I.
The portion relating to the West Indian Department, shall separately and first be taken as a comparison.
| Yearly cost by the proposed plan | £81,900 | |
| Yearly cost by present system:— | ||
| Six Mexican packets at £4,200[8] | £25,200 | |
| Four steamers and coals, say | 39,000 | |
| Hire ten mail-boats, West Indies | 6,000 | |
| Ditto mail-vessels, Nassau, Chagres, &c., say | 4,000 | |
| Assistance navy,[9] equal to, say | 3,000 | |
| ——— | 77,200 | |
| ——— | ||
| Apparent increase | £4,700 | |
| But against this there is to be placed, the proportion of saving in coals | 5,635 | |
| ——— | ||
| Difference gained | £935 |
Capital.
| Capital required by new plan | £157,000 | |
| By present system:— | ||
| Six Mexican packets, at £9500 | £57,000 | |
| Four steamers, above £20,000, say | 86,000 | |
| Ten mail-vessels, Windward Islands, £1500 | 15,000 | |
| Mail-vessels, Nassau, St. Martha, &c. | 5,000 | |
| Aid men-of-war,[10] equal to | 7,500 | |
| ——— | 170,500 | |
| ——— | ||
| Difference: decrease | £13,500 | |
| ——— |
Under the present system, all Demerara, Jamaica (Kingston and Spanish Town excepted), and a large portion of Trinidad, cannot reply to their letters by the same packet by which they receive them. Also Nassau, Havannah, Tampico, Vera Cruz, Honduras, Chagres, Carthagena, Santa Martha, and Laguayra, have only one mail each month; while all Porto Rico, all the north side (the most important part) of Hayti, and all the south side of Cuba, are wholly left out; while in all parts the system is imperfect, irregular, and uncertain.
By the new plan, Nassau, Havannah, Tampico, Vera Cruz, Honduras, Chagres, Santa Martha, and Laguayra, would have two mails each month; all Porto Rico, the north side of Hayti, and the south side of Cuba, would be included, and have two mails each month also; and all Jamaica, Trinidad, and Demerara, would have time to reply to their letters by the same packet which brought them. Time would everywhere be saved, and the whole system would be regular and certain, and properly combined.
II.
The General Plan for the Western World:—
| Capital required by new plan | £476,500 | |
| By present system:— | ||
| 28 sailing-packets,[11] at £9500 | £266,000 | |
| 2 do. vessels, S. America, £5,000 | 10,000 | |
| 4 steamers, above £20,000 | 86,000 | |
| 10 mail-vessels, Barbadoes, £1500 | 15,000 | |
| Mail vessels, other stations, at least | 8,000 | |
| Aid navy, as already stated | 7,500 | |
| ——— | 392,500 | |
| ——— | ||
| Difference: increase | £84,000 | |
| ——— | ||
| Cost yearly by new plan | £272,850 | |
| By present system:— | ||
| 28 sailing-packets, at £4200 | £126,000 | |
| 4 steamers, and coals | 39,000 | |
| 2 vessels, Rio de Janeiro, &c. | 4,500 | |
| 10 mail vessels, Barbadoes station | 6,000 | |
| Bermuda, Halifax, Nassau, &c. &c. say | 5,500 | |
| Aid navy, equal to | 3,000 | |
| ——— | 184,000 | |
| ——— | ||
| Apparent increase | £88,850 | |
| But against this is to be placed, first, the coals saved by the use of sails, 20,000l.; secondly, the sum of 11,350l. allowed in new plan (not taken into account in the present) for the expense of coal depôts, and places for repairs; together | 31,350 | |
| ——— | ||
| Real increase | £57,550 | |
| ——— | ||
Remarks.
By the present system, there is no direct mail communication with New York; no communication between North America and the West Indies, no mail communication with the north side of Hayti, the south side of Cuba, nor with Porto Rico; Havannah, Vera Cruz, Tampico, Honduras, Nassau, Bermuda, Chagres, Carthagena, Santa Martha, Laguayra, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Ayres, &c. &c. have only one mail in each month; while all Demerara, most part of Trinidad, and all Jamaica (Kingston and Spanish Town excepted), cannot reply to their letters by the same packet by which they received them. Further, every thing is imperfect, irregular, and uncertain; and, moreover, the four steamers in the West Indies last spring are so utterly inefficient and worthless, that they must forthwith be replaced by at least three good new ones, to do the same limited work.
By the new plan there will be two mail communications with New York and Halifax monthly; two ditto between all the West Indies and all North America; there will be a mail communication twice each month with Porto Rico, with the north side of Hayti, and the south side of Cuba. There will be mail communications twice each month with Bermuda, Nassau, Havannah, Tampico, Vera Cruz, Honduras, Chagres, Panama, Carthagena, Santa Martha, Laguayra, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Ayres, Madeira, and Teneriffe; and all Demerara, Jamaica, and Trinidad will be able to reply to their letters by the same packet by which they receive them. The work everywhere will be well done, and every thing will be regular and certain.
III.
If Steam is employed between Falmouth and Fayal, and in all the West Indian department, and supposing that all the remainder of the general plan for the western world is performed by sailing packets, then the results will be:—
| Capital required by new plan this way | £335,500 |
| Ditto employed under the present system | 392,500 |
| ——— | |
| Difference less | £57,000 |
| ——— | |
| Yearly cost by present system | £184,000 |
| Dittoby new plan | 168,500 |
| ——— | |
| Difference less | £15,500 |
| But to this difference ought to be added the sum of 6885l. saved in coals by using sails, and the sum of 7600l. allowed in new plan but not taken into account in the present, for the expense of coal depôts, and places for repairs, 7600l. together | 14,485 |
| ——— | |
| True difference less | £29,985 |
IV.—Income.
| Profit on passengers in all quarters (see [Appendix], No. 1.) | £132,274 | |
| Freights, parcels, packages, fine goods (see [do].) | 117,440 | |
| Ditto specie, 24,000,000 dollars, at 1 per cent. dollar 4s. 2d. | 51,125 | |
| [12]Transport troops, stores, &c. for Government, say | 30,705 | |
| Saving coals, as before, by use of sails | 20,000 | |
| ——— | ||
| Total | £351,544 | |
| Yearly charges of whole done by Steam | £252,850 | |
| [13]10 per cent. yearly to replace capital, or | 50,000 | |
| Port charges, say foreign ports, &c. | 15,000 | |
| Sundry small charges for Steamers, at 600l. yearly | 11,400 | |
| ——— | 329,250 | |
| ——— | ||
| Gain besides clear post-office revenue | £22,294 | |
| ——— | ||
As regards the Post-office revenue, it is impossible, in the absence of full official returns, to state its present exact amount, and, consequently, the probable future increase. The revenue from the outward postages to the British West Indian Colonies, Honduras excepted, is inserted in the Appendix from official authority. Judging from it, and other data, also adduced from official authority, the present amount there stated cannot be far wrong; and the calculated increase under the arrangements proposed, every circumstance considered, is fair and reasonable. Besides the certain great increase in all the external postages in these countries and colonies and places, the internal and coasting postages in these places will be augmented to a very great extent. Taking the outward postages at present to be, to all the places mentioned, 100,000l.—inwards as much, 200,000l.—there may be added, Additions 100,000l.; Increase 70,000l.; total 370,000l.; viz., outwards 185,000l., and inwards as much; giving at the average postage of 2s. 5d. the number of letters each way to be 1,531,465.
As regards the Harbour-charges, in the British Colonies, these may be given up, or reduced to a small sum for the trouble which the Custom Houses may be put to; and in foreign ports it should be arranged by compacts with the respective governments, that the port dues should be reduced to a small sum, for two reasons,—because the vessels carry the mails, and because they are on that account restricted to a small portion of the whole cargo, which they could otherwise take. The charges might be made proportionate: there could not be much difficulty in arranging these points. In some of the minor ports (foreign), the steamers would not even come to anchor.