No. II. Contract for an accelerated Conveyance of the India and other Mails between England and Malta, and Alexandria. COMMENCED SEPTEMBER 1ST, 1840.

The efficiency with which the Peninsular Mail Packet Service was performed elicited from the Admiralty repeated testimonials of approbation; and, proving as it did, that that description of service could be more advantageously conducted by private enterprise, under Contract, than by Government vessels and establishments, paved the way for the subsequent extension of Contract Mail communication which took place with the West Indies, North America and the East Indies, China, &c.

Previous to the 1st of September, 1840, the arrangements for transmitting the India Mails to and from Egypt, to meet the East India Company’s steamers plying monthly between Bombay and Suez, were as follows:—

These Malls were forwarded, every fourth Saturday, by the Contract Mail steamers of the Peninsular Company to Gibraltar, and there transferred to an Admiralty steam packet, which carried them to Malta. They were there transferred to another Admiralty packet, which carried them to Alexandria. The homeward Mails were brought in a similar manner.

As the Peninsular packets had to call at Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, and Cadiz, in their passage to and from Gibraltar, and the Government packets were of inferior power (about 140 horses) and speed, the transmission of the India Mails by this route was very tardy, occupying generally from three weeks to a month in their passage between England and Alexandria.

Imperfect as this mode of transmission was, it probably would have been continued for an indefinite period, had not some circumstances occurred to render an alteration of it imperative.

About the middle of the year 1839, the British Government effected a convention with the French Government, for transmitting letters and despatches to and from India, &c., overland, through France, viâ Marseilles, from whence a British Admiralty packet conveyed them to Malta. From thence this portion of the Mail, and the larger and heavier portion, forwarded by the Peninsular and Admiralty packets, viâ Gibraltar, were carried together to Alexandria by another Admiralty packet.

The portion of the Mails forwarded through France was despatched from the Post-office on the 4th of every month, while the main, or heavier portion, continued to be forwarded from Falmouth, by the Peninsular packets, every fourth Saturday; this arrangement was found, in the course of a few months, to work very awkwardly, inasmuch as the portion of the Mail forwarded, viâ Gibraltar, had become a fortnight or more in advance of that forwarded viâ Marseilles, and had to wait that time at Malta for the arrival of the Marseilles packet.

This irregularity, which every succeeding Mail increased, together with the suspicion that the British despatches, in their transit through France, were not altogether safe from being tampered with, rendered the Government very desirous of establishing a more accelerated means of transmission, viâ Gibraltar, for the main portion of the India Mails and the public despatches.

The Managers of the Peninsular steamers were applied to, to submit a plan for this object. They proposed to establish a line of large and powerful steamers, to run direct from England to Alexandria, and vice versa, touching at Gibraltar and Malta only, and, by such an arrangement, to transmit the Mails in a time that should not exceed by more than two to three days that occupied by the overland route through France; and undertook to execute such service, with vessels of 450-horse power, for a sum which should not exceed the cost to the public of the small and inefficient Admiralty packets then employed in the same service.

The plan was examined and adopted by the Government; but, as in the case of the Peninsular Contract, the execution of it was put up to public tender, by advertisement. And, as appears by the evidence of Mr. T. C. Croker, of the Admiralty (see his answer to question No. 2,033), no less than four competitors tendered for the Contract, viz.:—

Willcox and Anderson for £35,200 per annum.

J. P. Robinson ” 51,000 ”

Macgregor Laird ” 44,000 ”

G. M. Jackson ” 37,950 ”

The tender of Messrs. Willcox and Anderson who, as Managers of the Peninsular Company, had furnished the plan, was accepted, because it was the lowest. But Mr. Croker in his evidence (see Report) has made a slight error in calculation, in stating the sum at £35,200 per annum. The tender made was as follows:—

For the 1st year of the service £37,000

” 2nd year ” 35,000

” 3rd year ” 34,000

” 4th year ” 33,000

” 5th year ” 32,0003

———

Divided by 5) 171,000

———

Gives for the annual cost £34,200

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Besides this reduced sum, as compared with the demands of the other competitors, the tender of Willcox and Anderson afforded further important advantages to the public, in a reduced rate of passage-money for officers travelling on the public service, conveyance free of Admiralty packages, &c.

The vessels offered by Willcox and Anderson, were the “Oriental,” of 1,600 tons, and 450-horse power, and the “Great Liverpool,” of 1,540 tons, and 464-horse power, (originally destined for the transatlantic line of communication, but which were placed at their disposal by the Managers and Proprietors of that enterprise). They were also bound to provide a subsidiary vessel, of not less than 250-horse power, besides a vessel of 140-horse power, for the Malta and Corfu Service. The estimate made at the Admiralty (see question No. 1411) of the cost of the Government packets which performed the service, and which were superseded by this Contract, was £33,912. But as that estimate did not include any allowance for interest on their first cost, nor for sea risk, nor for depreciation, the following per centages on these accounts must be added to it, in order to present a tolerably correct view of the actual cost to the public of the service so performed.

The four vessels employed could not have cost the public less than £100,000. Upon this sum, therefore, must be calculated—

Interest at 4 per cent.

Sea Risk 5 ”

Depreciation 5 ”

—

14 per cent. per annum £14,000

Add Admiralty estimate of wages, victuals, coals, and repairs, as above 33,912

———

Total annual expense of these Packets 47,912

From which deduct proportion of passage-money for the public account, estimated not to exceed 3,000

———

Net cost of the Service £44,912

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It hence appears that this Service, which cost, in the defective state of its arrangements, and as carried on by small vessels of about 140-horse power, £44,912, was undertaken, and has since been satisfactorily performed, under a greatly improved arrangement, by large vessels of 450-horse power, for £34,200, realising a financial saving of about £10,700 per annum to the country.