The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1869-07-10
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
y. JULY 10.
ocean steam Navigation
Snn nnd Australin.

san and Australia.
During the past few years events have rolled
up so rapidly that ono can hardly foreteIl what
may follow. Great commercial enterprises have
been accomplished almost before. the s~ccptical
world had decided on their practicability. Such
are the Atlantic Cable Telegraph, the Continental
Railroad, and the hardly Ices splendid triumph of
human skill, the Suez Canal. Which will soon
be followed by the Darien Ship Canal, n work
Offering no more insurmountable obstacles than
either of che others named.
But there. is one great enterprise nearer by,
which, though promising rs grand results, rs n
speculation, as either of the above, still lies I'M
developed-we refer to the steam route from San
Francisco to Australia, via this group. The two
tcrmini haze grown as If by magic, and their
commerce and prosperity are no lees wonderful.
Twenty years ago San Francisco had 4 population
Of but n few hundreds, and Melbourne perhaps
rs many thousands while to-day the population
Of these two cities exceeds three hundred thous-
and. The Pacific Coast, of which the former Is
the outlet, numbers over n million, and the ter
ritory Of Australia about two millions.
Between these two growing cities are several
points which offer inducements to n first class
steamship line, such as no other route has ever
had presented to it. On n direct line, 2l00 miles
from San Francisco, is this port, Honolulu, whose
export trade last year amounted to two millions
Of dollars, including 20, COO, 600 pounds of sugar,
and It's import trade amounts to the same value.
The advantages offering to any line established
between San Francisco and Australia, to make
this a port of stoppagc, are so well known that
we need not enlarge on them
TwcDtv-txn hundred and ei1hfv miles furthcr
on is the Navigators' Group, producing cocoanut
oil, cotton and pearl shells, to over 100000
annually. with an import trade amounting to
nearly as much.
Five hundred and eighty miles from Port Apia
is the Fir Group, comprising some forty Islands,
inhabited by 200, 900 natives and $500 Europeans.
The two largest Islands are Viii Lew and vanu
Levu, the former so miles long by 60 broad, and
the latter GO by %. Both have large tracts of
agricultural land, well suited for sugar cane,
cotton, coffee, oranges, &c, with an abundance
of fresh water and fine harbors.
In n commercial point, the Fjis arc hardly
known to the world, and yet such are their
natural resources that in n very short time they
will supply n large portion of the Sea Island
cotton consumed in Europe. Eleven hundred
European emigrants arrived Mt Viii Lew during
the year 1868, nearly all of them possessed of
means, who went to settle and dcvelope the re-
sources os the country \ large company of
Melbourne capitalists have purchased a tract of
2OO, 900 acres Of land on the same Island, and
eight regular packets are constantly running
from Australian ports to supply the commerce of
the group. In December last, a steamship ar
rived at Viii Lew, crowded with passengers in
tending to purchase land and settle down in a
country known, till lately, only for its canni-
balism.
Further west, six hundred miles, is New Gale
donia, 2Os miles long and SO miles broad, the
largest and probably the most fertile of the thous-
ands of Islands in Polynesia. 1t is occupied by
the French, and for some years past a considea-
BILE trade has been carried on with the Colonies.
The mails from Paris are brought monthly via
Suez to Sydney, and arc taken thence bya French
steamer to New Caledonia, requiring 81 days to
perform the through service from France, while
via San Francisco the mails could be delivered
there in Al days. The French Government is
DESTROYS Of having the mail service performed via
the latter port, and it is said is ready to subsidize
a line 80 performing it, to the extent of the pres
ent cost of the mail service, which is from sixty
to one hundred thousand dollars. The Govern
ment of New Caledonia draws its supplies from
Australia, and the present contractors, Messrs.
Cruickshank, Smart & Co., of Auckland, receive
gil 20 per barrel for -four, and other things pro-
portionately high. These supplies could be OBJ
tanned more cheaply from San Francisco, were a
steam line established.
Southwest from New Caledonia, 10 miles dis
tant, is the new and prosperous colony of Queens
land, occupying the northeast division of Aus
tralia- It's chief port, Brisbane, has a fine
harbor, and is | located 400 miles north Of Sydney.
The merchants of Brisbane would, by this new
route, receive their mails in 43 days from England,
which at present are delivered in 81 days. The
Colonial Government il ready 10 literally snhsi-