The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-01-22
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 90.
The New Route from Europe to
india.

forms an era in commercial history. Whatever
D doubts may he entertained about it's success al
: the opening, there can be 10 question that it will
d prove so eventually and so soon as it is entirely
r finished. which is not the case yet, it will become
5 the attractive route for shipping bound from Med
iterranean ports to India, China and the East In
: dias.
The scheme of opening this route was conceived
( and carried out by a F~renchman, NJ. de Lesseps,
! who is to-day the hero of Europe. Something
less than a hundred weight of metal in the form of
royal testimonials and badges of honor has, it is
said, been showered upon him by the various con-
t~inental courts. 1t is something that a civilian
and not a warrior is the lion of the period.
The Suez Canal is one hundred miles in length,
and connects the waters of the Mediterranean
with those of the Red Sea. Formerly there was
supposed to be n difference of eighteen or twenty
feet in the level of these seas, but the opening of
the canal has proved that the difference is almost
imperceptible. The canal is three hundred and
twenty-eight feet wide at the surface of the water,
with slOping banks, SO that the width of the bot
tom is only about two hundred and forty-six.
The depth. for most of the way, is twenty-six feet,
but near Suez, the bottom is hard and rocky, and
n depth of only nineteen or twenty feet has been
obtained there as yet. 1t is intended to increase
this as soon as the work can be done.
The terminus ON the Mediterranean is Port
Said, l24 miles cast of Alexandria. In 1850 there
were less than two hundred inhabitants in it
now it is said there are over fifty thousand living
at Port Said and along the canal, including the
new town of Ismalia, with over ten thousand in
habitants. The changes which have been wrought
during the past five years along the route Of the
canal, are said to be wonderful. The cost of this
great work is not far from eighty millions of dol
lars, most of which is French capital, and it is
estimated by some authorities that the annual
business of tn, canal Will amount to ten million
tons, and that its gross receipts will be 1OO, OOO,-
900 francs, or $50, 900 200.
A few figures will illustrate how much this new
route will shorten the distance between Europe
and India. From the English Channel to Calcutta,
Uia the Cape of Good Hope, by the route taken by
the best sailing vessels, is about $1,000 miles.
Via the Mediterranean and Suez Canal, it is about
5000 miles gain in distance by the latter to OF
from Calcutta, 5000 miles, or in time, from thir-
ty to sixty days. By the Cape route to Bombay,
the distance is IL 500 miles by the Red Sea
route, $500 miles gain III distance to or from
Bombay, $500 miles. NJ. de Lesseps estimates
the China and India tonnage of Liverpool att ,000,-
600, Marseilles 6 1000, 900, and the t.ade around
the Dardanelles at 5000, 900, and claims that the
trade of the canal will be 6 200 900 at the lowest,
a~ffording from tonnage alone an annual return of
$l2, 00O, 900. When the population of India,
China, and Japan is contrasted with that of Eu-
rope, the immense commercial interests affected
by the new route are apparent. The imports and
exports of China which were in 1856 $50, 600, 900,
had increased 1920, 0O0, 900, in 1868, and are
likely to double this last sum within ten years.
Already several large steamers of 2,400 tons
burthen have passed through, and II number of
smaller sized craft. Though everything promises
well, SO far as the feasibility of the route is con-
cerned, yet the tariff of charges is enormously
high. The expense to a ship of 900 tons to
pass through the canal from Port Said on the
Mediterranean to the lower end of the Red Sea,
is at least $4,50O. Still the opening of the canal
has had the effect to depress freights from England
to India via the cape, as there is a general belief
that the carrying trade must soon take the Suez
route.
The maximum speed of vessels in the canal is
fixed Professionally at about six miles an hour.
Navigation is allowed during the night on condi-
ton of fires being kept up and a strict watch
Liz VI NGcScl5 art I
hidden to anchor in the canal or to throw earth
or rubbish overheard, and if anything should fall
overheard which they are anxious to recover they
are forbidden to try to recover it themselves, but
must give notice at the nearest station. The
charge for transit from one SEA to the other is ten
1.-TWO dOllars) per ton and ten francs per
passenger, and the cost of towage is fixed at two
francs per ton.
The London shipping Gazette, the best of au-
thority on the subject, discussing the practical
of the canal, says " Whether the point
of difficulty remains to be overcome here or there
before the canal can be available for vessels of
the largest tonnage, is merely a question of detail
to be determined by the construction of tie canal.
far as we are concerned, We can only point to
the fact that the French engineers have redeemed
their promise. The canal is open and is a mag
nifcent success" And regarding its effect on
commercial and shipping interests, the
London Times says Z" We are aware that in Paris,
md Florence, and even St. Petersburg, there is
great exultationa at the notion that by the opening
Of the canal trade may be turned into new channels
md a heavy blow dealt to the nation which made
the best of the old ones. We will not allow oar
selves to be discompOsed by their iIliberal prog
1t was not the English who first
sailed around Africa, or made settlements in
India. No better favor is needed at Port Said
than the free competition which ayailed SO well at
the Cape of Good Hope"
Yet Notwithstanding this testimony from the
leading English papers as to the success of
the enterprise, it has encountered a vast deal of
and misstateuent of facts attributable
to the jealousy of the English. To these sneers,
VI. de Lesseps responds by calling attention to
the fact that during the last ten days, prior to his
statement, fifty vessels had sailed safely through
the canal and back. Two of the steamers of the
Messageries Imperiales French Company, of
2 400 tons burden. have safely passed through