The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-27 00:00:00

STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH
THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
SOUTHAMPTON, JULY 24.—The Lords Commis-
sioners of the Admiralty have just issued a notifica-
tion, inviting tenders for the conveyance of her Ma-
jesty's mails to and from the Cape of Good Hope.
The contract is to be for seven years, and may be
terminated then, or at any subsequent period, by a
no'ice of twelve months from either party.
The contractors are to engage to convey her
Majesty's mail and dispatches between England and
the Cape of Good Hope monthly each way, at a speed
which, on the average of the annual voyages, shall
not be less than eight knots an hour. For this pur-
pose there are to be provided a sufficient number of
efficient steam-vessels, propelled on the screw principle,
and supplied with engines of not less than 200-horse
power, with competent officers and engineers, and a
sufficient crew of able seamen— to be in all respects
as to ships, machinery, equipment, and crew subject
to the approval of the Admiralty. On board of each
vessel is to be provided a secure place of deposit for
the mails, and each steamer is to possess proper boats,
and whatever may be necessary for the safe embarka-
tion and disembarkation of the mails.
The tenders are to specify the names of the vessels
proposed to he employed, their registered tonnage,
horse power, where lying, draught of water when
ready for sea, and speed, together with the date the said
vessels will be ready for survey and complete for sea.
The port of departure is to be chosen by the Admi-
ralty, but parties tendering are at liberty to restrict
their offer to sailing from one particular port, or to
mention the compensation they would require in the
event of the port being changed without their consent.
The vessels are to touch at Madeira, Sierra Leone,
and St. Helena, and at such other places as the Admi-
ralty may from tim-e to time determine.
Proper accommodation is to be provided free of
expense, for the naval officer in charge of the mails;
but parties tendering are permitted to state whether
they would make a deduction in the event of this con-
dition not being required.
The hours of sailing are to be fixed by the Admi-
ralty. The Admiralty to have the power of survey-
ing the vessels by their officers at all proper times,
and any defect discovered on such survey is to be
made good by the contractors under a penalty of 1001.
A penalty of 1001. will be incurred if the vessel stop,
linger, or deviate from the direct course, or put back
and return, except frotri stress of weather, or other
unavoidable circumstance, or unless authorized by the
Admiralty agent in charge of the mails. A penalty
of 30/. will be incurred when the contractors fail to
provide such steam-vessels, (quipped and manned as '
stipulated for, or when the vessel does not put to sea '
according to agreement, and also a sum of 101. fur
every hour which shall elapse until she shall actually
proceed to sea, but the payment of such penalty is
not to be enforced in the event of such default being
proved to the satisfaction of the Admiralty to have
arisen from circumstances over which the contractors
and their servants bad no control. A penalty of
4,000/. will be incurred by way of stipulated or as-
certained damages in case of the failure of the con-
tractors in the due performance of the contract, and
two sureties .to that amount are required. If the '
contract, or any part of it, be assigned, underlet, or
disposed of without the consent of the Admiralty, or
if it be deliberately broken the Admiralty are to
have the power of immediately terminating the
same.

The tender is to state the time when the parties
will be prepared to commence the contract. The
whole postage on letters conveyed in the vessels em-
ployed on this service, whether carried out of her
Majesty's dominions or not, is to be at the disposal
of the Postmaster-General. It is understood that
the Admiralty do not engage to accept the lowest
tender irrespective of all other considerations, and are
not bound necessarily to accept any of the tenders
that may be sent in.
Such is an outline of the conditions upon which
the Lords of the Admiralty are willing to receive
propcslls for the Cape of Good Hope service. The
intention of the Government to establish a regular
mail to our South African colonies will doubtless be
hailed with great satisfaction, not only by the colo-
nists, but also by the mercantile community interested
in the increasing commerce of that part of .the world.
By superseding the present uncertain •means of com-
munication by sailing vessels all business operations
will be greatly facilitated, remittances rendered more
regular and speedy, and an inducement will be held
out for the middling and better classes of the colo-
nists to resist their native land, which the prospect
of a sailing voyage would in many cases prohibit.
Emigration to Southern Africa will likewise be pro-
moted, and altogether it is not too much to say that
the establishment of a regular monthly steam com-
munication between England and the Cape of Good
Hope will prove a new era in the history and pros-,
pects of that and the neighbouring colonies.
It would thus appear that an independent line of
steamers is contemplated with which to accomplish
this service, quite irrespective of other lines of Mail
steamers, and that vessels propelled with screws are
to be exclusively used.• Without attempting to dis-
cuss the respective merits of the two principles of
propulsion as applicable to the ocean-going steamers,
we would remark, that so far as the requisite speed is
concerned, there is no doubt that screw steamers to
go through the water at a rate of eight knots may
be easily procured. Whether, however, an annual
average cf eight knots an hour can be produced in all
weathers, and under all the vicissitudes of 450 lengthy
a voyage, and whether in other respects screw
steamers will be found to combine the desired regu-
larity of arrival and departure, with absence from
accident and other qualifications of efficient mail con-
veyances, are questions that must be solved by expe-
rience, as they have hitherto received but a partial
test, and therefore the present service (if carried out
on the screw principle) will have the effect of decid-
ing whether or not vessels of this particular construc-
tion are in the long run sufficiently to be depended
upon for lengthened voyages.
There is one point, however, in connexion with
the Cape of Good Hope plan that is well worthy of
consideration, and that is whether it is worth while to
incur the expense for an independent line, when a
great portion of the route will be regularly traversed
by another line of steamers, and whether by a junc-
tion with a contemplated line, the same or even
greater advantages cannot be secured to the public at
a moiety of the expense.
On examining this subject, we discovered that an
arrangement is possible, whereby the Cape of Good
Hope mails might be conveyed to and from England
by connecting branch packets at the Cape Verd
Islands with the Brazilian mail packets, touching
there both out and home.
The packets to Brszil are to call both outward and
homeward at Madeira, Teneriffe, and St. Vincent's,
Cape Verd. The latter port is 2,511 miles, or up-
wards of three-eighths, of the distance in the direct
tract from England to the Cape. It follows, there-
fore, that if a couple of branch packets were to be
employed running from St. Vincent's to the Cape of
Good Hope, touching at Sierra Leone, and St. Helena
(as contemplated by the Admiralty) and in cor-
respondence with the Brazilian steamers, they would
answer every purpose, and a mail quite equal in re-
gularity, and of greater speed (because of the supe-
rior speed and qualities of the Brazil line), would be
established to and from the Cape, while the cost to
the public service of such branch packets would pro-
bably not exceed by a great deal one-half of what
would be necessary to maintain an independent line.
The reduction in expense would be caused by the
smaller number of packets necessary, and the lessened
distance to be performed by the contractors,—viz.,
2,500 miles out, and 2,500 miles home, on each
voyage, which, multiplied by twelve, would give the
annual saving of steaming distance at 60,000 miles.
We cannot doubt that these facts will present them-
selves to the Lords of the Admiralty, and that their
Lordships when adjudicating on this contract will be
guided by a due regard for public service, and that
only such a plan, whether for an independent or a
branch line of packets, will be sanctioned as upon
public grounds will appear to combine the three in-
dispensable advantages of economy, rapidity, and
efficiency.

SUDDEN DEATH AT PORTSMOUTH.—We are sorry
to say that Mr. John Hollingsworth was found dead in his
bed, from a fit of apoplexy, on Wednesday morning, at the
residence of his son at Southsea Beach. He was an active
old gentleman, and had been walking about the day previous.
He was 70 years old. Mr. Hollingsworth several years ago
established and conducted for many years, with great satis-
faction to the public, and which have since gained such de-
served celebrity, the King's Rooms on Southsea Beach. The
rooms have now, however, for some years past ;,been under
the efficient management of Mr. Henry Hollingsworth, his
son, and they constitute the principal attraction of Southsea,
and are the resort of the elite of both the residents of this lo-
cality and also of the numerous and fashionable personages
who periodically visit this pleasant and now highly desirable
watT iug- place.

IRUSTS.—According to a recent return
the total amount of loans advanced to turnpike trusts in
England and Wales by the Exchequer-bill Loan Commis-
sioners is 177,150/. The amount of principal repaid is
51,5221. Is. 2d., leaving a balance of 125,6271. 18s. 10d. un-
paid. The total amount of interest due and unpaid is
21,2201. 2s. I Id.

SALE OF AN ADVOWSON.—Yesterday the perpetual
advowson of the vicarage of Oadby, Leicestershire, was
offered by Mr. D. Smith at the auction mart. The income
was about 291/. per annum, exclusive of fees and -Easter
dues. The incumbent was born in 1811. It Was knocked
down for 9201.