ith April.
Few people in these days, except some of our old hands, know how inseparably the progress of the Far East is bound up with the growth of the Peninsular and Oriental Company. The well-known initials are, it is true, household words everywhere between Yokohama and London, but that P. and O. are likewise integral parts of the word " pioneer," and that as a pioneer the Company deserves every consideration, is sometinws forgotten if it ever were known by the junior section of our community. It was not long after the British fast-sailing gunboat Kite was sent out in unavailing chase of a supposed sailing ship on fire, a ship which proved to be the Savannah, the first Yankee steamer to cross the Atlantic; it was not long after this, we repeat, before people began to turn their eyes to the Mediterranean and the Far Hast with the idea of extending steam communication to those distant shores. Vasco da Gama had shown the way round the Cape long before, but on that route there were neither coaling stations nor other conveniences of travel, and as steamers then were small, they could not have carried enough coal even if al! the cargo space had been given up to it. Thus it was that other means of access were looked for, and in 1839 Captain Waghorn showed the feasivlity of he so-called Overland Route. Four years before this Messrs. Wilson and Anderson had begun running steamers to Peninsular ports, and soon were given a Government contract to carry 4 the mails. This was dated August 22nd, 1837, and the subsidy amounted to the sum of £29,000 only. The steamers ran between London and Gibraltar, calling at intermediate ports, snd the Company was in consequence known as the Peninsular Company. It was not till extensions had been made, first to Alexandria and then to India via the Cape, that "Oriental" was added to the style. This was in December, 1840. The first steamer was dispatched from London to Galeutta just sixty years ago this year. Subsequent extensions were made to Hongkong and Shanghai, and later still to Yokohama, while new lines to Anstrajian and other ports were developed as time went on.
For a long while the P. & O. had the monopoly of the steamer traffic between England and the Far East, and it is interesting to compare the rates then charged with those ruling now. As late as 1869 the rate per ton for "General Fine Goods" was £33 between London and the Far East. In other words the freight now counted in shillings was then reckoned in pounds sterling. Coarse goods went for £28 per ton, and specie at a charge of 25 per cent. One-fifth of this the rate subsequently charged. OF course the opening of the Suez Canal is largely responsible for the reduction in these rates, but competition has had its natural effect as well. Passenger tariffs show a similar reduction. From the early days of the Company the P. & O. has been looked upon by the British Government as a great stan'l-by in time of war, It was the P. & O. which sent 2,000 officers, 60,000 men, and 15,000 horses to the Crimea. It conveyed with all possible speed 6,000 men to India on the outbreak of the mutiny, and thus, by a timely reinforcement, made an extension of the outbreak to Bombay impossible. In the eighties it again came to the aid of the Government in the Egyptian and Soudan campaigns. The Bokhara and the Tibet, on their way to the Kast, were stopped at Suez, and dispatche!, the one in ten, the other in sixteen hours to Suakim with a battalion of 1,500 men on board complete with all equipment provisions.
Several of the finest of the fleet are marked as cruisers in case of war with a maritime power, and are already provided with such apphanoes, gun-platforms, etc., as would render them fit for service at very short notice. The newest vessels are ships of 11,000 tons, ships of which any company, any nation even may well be proud. Well-constructed vessels are they, costing per ton a great deal more than most of their [cheaper competitors. Including the Sardinia, Moldavia, and Mongolia that of construction, there wether 57 fine vessels in the Company's fleet. Of late years, partly from cheaper rates, partly from other [causes, many people who formerly patronised the P. and O, have transferred their support to rival lines. This was to be expected, and in the end will be a good thing for the [Company itself There is nothing like being beaten in a race or two to cause the puting forth of latent strength. This the P. and O. will have todo. Passengers like comfort, attention, speed, and safety, combined with moderate charges. other lines can offer these inducements in a greater degree than the older Company they will reap the harvest offering, But ships cannot continue to run at a loss for ever, and national subventions will come to an end if success be long in coming. The organisation of the P. & 0. is now s0 widespread and so complete that it should be able to hold its own against anything that is likely to be brought against it. But to do this it must, in common with
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.