference, I expressed my idea that if the British Government would join hands with Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and give us assistance to put on a line of large steamers, and allow them to make a complete course from the United Kingdom to Canada thence by rail to Vancouver, thence by steamer straight to New Zealand and on to Sydney and Melbourne, and thence through the Suez Canal to England, and then round again, you would have a complete connection between Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. And I believe we could get this for a reasonable sum, which it would pay us and more than pay us to give, for one of the things we now most suffer from is our distance from the Old Country. I believe it would pay New Zealand and the Old Country handsomely to secure such a service. If we want to see the bonds of union strengthened, and to have our condition improved in a practical, common-sense, businesslike way we should do our best to open up such means of communication with the Old Country. And this would certainly give us the very best mail and passenger service. I think the Old Country might very well join in this, and that we should give a reasonable subsidy to bring about such a service. We would secure quick communication with the Old Country. Every fortnight we would have these leviathans of the deep which now never touch our shores at all, coming here ; and, as a matter of tact, the expenditure we might be called upon to make to carry out this scheme would be recovered over and over again by the money it would cause to be expended in the colony by the people who would be brought here and who would spend their money here as the result of being able to come and go in reasonable time Even the least experienced and most prejudiced will realise that this would have an