The Sun.
London, England, 1850-01-15 00:00:00

STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH
steam
AUSTRALIA.
T
communication with our
4au:
ii:ninctoerloers,tieasndheaxs
teonptenecod
nae_dbiasclfusstiboen ofre-
m globe
has to be circumnavigated, and the question is what
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gei or nEa t
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ogt
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sai this
du cgsoghuoersust
leedd
sail sbhyo uet
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ont
racikus eai —ri l
west.warh
ee t hn ecr Ins l
usdhei
dp
thes,
first, the actuJl distance between the syeveral depend-
encies of the British empire; secondly, the character
it,hraeabi project of
of the countries to be traversed or connected by the
various routes ; and thirdly, the general capabilities
of steam-ships as hitherto ascertained. The eastern
route to Australia may either follow the old track
round the Cape of Good flops or the new passage
by the Mediterranean and Red Seas ; the western
strikes right across the Atlantic and South Pacific
Oceans through the Isthmus of Panama. Thus the
competing routes to Sydney may be respectively
described as via Panama, via the Cape, or via Suez
and Singapore, and the advantages of
each will be
found plainly stated in a letter which we publish this
morning.
The distance from London to Sydney by the first
of the routes above mentioned is 12,902 miles, by the
second 12,870 miles, and by the third either 11,710 or
13,288 miles, according as the eastern or western pas-
sage is taken from Port Essington round the coast
of Australia. Cceteris paribus, the shortest of these
lines would of course be the most eligible, but in point
of fact there are so many considerations which take
precedence of simple mileage that the distances max
be almost reckoned as equal. The next question tleau
arising is, that of the degrees of practicability wilich
the routes may be severally found to possess, fc.sr seas
must not be considered merely as so many leagues of
water when they have to be traversed by steam-ships.
The powers of a steamer depend upon her capacities for
carrying fuel—capacities of course very limited, for in
proportion to the tonnage and stowage of the vessel
must be the power of her engines, and the daily
consumption of coal. Speaking in round "numbers,
we may say, perhaps, that 3,000 miles is as long a
stage as a paddle-wheel steamer can be expected to
accomplish with certainty and regularity, until some
substitute has been discovered for the coal-fuel now in
use ; and although screw-steamers can be more eco-
nomically worked, yet what is saved in consumption, is lost in speed. In a line of steam communication,
therefore, it is necessary to have coaling-harbours at
intervals of not less, say, than 3,000 miles. Our
ships make the run of the Atlantic (2,6C0 miles)
readily enough ; but this may be taken as nearly
the maximum performance on which it is quite
safe to calculate. Now, the Panama route to
Australia is divided into two distinct parts—that
across the Atlantic from London to Chagres, and
that across the Pacific from Panama to Sydney.
The former of these is already accomplished by our
West Indian steamers, but the latter has never yet
been tried, and when we come to examine its practi-
cability we find serious obstacles of the character we
hare been describing. The whole distance from
Sydney to Panama is not less than 7,800 miles, and
though this is broken by the Gallapagos islands off
the American coast, by Tahiti in mid voyage, and by
New Zealand at the other end, yet the second of
these stages is nearly 3,600 miles long—a distance
which would, to say the least, throw great uncer-
tainty on the voyage. Again, when we turn to the
third point of consideration—the countries to be con-
nected by the line, we find no conspicuous advan-
tages promised by the Pacific route. Up to the
Isthmus of Panama, it is true, the proposed line
might produce the most desirable effect of improving
our communication with the West Indies, and of in-
troducing a new and splendid class of steamers upon
a field where our carrying traffic is likely to be
stoutly contested ; but after the isthmus has been
passed these advantages abruptly terminate, for there
neither is nor is likely to be any commercial inter-
course between Australia and the western coast of
America; so that Sydney would, by this line, be
simply connected with London, and nothing more.
The same remarks will apply in some degree to
the route by the Cape of Good ,llope, which is both
circuitous and unproductive, and even from the Mau-
ritius to Swan River is a dead run of 3,400 miles.
Supposing, however, what is not improbable, that these
difficulties of steaming may be hereafter surmounted
by the advance of science, yet there will still remain
the objections derivable from the unprofitable cha-
racter of the connexions into which Australia would
thus be drawn. Tue natural re'ations of these colo-
nies are villib,., India and the Archipelago, and it is
this consideratietn which gives the chief superiority
to the route by Suez4ind Singapore, for this will con-
nect Sydney not only with London, but with Bata-
via, C,lombo, B .mbay, and Alen. It was with a
view to this natural intercourse between India and
Australia that tl:e survey of the Torres Straits has
been prosecuted with so much zeal. Our settle-
ments in this enoriroui tract of territory lie almost
wholly on its southern coast, so that the circumnavi-
gation of Australia itself forms no inconsiderable
portion of the whole enterprise. In point of fact,
our steam communication by this route has actually
advanced to a point within about 2,000 miles of
Australia, Port Essington being only 1,600 miles'
run from Batavia', and B itavia being only 480
from Singapore. Taking Aden, however, as the
starting-point, there are 1,0 fewer than five routes
by which Australia could thence be reached by
steam, and of these the best, in our opinion, is that
via Ceylon, Singapore, Port Essington, and Torres
Straits. Sydney would thus be brought within about
11,700 miles of London—a distance only ta ice that
between London and Bombay ; whereas, according
to the present arrangements Australia may be prac-
tically considered at least four times as far off as
India. A proportionate result would be obtained if
A lelaide or Port Philip were made the point of com-
munication, in which case the western passage might
be taken from Port Essington ; and we way convey
perhaps a good idea of the immense circuit of this
island-continent by stating that the distance between
the Swan River settlement on its western, and
Sydney on its south-eastern cast, is only 300 miles
less than the distance between London and Halifax.
Whichever point, however, may be taken, we have
no hesitation in concluding that the com-
mercial relations induced cr confirmed by
the route should determine its selection, for
the difference of a few hundred miles cannot be
weighed against the advantages which might be
gained or lost by a judicious or injudicious connexion.
We may here observe too, that while the Panama
route is directed to Sydney and the eastern coast
exclusively, that by the Archipelago, offers the
facility of diverging lines from B stavia, which is
about equidistant both from Swan River and Port
Essington. Beyond doubt, it is highly desiraMe that
our communication with the West Indies and the Gulf
of Mexico should be placed on en improved footing
before a more spirited competitor appears on the field,
but this object is surely important enough to be pro-
moted on its own grounds, without being discussedill
as a suh,i,liary consideration in the questionol
route to Australia, which should be
but
by by the fair requirements of the colony itself,,ea.rly
nearly
and the interests of other dependencies more
and naturally connected a ith it than our settlements
in the Caribbean Sep.—Times

MERTHYR. ATTEMPTED MURDER.— Lite on
Wednesday night, a diabolical attempt at murder was
made at Aberdarr. It eppeers that, for sem , time pest,
the greater number of the sea•ccal men, a'. Cedlys and
other works, have struck for an advance of wages.
Some, who thought better of the matter, continued to
work, despite the threats of the ahem Owing to these
threats, which the colliers so often receive as they leave
work, there is a vast amount of ill feeling existing be-
tween the two parties. Gn Wednesday night the house
of William Jenkins, Mill-street, was visited by, it ii
supposed, a gang of the "strikers." Tee first notice
with considerable violence at the d or, evidently f
given of there being any one outside, was a stone thrownhe
then in bed, and getting Lim ct the
the window,
purpose of attracting the attention of jednokwins, vmhmoorew,tiaili
c luckily..
escaping the intend( d
, : vital„.the house, that the it clued
Immedi-
ately after a shot was fired thr,ihgel2
miscreantP,b ranking
by the silence maii"'""' Tra; and though every ocer-
was accomplished, deeambpc
police force to find out
no clue has yet been obtained of them.
the guilty party, .
wadeincyheosuortthe head cf Jenkins,
some slugs with which
On examination of t
tion hasdswitctehibnesenfm,„
must have bean loaded, were found in the bed-
post,the gun
. . he premises,
an
Three colliers are now under examination for having
threatened other collierF, as they were leaving work, with
severe punishment, if they contiuutd working. Unless
some agreement is made between masters and men, we
are afraid this occurrence will be but the prelude to
others. 201 has been offered for the apprehension of
the misguided men who committed this outrae, but up
to the, present time no arrest has taken- place.—
Cambrian.

The Ma (pis of Lansdowne will entertain at
dinner on the 3Cth inst ,r t, the day before the met tins
of Pailiament, at his residence in Berkele) -square' the
several members of the House ( f Lords conneoed with
the Govornmet t, and the mover and seconder of the
address in the Upper Howe. Lord John Will
entertain Est his official residence in t, on
the same day, the mover and seconder of the address in
the Commons, and the several members of the Lower
House filling offices in his Admini,t-•.t,,r.
THE TRANSIT TRADE WITH AMERICA. The
ste sm-ship Commodore, arrived at the vrt t f Liverpool
f!‘otn Havre, has brought the large number of 442 pack-
agesi) of silks, &J., as a p roodd.her C;1 whio, 4re
intended for irome,ha'e sh:.pine tt,, t e
States of America. Thest:, 1-trge arrivals c f Prcrch
manufactures in transitu tothe Unit, d States of Anvrica,
are, as may be readily expected, ovs ing to the
now afforded, by the removal s f .the re;triet;,n hy the
American Goreri,meut, for the iwporLatiou of foreign
gcods into the porloof the United 'States in British ships.