The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-05 00:00:00

TIER DELAYS IN THE TRANBIIISS'ON
OF THE INDIAN AND AUSTI?, fLIAN
MAILS, VIA FRANCE AND MAR-
SEILLES.

The Eist India and China Association, in their
recently issued report, publish a letter addressed to
them on this subject by Mr. De Salis, a gentleman
well known for his able advocacy ai.d energetic
promotion of questions of Australian in erest. Mr.
De S•lis's remarks will be read in the colonies as
well as as India wish great intere=st, while the sug-
gestions which he makes for the improveirent of a
postal service, every day becoming of greater im-
p,rtance to the public, merit the ettly attention of
the French and English Governments. It is well
known that serious delays are always occuring iu
the despatch of the mails from Marseilles ; and al-
though it admits of no question th it from thence
let ets might be transmitted to London in 27 hours,
their transit sill usually occupies nearly two days,
reckoning from the period of the arrival of the mail
packets in the harbour of Marseilles.
The following is a copy of the letter above re-
ferred to, which is addressed to the Secretary of
the East India and China Association

Dawlt y Court, tirm'iri.!ge, Oct. 18, 185t3.
Sir—At the suggestion of several zentiemfn connected
with India and Australia, I resolved to avail myself cf
abort tour I was making in the south of France, in order
to inquire into the cam:es of theextraor3inary delays that
have recently occurred in the transit of the India and
China mails at the port of Marseilles; I accordingly pro-
ceeded to that locality, and now beg, upon the invitation
of a member of your ass, elation, to report, for the infor-
maion of your committee, the results of my inquiries ;
at the same time I desire to submit for their considera-
tion a plan for the future transit of the mails, which,
while it must considerably shorten the time now occu-
pied in their transmission, will eff,ctually prevent a re-
currence of those delays which have been so justly egin-

plitined of.
I would premise my observations by stating that my in-
formation has been derived from persons in business at
Lyons, Avignon, and Marseilles, and I am at the same
time bound to add that I received ranch valuable intelli-
gence regarding the practice of the pot-office authorities
at Marseilles from Capt. Roberts, the commander of her
Majesty's post-office packet VA-tta, now stationed on
the Marsei l-a and Matra line. Your committee will thus
observe that I neglected no means of obtaining informa-
tion from the best and most reliable sources, and I there-
fore venture to hope that my suggestions, having been
derived from practical men, will be fount free from all
pranical objection'', and capable of being brought into
easy operation, if adopted by the French and English
g,,vernments.
For convenience sake, I have classified my observa-
tions uuder distinct heads, and I commence with the
Cause of the Delays complained of.
It has been generally supposed that these delays have
been attributable to the inertness of the French Past-
office authorities ; this is, however, not wholly the case,
as a variety of causes have been in operation to impede
the due despatch of our mai's.
0 sing to the recent large extension of the silk manu-
factures of France, her postal rdstions with India have
assumed proportions which would hardly be credited.
Teat such is the case, yourcornmittee will perceive, when
I inform them that the continental portion of the India
mail, delivered at klarseilles on the `nth of Scot. last,
amounted to 118 boxes. It must also beyborne in mid
that these very heavy mails, owing to the difficulty expe-
rienced by the packets in entering a very crowded pert at
night timr, usually arrive ahoy tly atter daybreak, tba'•
just at the very period of the day when the whole staff of
the Marseilles Post office are engaled in preparing for
their extensive diernal deliveries. Under such circum-
stances, the Marseilles officials have elected to perform
their u,tral office business first, before they attend to the
India mails, and hence one cause of the detention of our
letter bags.

Another cause is, however, also in operation. The
French authorities, eepettally in the present fevered
state of the rile market, exeibit a marked reluctance to
permit any one part of the India mail to precede the
rest ; hence it has frequently occurred that whilst the
continents) portion cf the India mail was b-ing sorted
and arranged, our own mail has been detained pending
the completion of that operation, and has in consequence
missed the 10 o'clock morning train, by which it might
otherwise easily have been despatched.
A third and last cause of delay exists in this, that the
French Post-office at Marseilles have no authority to en-
gage a ~pecial train for the despatch of the mails, and
thus find themselves bound to employ one or other of the
two Lx:,ting mail trains, viz., the tra;.n starting at 10
a in., or the evening train, starting twelve hours and a
half after it, at 10.30 p.m..
Best mode of obviating t'e 1:Y lays complained of.
Having pointed out the c t 1.1894 of these delays, I pro-
ceed to show how they may he he-t remedied. In the first
place,,se the French government never either open or
desired t ) open our mail bees, it wi I be quite clear that
no ground whatever exists 'for taking them to tke Mar-
seil es Poet office ; on the contrary, the G
vernmeiit courser, who waits the arrival of each mail
packet, ought to be pertuitte.l to take the mall-, direct
from the ship to the railway station ; and I am assured,
on good authority, that thoir transfer from the ship to
the r&ti way carriages ought always to he effected within
the hour ; thus, the-posmibitty of the long detentions
which have recently occurred, within the precincts f
the NI sreeillee Poet-office, wi 1 be wh. lly done away
with. The cogent grounds which ex et, for despatching
the mail at all times by special train will he dwelt upon
by me at length under a separate bead ; in the meantime,
I wonl.l observe that one of the grounds put forward by
the French Post office for detaieing the Eneli.h mail
while they are sorting the continental mail—viz., their
reluctance to allow ail one portion of the India MA to
precede the other, has no jest application to the English
despatA,s, which taut, under :any circum-aancee, whe-
ther sent on or detained, reach their de-einatioo 1 org
after the greater portion of the continental letters have
been delivered ; and I would for:her respectdel y
sub-
mit for the consideration of the French authorities,
that as regards those boxes destined for Lyons,
the north of France, Belgium, &o , no neces ity
whatev-r eats why they should be taken to the Mar-
Beillei Post-effice. They ought, in co. junction with our
own mails, to go direct to the railway cation, be there
looked over in a bureau appropriated to the postal ser-
vice, and then be instantly despatched with our own to
their respeceive destinations—the sorting process going
on as usual on the road.

Imrovetnent on the present mode of Transmitting the

rine ard Mail.

Under this head I ha-re drawn out a Fcbeme suggest-
ing several improvewents in the present.mode of transit.
Thia document is appended hereto ; in the ,eantitne, it
will be sufficient for me to) refer to its I,ading features,
which are as follows ;—lit. No delays at MarAelipi,.
21. Despatch of the mails by a special trun. 3). No
delay 3 at Paris. 4th. Sorting of the mails during their
transit through France. sth. The time table annex ,t 1
to my schemes ~honing that the mails may now easily
Le delivered in London witbio 28 hours of their despatch
from AI

Necessity for a2Epatcbirg_ Homeward Mail by a

Special T 1 ain.

The delays at Blarseils having been already discussed,
I proceed at once to refer to tne necessity of despatching
the homeward mails immediate,y on their arrival by a
special train.
I feet 1 assured that when our Government reflect on
the present extent of our Eastern trade, and when they
consider the importance it is to our-merchants not only
to have early advices but also fill time to reflect upon
the oriiere they must transmit by the outgoing mail, they
will he of opinion that an unnecteeary delay of many
hours in the transit of valuable intellig.nce may prove
a very dear ecarion-iy to the public. If anything were
wanting to confirm theta in the necessity which exists
for putting the Marseilles service on the best footing, it
is to be fi►uud in the fact that the overland route has re-
ceetly been selected as the ineatis of communication with
our Australian ei 1 nies, and will therefore shortly con-
Aqui° the channel through which ad vices relating to a
trade even mole important than our Eastern commerce
must reach England. Whether the whole or a portion
o► ly of the typeese of the speciel train should fall on
this country, it is not fur an individual to discuss ;
I may, however, be permitted to observe, whether
the French Government pay any portion or not
of the proposed special train, that no measure
it soul i tike wou►d be more popular with the great mer-
cantile cities of France than the acceleration of their
touch-locked for silk advices. I eras assured upon good
antherity that the Cnarnbers of Commerce of Lyons,
RAVIT; and Bordeaux felt warmly on the delays which
bad tahen place, and were quite ready t ► support to
their utmost the representations they heard had been
made on the subject from England.

Delay of the Mail at Paris.
I beg your committee's particular attention to the scg-
gettton wade by .ne on this head, No. 5 Much time, pro-
bably three hours and a half, w,uld be economised if the
mails, in lieu of being driven into the Paris station of the
Lyons Railway, were taken direct to the Northern sta-
tion Fey the circular radsay, which connects together all
the French metropolitan terinin'. This means of eim-
muoicatii.n is extensively used I r the transit of merchan
disc—whole trains proceeding now diiic; from Marseil.
/es to Ilavre and Antwerp without iAoppi,,g at all at
Paris. What takes plice Will, a ltigiza4e train way, with-
out diTtite, easily also be done with a !rain consiqing
siitpli of a post-office carriage and tender. I therefore
subwit, witt, all rest.ect, that the present stoppat,,,e at
Park, equal to tour hours, m4y and oug!,t to be imtne-
eliately done away wi. b.
• Sorting of our waild during their Transit through
Franc.-.
pcopo,,d immediate transfer of our Aus-
View irg the
trahan mails to this line, there appears no reason why
proper staff shoal not be permanently organised fortni.
service. It will not be di-putet.l that, with proper ar_
p
rangeni en te, the mails might and ought to reach tcli London
all rea,:y sorted for the h,-me transit and delivery.
The Tina Table annexed to the Scheme for the Im-
proved Transit of the Mails.
The rate -toff speed assumed in this document is that
adopical by the Lyons and Paris line fir their usual ex-
press trains—viz ,35 miles pzr, hour, stoppages included;
a *toed which ought to be easily maintained by a spe-
e:a: express, viewing !hat such train woold carry no pas-
,,sengers, and would stop only for water and fuel.
It id here, perhaps, proper to state that the express
rate of speed on the Lyons and Marseilles line is onl, 25
miles per hour. As, however, this railway may be can
to,be. a better running road than the Paris and Ly ins line
an 1 presents, on the whole, fewer curves, I t ,ink th,
Gorernment might fairly ask them to adopt th accele
rated r xprese rate of the Lyons and Pails line. Their
capability to ran at high speeds, for their own purporte,