202
HIGHER SPEED PROVIDED. IN CONTRACT ON THE INDIAN LINE.
QUOTATION FROM THE COLONIAL OFFICE CASE.
14. Turning now to the question of speed. The average speed of the P. and O. service between Brindisi and Bombay is about 14.5 knots, between Aden and Adelaide about 137 knots, and between Colombo and Shanghai about 12.6 knots. The Eastern Colonies contend that for a slower service they should not be charged the same rate per mile as India is charged for a service of 145 knots. The rate of speed is undoubtedly the chief factor considered by contractors in estimating the cost of different services, and logically it should be equally considered in appor- tioning the subsidy. It would appear from paragraph 8 (a) of Lord Morley's award that the additional cost of the extra speed on the Bombay line was put forward by the General Post Office as an argument in favour of imposing a larger share of the subsidy on India, and simi- larly, it is fair to argue that the slower speed on the Aden-Shanghai sections entitles the Eastern Colonies to a material reduction on the share of the cost assigned to them in Appendix F.
REJOINDER OF THE POST OFFICE.
The comparison of the different rates of speed is misleading. The average Con- tract rate of speed for the whole extent of the Indian route is compared with an estimated rate of speed over selected portions of the Eastern and Australian routes, thus veiling the fact that the Eastern Colonies benefit not only by the high speed, about 17 knots, in the Me- diterranean, but also by the compara- tively high speed at which their mails are conveyed between Aden and Colombo. If like things are to be compared with like, the data for the Admiralty estimate of the relative cost of coal on the three mail routes should be, not 14:5, 137, and 12-6, but 14.5, 140, and 13·3 knots.
The considerations which weighed with the Directors of the P. and 0. Company in tendering for their present contract are already on record. In their letter to the Post Office of 25th Septem- ber 1896 they wrote: "It is a fact which must be well known to your Department that it is passenger traffic which mainly pays for speed," and the Annual Statement of Accounts of the Company shows that more than one- third of their gross income of 3,100,0007. in 1903 was derived from passengers.
In further confirmation of the view bere presented that the prime factor in determining the amount of the subsidy is not the Contract rates of speed, it may be noted that the actual average speed is considerably in ex- cess of the Contract rates on all the lines. The actual average steaming speed per hour to and from the differ- ent ports during six months of 1901 (the middle year of the Contract), and of 1904, was as follows:
Brindisi and Bombay ................
1901. 1904. ..15.7 15.4
Do.
Do.
Colombo.. Singapore
.15.6 15.7
*** . . . 14·5
Do.
Hongkong
Do.
15.1
14.8 .14.1 14-4
Adelaide.........148
Six months in each of the two years were selected in order to avoid the com- plication of the monsoon allowances; but taking the whole year, 1901, and the year ended September, 1904, the average time saved per voyage (including the mon- soon periods) was:-
Indian Line
China Line....... 28 50
1901. Hours. Min.
19 32
1904. Hours. Min.
17 24 34 52
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