The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-28 00:00:00

"EVENING, JUNE 28, 1850.

POSTAL C NIUNIC ATION BE- ing in their disposal, which renders it not difficult to
TWEEN LONDON AND PARIS. understand how this paper may have passed impro-
The Select Committee appointed by the house of perly into the hands of persons for whom it was not
Commons to ascertain the most expeditious and least intended; and, under all the circumstances of the
expensive mode of postal communication between ease, your Committee do not consider that any fur-
London and Paris and the Northern parts of Europe, tier notice of it is required. But they recommend
have ore Hmted the following report:-- for the future re4ulations be made for limiting
" Your Committee find that the postal communice- number of copies to ht printed, for the slfe distribu•
tion between London and Paris ha; always passed torn of a portion, nnd the careful custody of the ie.
through Dover and Calais, with the exception of moinder, and for fixing upon each person to whom
n period of thirteen rnon:.hs, commencing on the Ist they are entrusted the responsibility of keeping them
Jaoitary, 1843. The Boulogne Railway being then as confidential communications."
nearly completed, that port was substituted for _
Calais on the establishment of an additional
and accelerated daily mei! between the two
capitals. The experiment was also then made for
the first time of requiring packets to perform their
voyages between tidal harbours at fixed hours, with-
out reference to the state of the tide. The journey
from London to Paris, which bad hitherto taken 3U
hours, was performed in 14k, the time being thus
apportioned:—London to Dover in 2i hours, Dover
to Boulogne in 5 hours, Boulogne to Paris in 7
hours ; total, 14f hours.
" From Jan. 1, 1848, to Jan. 31, 1849, there were
46 occasions in which the night mails did not reach
the Post-office at Boulogne within the period of five
hours allowed from Dover, and on the return
voyage, when about six hours were allowed, they
reached the London Post-office too late 38 times.
But it was also in evidence that during a portion of
this period the boating service was extremely imper-
fect. From January 1, 1848, to January 31, 1849,
the mails were obliged to be embarked by boat in
Boulogne Roads 111 times ; and disembarked 102
times ; total, 213 times. And the cost of the boat
service during the same period was 799/. 17s. 5d., in-
clusive of 151/.165. for the construction of new boats.
" During the following thirteen months, from
February 1, 1849, to February 28, 1850, there were
25 occasions in which the night mails were landed
from the packets at Calais after 230 AM. or
in excess of 3f hours from the departure from
Dover, and 41 on which they were landed after two
A.m., or in excess of three hours from Dover, and
there were 26 in which they reached the London
Post-office too late. They were embarked in Calais
Roads 65 times, and disembarked ditto 18 times ;
total 83. The expense of the boat service during the
same period was 1021. ls. ld.
"In considering the route by which the greatest
speed, combined with regularity, may be obtained for
this postal communication, your Committee find
the chief uncertainty to rest upon the amount of time
which must necessarily be allowed to include the
delays that may be expected from contrary wea-
ther and the detentions arising when the packets are
prevented by the falling of the tide from entering or
leaving the harbours. The witnesses examined upon
this point, on whose opinion with regard to such mat-
ters reliance may be most safely placed, concur in
stating, that punctuality cannot be reckoned upon, in
regard to the Boulogne voyage, under 4 hours and 30
minutes.
" The night mail is at present conveyed from
London to Paris, by Calais, in 121 hours. From
London to Dover in 2i hours, Dover to Calais 3
hours, Calais to Paris 7 hours : total 12. hours.
Three hours may, therefore, be taken as a sufficient
allowance of time from the railway station at Dover
to the station at Calais, though one of the witnesses
stated that 3f hours should be allowed to insure re-
gularity.
"It appears, therefore, from the evidence your
Committee have taken, that four and a half hours are
required between the stations at Dover and Boulogne,
and three hours between the stations at Dover and
Calais, the difference being attributable to the
following circumstances :—The sea passage to
Boulogne pier is on the average about twenty
minutes longer than to Calais pier. In Boulogne
harbour it is stated that there is depth of water
sufficient for the packets about seven hours out of
twelve, and in Calais generally with the exception
of about one hour and forty minutes at spring
tides. The boat service is more liable to delay
and difficulty at Boulogne than at Calais. Boulogne
is more exposed to the prevailing gales, and more
difficult and dangerous of approach, particularly in
the dark, in bad weather. The manager of the Bou-
logne and Amiens Railway stated five hours to be the
shortest time in which the mail could be con-
veyed with regularity from Boulogne to Paris,
assuming that the best arrangement could be made
with the North of France Railway Company. A
superintendent of the North of France Railway
stated six hours and forty-five minutes to be the
average time actually occupied in the transmission of
the mails from Calais to Paris, though seven
hours are allowed to cover delays, and he
considered that rate of speed to be suscep-
tible of acceleration. The time, therefore,
at which the mails may be conveyed by the two routes,
assuming an acceleration on the Boulogne line, ap-
pears to be as follows :
h. m.' h. m.
London to Dover .. 2 30 London to Dover ... 2 30
Dover to Boulogne 4 30 Dover to Calais..... 3 0
Boulogne to Paris ... 4 45; Calais to Paris ..... 6 45

11 451 12 15
" The advantage of half an hour posssessed by the
former route is, however, counterbalanced by the fol-
lowing considerations :
"It is shown by experience to be exposed to more
delay, even with the allowance of 4h. 30n3. from
station to station, than the other route ; and it must
be remembered that nine times the packets were
unable to deliver their mails at Boulogne, and
to avoid further delay, proceeded to Calais. The
expense of the Boulogne line, for boat-service, coal,
stores, wear and tear, is estimated at one-third more
than the same service from Dover to Calais, and the
risk of serious accident to the packets is greater. Your
Committee have it also in evidence that the port of
Calais could not well be superseded, but would re-
main the port for letters for the north of Europe, and
that letters are sent twice a day at the present time
to Belgium and the Rhine by this route. Your
Committee are informed that the mail train from Dover
to Lonion may be accelerated from fifteen to twenty
minutes by diminishing the number of stoppages, and
one cause of delay will be considerably removed as
the works at Dover advance and the mails landed at
the pier at all hours. And your Committee have
been informed that the Minister who superintends
the postal department in France has intimated his
readiness to dispatch the night mail from Paris at
seven e.se., as was the case in 1848.
" Your Committee, therefore, having reference to
general celerity, regularity, and economy, do not
recommend any change of route. But they recom-
mend that the night mail from Paris be so accelerated
as to reach London at such time in the morning as
is requisite for the dispatch by the morning mails of
the letters addressed to places beyond the metropolis,
and in the event of this object not being attained by
an improvement of the existing arrangements, your
Committee are of opinion that the importance of that
object is such as to render desirable an attempt to ac-
complish it by any other means which may furnish a
prospect of success.
" Your Committee find that the day mails conveyed
under the terms of the convention in packets belong-
ing to the French Government, have been subject to
much delay. In the year ending 31st Jan., 1849,
the day mails from Paris failed to arrive in London
in due course 92 times, and in the 13 months ending
28th Feb., 1850, 74 times ; and considering that 16}
hours are allowed for the journey, your Committee
have not discovered any sufficient excuse for this
great irregularity.
" Your Committee have been informed that the net
cost, after deducting receipts, of the packet service to
and from Calais, is 6,2441. per annum, and that by
reductions consequent on the withdrawal of the
Ostend line it might be decreased to 4,9811. The
chairman of the South-Eastern Railway Company
stated, on behalf of his company, that they would
undertake the same service for 9,8251. per annum.
"Though your Committee do not see grounds for
expecting a reduction of expense from any transference
of the packet service to other bands, yet as a great
saving of expenditure would be effected by the aban-
donment of the Ostend line of packets, and as the
letters they at present convey could be car-
ried by the Calais packets, and the greater
portion reach their destination with at least as
much speed and punctuality as at present, they ex-
press a hope that her Majesty's Government will take
into consideration the means of effecting this reduc-
tion, provided it can be secured without a correspond-
ing increase in the rates of postage, and without
breach of engagement with foreign powers.
" Your Committee have farther directed their at-
tention to a circumstance which occurred during their
deliberations, not only irregular in character, but
materially affecting the privileges of the llouse. Some
paragraphs of a draft report, printed for the purpose
of aiding the members of the Committee in the consi-
deration of the subject before them, were published in
an incomplete state in two newspapers, at a moment
when your Committee were still deliberating, and be-
fore they had agreed to their report; this publication
being followed by comments as premature as the
document to which they adverted was incomplete.
" Your Committee have thought it due to them-
selves and to the authority of the House, to endea-
vour to discover by whom this draft report was made
public. They have examined the publishers of the
two newspapers, and have traced the offence to the
correspondent of one of them. He stated that he had
not obtained the draft from any member of your
Committee, or from any one belonging to the offices
1 of the House, but declined to give up the name of
the person from whom he slid obtain it. He, how-
ever, expressed his contrition, and assured your Com-
mittee that he was not aware of the confidential
character of the document. Your Committee having
proceeded to examine the persons employed in the
printing and distribution (if the minutes and proceed-
ings of Committees, found a laxity of practice exist-

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
TIMES.—It is with very sincere regret that we
have read the report of the committee appointed to
consider the best means of facilitating the postal
communication between London and Paris. The
committee have decided, not without a certain trepi-
dation, on recommending the maintenance of the
route by way of Calais. In the sentence which fol-
lows this notable recommendation, they advise " that
the night mail from Paris be so accelerated as to
reach London at such a time in the morning as is
requisite for the dispatch by the morning mails of
the letters to places beyond the metropolis, and in the
event of this object not being attained by an improve-
ment of existing arrangements, your committee are
of opinion that the importance of that object is such
as to render desirable an attempt to accomplish it by
any other means which may furnish a prospect of
success." The committee, in other words, entertain
shrewd doubts as to the value of their own recom-
mendation. They anticipate a time when the exi-
gencies of public service will no longer admit of
maintaining arrangements based upon private in-
terests. They cannot attempt to invalidate the
object for which the commercial public has been so
long engaged in so arduous a struggle, and an ex-
pression of doubt creeps in by the side of their
most positive conclusions. They attempt to disarm
hostility by an ingenuous admission of the weakness of
their case. At the very moment they have decided
upon a desperate attempt to maintain " exisiting ar-
rangements" they keep an eye upon that inevitable
moment when these " existing araangements" must
entirely break down in the face of independent com-
petition and of the public impatience. In what way
are the existing arrangements to be improved ? In
any manner which would not apply equally to the
Boulogne as to the Calais route ? A speedier con-
veyance of the mails between Dover and London
would be an advantage participated in by both. To
organize a system of letter sorting while the train
was on its way from the outport to the capital would
in the same way be a benefit common to the partisans
of either system. Again, it might be so contrived
that the letter bags should be dispatched from Paris
at an earlier hour, but it must be remembered that
even if in this way a timely delivery could be secured
in London, this benefit must be gained by sacrificing
a rateable portion of the time during which the Posts
office at Paris would be open for the reception of let-
ters from the departments, from the south of Europe,
or from India. It is a clumsy expedient at best,
and adopted for no better reason than the
maintenance of a route unnecessarily dilatory,
and circuitous—a route which already stands con-
demned by the practice of travellers, of the public
journals, and of all parties who are not absolutely
bound to the Post-office arrangements. We are al-
most weary of repeating the figures upon which this
question turns, but once more we will lay them be-
fore our readers as succinctly as possible. The ad-
vantage of the Boulogne route consists in this, that
there is a difference of 66 miles in its favour upon
the French soil. The distance from Calais to Amiens,
where the two lines join, is precisely 1421 miles ,
the distance of Boulogne to Amiens is 76 miles ; ii
is on that section of the route the saving of distance
takes place. On the other hand there is a set off
in
favour of the Calais route of .5 miles en the water pas-
sage. Beta een London and Dover, and Amiens and
Paris, the route followed by the trains is of course the
same, so that we need only direct our inquiries to
the singe point of the circumstances connected with
the water passage, which are assumed as an equiva-
lent for the additional and monstrous circuit of 66
miles between Calais and Amiens. It is said there
are difficulties connected with the entry of the port of
Boulogne which necessitate a more frequent boat ser-
vice, at the same time that it is rendered hazardow
during the prevalence of certain winds; and that thus
when the balance comes to be struck, an advantage of
only half an hour is left in favour of the Boulogne
route. But in the teeth of these statements we have
the ' fact of the actual performance of the
journey by way of Boulogne in a period
shorter by hours than it is accomplished
by way of Calais in the ordinary transit
of the mails—we have the direct evidence of
pilots and of other persons connected with the port of
Boulogne, who, in the most positive terms, deny or
explain away the difficulties attributed to the entry
of the port of Boulogne, or who at least show that
there are corresponding difficulties connected with
Calais—we find a public company—the South-
Eastern Steam Packet Company—who are willing,
by contract, and under heavy penalties, to convey the
mails two hours sooner by way of Boulogne—we find
the captains and commanders in charge of the com-
pany's ships who have been long and successfully
engaged iu navigating the channel between the two
countries coming forward to declare that they are
prepared at once to make good the declarations of
the company. Now, in the face of these facts and
of this evidence, is it possible for a moment to sup-
pose that this report of the Select Committee of Com-
mons decides the question as to the best and
shortest route from London to Paris ? Should
the Boulogne route be adopted, it is cal-
culated that the postal communication between
the capital of France and Great Britain would
require 111 hours without any extraordinary strain.
At present we find that the transmission of a letter
from Paris to London requires between 14 and 15
hours—that is to say, a letter is forwarded from Paris
at 8 o'clock P.M., and reaches London at, say as an
average, 10 A.M. This is the time practically em-
ployed, and despite of the sanguine anticipations of
the committee, we will venture to say that it will be
much the same thing for the future. Now, a letter
which reaches London at such an hour is too late for
the first town delivery, or for the morning's dispatch
northwards. We need not enlarge upon the amount
of inconvenience caused to the commercial public by
such an arrangement. Oa the other hand, a letter
forwarded from Paris by way of Boulogne at 8 P.m.
would reach London at 7} „Las, which is all that is
required. If five hours be allowed between Bou-
logne and which is the time named by M.
Amedee Gautray, the manager of the Boulogne
and Amiens Railway, and 21 hours for the conveyance
of the bags between London and Dover—and we name
the time actually employed—these two period., taken
together, give a total of 7 hours for the land journey.
With regard to the remaining period of four hours 11
for the water transit, the proposal from the South-
Eastern Steam Pocket Company to the committee
stand as follows :—The company offer to convey the
mails betweenFolkestone and Boulogne for 8,000/. a-
year, and between Dover and Boulogne for 9,5001.
a-year. They offer, moreover, to pay a fine of 101
for each irregularity exceeding 25 minutes if the
period allowed for the sea voyage be 3i hours, and
201. if it be 4 hours. Thus we. see placed before us
in a distinct and tangible form a method of conduct-
ing the postal communication between London and
Paris in 11 hours, or at the utmost in 14 hours. We
see that even the Select Committee, in their report,
set the run from Boulogne to Paris at 41 in place of
5 hours ; and Mr. J. Macgregor, the Chairman of the
South-Eastern Railway, informed the committee
that time distance between London and Dover
might be performed in two hours if an increase
of expense were not deemed an objection. Thus,
three-quarters of an hours could be gained ; and if
we allow 3} hours—the shorter period named by
the company—for the water passage, the postal
journey between the two capitals might be affected in
104 hours. The distance has been accomplished in
8} hours by this route, but for the present let that
pass. We have not the will, if we had the power, in
our limited space, to disentangle the truth from the
conflicting statements of the witnesses examined be
fore the Committee. We would wish rather to direct
the attention of the public to one simple ar.d intelligi-
ble fact. The whole controversy turns upon the dif-
ficulties experienced in entering Boulogne-harbour.
On this point there is a conflict of evidence between
the witnesses examined before the Committee. But
by the side of these jarring statements we find a
public company coming forward, perfectly willing
to bind itself to the public under heavy pecuniary pe-
nalties to accomplish the task which is pronounced o
difficult of execution. Nor are the persons who
make this offer mere novices or adventurers jumping
at a hap-hasard speculation. Tbeir vessels have been
in the habit for a long time of navigating the
channel between the two countries, and of entering
the port which is pronounced to be so difficult of
access, at all times of the day and night, and under
the most varying circumstances of tide and weather.
Now, these persons, with all their long experience
and with such heavy interests involved,tell us the
thing can be done. Let us, at least, make the trial.
rial
A six months' experiment is after all no such grea
risk when so important a result to the commeta
world as the placing the postal communication be-
tween the capitals of France and Great Britain on the
most satisfactory footing is at issue. There the rail-
ways are, and the trains, all ready for work to-mor-
row if need be. There, too, are the steamers of the
South-Eastern Company, ready to get their steam up
at a moment's notice. Let the two rival routes be
fairly tried for six months or for cne month, and it'
the hypothesis of the Committee be correct—namely,
that there is only half-an-hour's difference in favour
of the Boulogne route—we will abandon the question
altogether. We will venture to add that the coin
'nerdsl public will then be satisfied that Parliament
bas dealt fairly in the matter. Until such a trial as