The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-10 00:00:00

THE GALWAY STEAM LINE.

A number of letters have been received with
regard to the subsidy of £78,000 per annum, pro-
mised by Lord Derby to the Galway Steam line,
containing facts which require to be laid before the
public, and which seem imperatively to demand
some explanation from the Government. The
subsidy already paid for the American mail service
is £191,000 per annum to the Cunard Company.
Of course, on free trade principles, this grant, like
all of a similar character, has been open to strong
objections, since by tending to obstruct competition
it could in the end only injure the general growth
of rapid and efficient ocean steam communication.
The true plan contended for has been that every
steamer should be allowed to charge whatever rate
it could obtain for the carriage of letters, by which
means the speediest would alway be the best paid.
But the substitution of such a system in place of
long existing arrangements of a contrary kind
would at anv time have been attended with much
difficulty and inconvenience, and the public were,
therefore, disposed to acquiesce in the prevaling
practice. In doing so, however, there were two
especial conditions which they always kept in
view. First, that grants of this description should
be made only in indispensable cases, and that the
effort should be to prepare the way for their gra-
dual discontinuance; and, secondly, that the lia-
bility to the exercise of favouritism should be
corrected by a strict adherence to the rule of
entering into no contracts except such as had been
invited by public tender. The point on which the
Derby Cabinet are now required to satisfy the
mercantile community as respects their arrange-
ment with Mr. Lever is whether they have acted
up to these principles. The terms and correspon-
dence have not yet been published, and the Govern-
ment may possibly be able to make out a sufficient
case, but in the absence of information there is a
strong suspicion, which has not been diminished
by a statement attributed to Mr. Lever on
his recent election, that he will support any
Government that will support his Galway
scheme, that the desire to secure a certain num-
ber of Irish votes may have exercised on the
minds of the Cabinet—perhaps unconsciously—some
considerable influence. It is urged that the Galway
line, by its ready connexion at Newfoundland with
the telegraphic network of the American continent,
will shorten by several days thc means of intercourse
as compared with any other route, but this advan-
tage will cease as soon as the Atlantic cable, for
which the Government are also offering a subsidy,
shall have been efficiently laid, and meanwhile the
question arises, if Galway is suddenly discovered to
be the best route, whether the Cunard Company or
some even of the existing unsubsidised lines could
not have contrived to adapt themselves to its advan-
tages. The Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia
Stam Company have for nine years carried on a
regular service without a subsidy, and during the
last two years have conveyed no less than 22,500
passengers. Yet an offer lately made by them to
carry her Majesty's mails for ocean postage and to
do their work under the Cunard contract
time was refused, and the directors, moreover,
were informed under date the 9th of November

last that " when a new postal service is about to
be established by Government it is the practice
to invite tenders by public advertisements, thereby
affording to all parties the opportunity of competing
for such services, provided they conform to the
required conditions.' Nothing could have been
more officially correct or impressive than this
intimation, but how does it harmonise with present
experience ? Again, the Montreal Ocean Steam-
ship Company have a line of mail steamers between
Liverpool and the ports in the St. Lawrence, which
has been established three years, and after April
next is to perform a weekly passage from Liverpool
to Quebec. They enjoy a subsidy of £BOO a voyage
from the Canadian Government, but the British
Government pay them nothing, although carrying
the British mails. What chance can they have iu
competing with a Galway company supported by
a grant nearly four times as great ? Of course,
the feeling on all these points is intensified at
Liverpool, where local interests, in addition to those
of the steam companies, may be largely affected
In London, however, they are viewed with com-
plete impartiality, and there is no desire but that
Cie Lever Company should meet wi,th every success
that can be fairly earned. But it is not fair to
crush private enterprise by bounties, and still less,
in dispensing those bounties, to depart from the.
only practice that rendered them tolerable, that a
opening them to the best competitors. If the mer-
cantile community can be satisfied that the whole.
question has been dealt with by the Government
on its merits alone they will be quite ready to wave
any merely technical objections, and to-give to all
the parties concerned the benefit of the broadest
and most liberal view.--Times' City Article.