"Australia has an abundance of steam communication with the rest of the world. The P. & O. line has a fortnightly service each way between London and Sydney via the Suez Canal, the other Australian ports included in its itinerary being Melbourne, Adelaide, and King George's Sound; the Orient line has a similar fortnightly service, also by the Suez Canal, but omits King George's Sound from its list of Australian ports. The North German Lloyds has a service each way every four weeks between Sydney and Bremen, its Australian ports being Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide; the Messageries Maritimes—French mail-line—has a similar four-weekly service each way between Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Marseilles. Then there is a four-weekly service each way of the British India Steam Navigation Company, between Brisbane and Aden, connecting at Aden with the same company's line, to and from London, and touching at Batavia, Java, on every voyage. The New Zealand Shipping Company and the Shaw Savill & Albion Company have each a four-weekly service from London to New Zealand by way of the Cape of Good Hope and Hobart, Tasmania, and their steamers return to London by way of the Strait of Magellan, Rio Janeiro, and the Canary Islands. Last, but by no means least, is the four-weekly service each way between Sydney and San Francisco, which has been already mentioned.
SHIP YARD SCENE.
"All these steamship lines receive subsidies from the colonial governments, and all, with the exception of the American one, receive subsidies from their home governments. It is a curious circumstance, and a humiliating one, to Americans in Australia or having relations with the antipodes, that the American line between San Francisco and Australia is subsidized by the colonies, but receives nothing from the United States, under whose flag it sails. Our commerce with Australia and New Zealand now exceeds twelve millions of dollars annually, and could be greatly increased by the encouragement of regular and permanent steam communication with the colonies.
"An officer of one of the steamers running to San Francisco spoke to us, and remarked that he had met us in the last-named city just as we were taking passage for Honolulu. He told us we could start from Sydney for 'Greenland's icy mountains or India's coral strand,' or for any other mountains or strands on the globe. 'That wharf to the east,' said he, 'is called Wooloomooloo; it was built at a heavy cost, but the water near it is too shallow for sea-going vessels of the deepest draught, and it is principally used for coasting-vessels, of which you see there are a great many.'
"Then he told us that Darling Harbor, on the western side of the city, had its entire frontage covered with wharves and quays. Grafton Wharf, with its building, covers an area of more than three acres. As for dry-dock accommodations, he pronounced Sydney one of the best ports he had ever seen. There are two or three docks that were good enough for the ships of twenty years ago, but are of less importance to-day. A few years ago the Government built a dock four hundred and fifty feet long, and wide in proportion, and it was thought sufficient for all necessities for years to come; but hardly was it completed before it was found too short for the largest modern steamships, and so another has been built that is six hundred and eighty feet long, one hundred and eight feet wide between the walls, and eighty-five feet in the entrance-gate. How long will it be before they will find this dock too small for the wants of commerce?
"In one year (1885) the number of British and foreign ships that entered Port Jackson was 2601, with an aggregate tonnage of 2,088,307 tons. There are several ship building and repairing establishments here; that of the Australian Steam Navigation Company alone covers more than six acres, and employs nearly five hundred persons. A hundred years ago this was a howling wilderness; that is, if the Australian savages were accustomed to howl, and I presume they were.