53; and such was the effect that it was
determined not only to sustain all of the existing lines in all of
their integrity, but to extend the system and afford additional
facilities to British commerce and the British people. Accordingly, a
new contract was made last year, 1856, with the "European and
Australian Mail Steam Packet Company" for a monthly service between
Southampton, Marseilles, Malta, Alexandria, Suez, and Sydney, at an
annual subsidy of L185,000, or $925,000. The Company has seven
steamers of 13,410 tons, and 3,290 horses' power. They run 336,000
miles per annum, and receive 11_s_ per mile from the Government. It
must be borne in mind, too, that when this line was established there
were already two lines to the East-Indies and China, and one to
Australia. This makes two to Australia, and three to the East
generally.

There is also a contract, made in 1850 with Mr. Cunard, for running
monthly between Halifax and Newfoundland, and Halifax, Bermuda, and
New-York, as well as between New-York and Bermuda and St. Thomas.
New-York was soon dropped from the list, doubtless because the British
steamers yielded us more advantage than was gained by the mother
country or the Provinces, and the line is now continued, at the
original compensation, L14,700, or $73,500, between Halifax and
Newfoundland, and Halifax, Bermuda, and St. Thomas, connecting with
the Cunard steamers. The steamers are small coasters, and run at the
rate of 3_s_ per mile. Hence, they make 98,000 miles per annum.

The ocean mail steamers of Great Britain run 2,532,231 miles per year,
at a total cost to the Admiralty of L1,062,797, or $5,333,985. The
ocean mail steamers of the United States run 735,732 miles per year,
at a total charge on the Post Office Department of $1,329,733. The
British steamers run three and a half times as many miles as ours do,
and receive for it a sum more than four times as large. The average
price paid to their principal companies, as the West-India Royal Mail,
the Cunard, the Australian, and the Peninsular and Oriental, including
its Mediterranean coasting service, is 9_s_ 7_d_, or $2.39 per mile;
while the average price paid by us, or for the Collins, Havre, Bremen,
Aspinwall, and Panama, San Francisco and Oregon, is $1.80-3/4 per
mile. The highest sum paid per mile by the British Government is 11_s_
4-1/4_d_, or $2.83-1/2, to the Cunard Company, $2.75 to the
Australian, and $2.46 to the West-India; and the lowest,