Statement showing the steamship lines by which mails were dispatched from the United States to foreign countries, etc. -Continued.

Occidental and Oriental:

(2) VESSELS OF FOREIGN REGISTER.

San Francisco to Japan, etc. (British).
United States postal agency, Shanghai to San Francisco (British).

Pacific Mail:

San Francisco to Japan, etc. (British)

United States postal agency, Shanghai to San Francisco (British)

Northorn Pacific: Tacoma to Japan, etc. (British)....

J. Pinet & Co.: San Francisco to Tahiti and Marquesas Islands.

M. Turner: San Francisco to Tahiti and Marquesas Islands.

Weightman & Bro.: San Francisco to Marshall and Gilbert Islands..

Total..

Compensation.

$73,480.00 6, 871.48 275.25

56,000.00 4, 129.40

140,756. 13

7,565.78

170.77

2,941.18

56.48

690.99

180.83

91.96

1.08

11,699.07

* Compensation $60,000 per annum, less $1,000 per trip for 4 trips performed by steamers of foreign register.

Pacific Mail:

MISCELLANEOUS SERVICE.

(1) VESSELS OF UNITED STATES REGISTER.

New York to Colon (contract service)

New York to Colon (noncontract service).

Colombian: New York to Colon.....
Pacific Mail:

San Francisco to Panama (contract service).
San Francisco to Panama (noncontract service)
Panama Steamship Co.: San Francisco to Panama.
Red "D" (Boulton, Bliss & Dallett):

New York to Venezuela and Dutch West Indies (contract service).
New York to Venezuela and Dutch West Indies (noncontract service)

Pacific Mail (inward): From pursers of United States vessels to San Franciscot.

34.24

North American Navigation Co.: San Francisco to Colombia.

334.94

Total......

381,965.80

(2) VESSELS OF FOREIGN REGISTER.

Lamport and Holt: New York to Brazil and La Plate countries (British).

4,765.20

Booth: New York to Brazil (British)

782.25

Knott's Prince: (J. C. Seager, agent) New York to Brazil, Colombia, etc. (British)

Knott's Prince (J. C. Seager, agent): New York to La Plate countries (British)......

Statement showing the steamship lines by which mails were dispatched from the United States to foreign countries, etc. -Continued.

Central America: New York to Jamaica and Central America
Knott's Prince (W. D. Munson, agent): New York to Jamaica and Colombia.
"K": New York to Jamaica...

105.34

19.02

14.91

J. H. Coleman: Key West to Bahamas..

4.35

Royal Dutch West India Mail: New York to West Indies, Venezuela, etc.

533.06

Demerara: New York to West Indies..

143.37

Nicaragua Fruit: New Orleans to Nicaragua.

27.68

New Orleans and Central American Trading: New Orleans to Nicaragua.
Costa Rica and Honduras: New York to Costa Rica and Colombia.

5.09

Planter's Fruit: New Orleans to Guatemala

2,541.06

342.18

1, 713. 15

Yarmouth: Boston to Novia Scotia *

Canada Atlantic and Plant (limited): Boston to Novia Scotia*.

Red Cross: New York to Newfoundland

Allan: Philadelphia to Newfoundland

Booth, A., Packing Co.: Duluth to Canada*.

Total

1,440.38

37.10

9.71

2.68

28, 097.53

* Compensation 1 cent a letter.

GREAT BRITAIN.

Barely 3 per cent of the merchant shipping of Great Britain, if as much, received any subsidy, subvention, or money assistance of any description from the British Government last year.

The net tonnage of the merchant shipping of the United Kingdom for 1893 is returned at 8,778,503 tons. The totalnet tonnage of the fourteen steamship companies, including two railroad corporations operating Channel ferries, which had contracts for carrying the foreign mails for Great Britain last year was 670,000 tons, but of this tonnage only about one-third was actually engaged in carrying the mails and received compensation therefor. Two-thirds of this tonnage was regularly engaged in carrying freight exclusively, or freight and passengers, and a large percentage of it is incapable of maintaining the speed now required by British mail contracts. Thus, of the 62,465 net tons in the White Star Line, the mail steamers, receiving Government compensation, amounted to but 17,299 net tons, and of the 59,874 net tons owned by the Cunard Company, only 25,339 net tons were employed in carrying the mails. It has not proved feasible to secure a list by name of the British vessels actually engaged by contract in carrying British mails, but an estimate of 250,000 net tons, based on the names of such vessels as far as ascertained and on an examination of the fleets of the contracting corporations, as recorded in Lloyd's Register, is undoubtedly an overstatement rather than an understatement of the tonnage so employed. As nearly as may be that tonnage is 3 per cent of the tonnage of the United Kingdom. It is less than 3 per cent of the tonnage of the British Empire (10,365,567 net tons).

In a dispatch dated September 3, 1889 (see U. S. Consular Reports, No. 112, January, 1890, which may be referred to for full information at that date concerning British mail contracts and steamship subsidies paid by foreign governments) the U. S. consul at London stated:

"The British Government does not grant subsidies, in the general sense of that term, to any steamship company, but the post-office authorities make contracts for the conveyance of mails to the different parts of the world with the steamship companies having steamers sailing to those ports."

Such is still the fact.

The British secretary of state for foreign affairs, under date of April 2, 1894, in reply to the inquiry of this Bureau, addressed through the proper official channels, transmitted copies of the naval estimates for 1893-'94 and 1894-'95, containing statements of the amounts voted by Parliament on account of the subsidies payable under the head of the "Reserve of merchant cruisers," and added: "The only other Government payments to the mercantile marine of this country are those made by the post-office for the carriage of mails, and these are not really subsidies, though they are sometimes called so incorrectly."

The British admiralty pays relatively a small sum ($165,000) annually to twenty-eight of the fastest of British mail steamers, aggregating 185,000 gross tons, to be available for transportation of troops in case of emergency. This arrangement originated in the trouble and expense in which the British Government was involved some years ago, when war with Russia was apprehended, and still later in transporting troops hurriedly to Egypt at the time of the revolution of Arabi Bey. Its object is not to encourage the merchant marine, but purely a naval and military economy, prompted by experience to meet the requirements of British foreign and colonial policies. (The conditions of this arrangement are quite fully set forth in U. S. Consular Report No. 112, already referred to.) The British naval estimates for 1894-'95 (p. 95) give the present arrangement of admiralty subsidies, which does not differ materially from last year's, as follows:

Reserve merchant cruisers and subsidies payable.

MAIL CONTRACTS.

The report of the British postmaster-general for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1894 (pp. 42-43), shows the payments for carrying foreign and colonial mails for last year as follows: The first column giving the routes; second column, the contract price for the service, or the actual payment where compensation is based on the extent of service rendered and not on a lump-sum contract; third column, the penalties for delays and overtime; fourth column, the contributions of the colonies toward the contract sums of the second column; the fifth, estimated receipts from postage; and sixth column, the excess of expenditures over receipts and colonial contributions. (£ = $4.86.)

* The payments in these cases depend upon the amount of correspondence conveyed by the packets. † These sums represent the imperial share of the cost of the service.

For parcels post.

* The payments in these cases depend upon the amount of correspondence conveyed by the packets. † These sums represent the imperial share of the cost of the service. For parcels post.

The total of payments, £771,073, is in excess of the actual payments for the year, which are reported by the postmaster-general at £710,585. The difference is due in part to the fact that the contracting corporations frequently fall short of the rigid terms of the Government requirements as to speed and incur the penalties for overtime. Thus the report of the Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Company, printed in Appendix L, shows its payment for mail contracts was about $15,000 short of the contract price, that sum having been deducted as penalties for overtime. The mail payments, £710,585, and the Admiralty subsidies, £33,847-which were paid to mail steamers entirely-amount to £744,432.

The terms of the three colonial contracts (Col. con.) have not been ascertained. The New Zealand mail contract for some years was held by an American corporation (the Oceanic Steamship Line, Spreckels & Co.) and as all the vessels of the line are American, except the Zealandia (a bill to admit which to American registry is pending in the House of Representatives), it is evident that the purpose of the contract was not to subsidize British shipping, but solely to establish mail facilities.

That the object of these contracts is not to subsidize shipping, but to obtain the quickest, cheapest, and most reliable means of mail communication, is shown by the fact that the mails for Australia, India, and China are not generally shipped by steamer from British ports, but from Brindisi or Naples. The British Government pays French and Italian railroads, not British steamships, very large sums for carrying the mails for the East many hundreds of miles, as far in fact as it is conveniently practicable to carry them by rail. The amount thus not paid to British steamships but to foreign railroads is not stated, but is understood to be about $450,000. That it is considerable is indicated by the following from this year's report of the postmaster-general:

"The successful negotiation concluded last year with the Italian Government, which resulted in a saving of over £12,000 a year in the cost of conveyance of Indian mails by special train through Italy, has been followed by a concession from the French postal administration whereby a further saving will be effected, estimated at £7,500 a year."