Capital required by new plan £476,500
By present system:--
28 sailing-packets,[11] at £9500 £266,000
2 do. vessels, S. America, £5,000 10,000
4 steamers, _above_ £20,000 86,000
10 mail-vessels, Barbadoes, £1500 15,000
Mail vessels, other stations, at least 8,000
Aid navy, as already stated 7,500
-------- 392,500
--------
Difference: increase £84,000
--------
Cost yearly by new plan £272,850
By present system:--
28 sailing-packets, at £4200 £126,000
4 steamers, and coals 39,000
2 vessels, Rio de Janeiro, &c. 4,500
10 mail vessels, Barbadoes station 6,000
Bermuda, Halifax, Nassau, &c. &c.
say 5,500
Aid navy, equal to 3,000
-------- 184,000
--------
Apparent increase £88,850
But against this is to be placed, first, the coals saved
by the use of sails, 20,000_l._; secondly, the sum
of 11,350_l._ allowed in new plan (not taken into
account in the present) for the expense of coal
depôts, and places for repairs; together 31,350
--------
Real increase £57,550
--------
[Footnote 11: According to Parl. Pap. No. 251, of
1835, the following are the names and the number of
the packets:--
Eclipse Lyra Tyrian Stanmer
Plover Renard Seagull Nautilus
Swallow Brisei Cockatrice Scorpion
Goldfinch Reindeer Hornet Espoir
Mutine Nightingale Camden Pike
Lapwing Skylark Duke of York Sheldrake
Pigeon Spey Lady Mary Pelham
Opossum Pandora Lord Melville
Astrea, stationary ship at Falmouth, 956 tons. The
Express, the Star, the Alert, NEW, have since
replaced some of the above.]
_Remarks._ (p. 051)
By the present system, there is no direct mail communication with New
York; no communication between North America and the West Indies, no
mail communication with the north side of Hayti, the south side of
Cuba, nor with Porto Rico; Havannah, Vera Cruz, Tampico, Honduras,
Nassau, Bermuda, Chagres, Carthagena, Santa Martha, Laguayra, Rio de
Janeiro, Buenos Ayres, &c. &c. have only _one_ mail in each month;
while all Demerara, most part of Trinidad, and all Jamaica (Kingston
and Spanish Town excepted), cannot reply to their letters by the same
packet by which they received them. Further, every thing is imperfect,
irregular, and uncertain; and, moreover, the four steamers in the West
Indies last spring are so utterly inefficient and worthless, that they
must forthwith be replaced by at least _three_ good new ones, to do
the same limited work.
By the new plan there will be _two mail_ communications with New York
and Halifax monthly; two ditto between all the West Indies and all
North America; there will be a mail communication twice each month
with Porto Rico, with the north side of Hayti, and the south side of
Cuba. There will be mail communications twice each month with Bermuda,
Nassau, Havannah, Tampico, Vera Cruz, Honduras, Chagres, Panama,
Carthagena, Santa Martha, Laguayra, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Ayres,
Madeira, and Teneriffe; and all Demerara, Jamaica, and Trinidad will
be able to reply to their letters by the same packet by which they
receive them. The work everywhere will be well done, and every thing
will be regular and certain.