Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1902-02-16
QUICK MAIL SERVICE.

The Oceanic Steamship Company is
giving the Colonies a quicker through
mail service to England than they ever
had. Nearly twenty years ago the
Pacific Mail Company dropped this
trans.Pacifc branch of It's business be.
cause II did not pay them and the
Spreckels took up the running almost
at moments notice with the old
boats Australia and Zealandia pur-
chased to supply extra vessels to the
Alameda and Mariposa. In the old
Pacific Mail day the time from Sydney
to San Francisco was twenty.eight
days for monthly service. This has
been reduced by the Oceanic Company
to twenty days and service every
three weeks.
There is no doubt whatever that
very much quicker time can be made
across the Pacific and the Spreckels
are out with an offer to the Australian
Federal Postmaster General to do the
work. The time will come when 20.
knot boats will be used on the Pacific.
reducing the present route, via New
Zealand and Samoa. to a flfteen.day
passage. If the more direct route. via
Fiji and Honolulu. were adopted. the
service from Sydney to San Francisco
could be covered in thirteen or thir.
teen and a half days. Fast steamers
are already employed to carry mails
via the Suez route and II better re
suits can be obtained across America,
the money will sooner or later be forth.
coming to pay for the quicker line
that cannot be secured through Suez
and across Europe from Brindisi.
Assuming that contract is made
for a thirteen.day service from sgd.
ney to San Francisco. how can the
time be shortened from the latter port
to London? Across the United States
four days must be allowed at present
from steamer in San Francisco to
steamer in New York, until the i'm.
provements now being made by the
transcontinental roads allow of quick.
err and equally safe transportation
These main roads have planned ex.
penditures for this year amounting to
many millions of dollars, their chief
idea being to shorten the time in tran.
sit by improving road.beds and means
of locomotion. But for the present Il
is not safe to reduce the time from
steamer to steamer to less than four
days.
Across the Atlantic the route sug.
gested some twenty years ago from
Montauk Point to Milford Haven is
again being mooted. This, with exist.
ing fast transatlantic steamers, would
give a fve-day service from New
York to London, which would bring
the time from Sydney to London
down to twenty-five days. not allow.
ing for accidents, or delays by snow.
storms in the winter months. hnG
this is a time that can not be equaled
by the Suez route service unless very
much faster steamers are employed
there than those now in use.
At Montauk Point. at The extreme
eastern end of Long Island, is good
and safe harbor that is now CONTROL.
ed by the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, which also owns Il large
area of land in the immediate vicinity
of the harbor A quickening Of the
service OF the Long Island Railroad,
which Is also owned by the Pennsyl,
vania Railroad, would carry the mails
from Montauk to New York in a couple
of hours, as against nearly ten hours
taken by steamers in covering the
same distance by water. The Penn.
sylvania Railroad would. OF course,
use its large steamers-the New York
and st. Louis-in connection with any
such project receiving whatever
subsidy the United States Government
paid in addition to what could be Sc.
cured from the English Government.
With the Oceanic company provid.
ing quick service on the Pacific, Amer,
can steamship company doing the
service across the Atlantic, the United
States can show the United Kingdom
that the mail service of the English
speaking community OF the world can
be conducted to the best advantage
under the American flag and on Ameri.
can territory by American railroads
and American built steamers.