nd, the North River, short coast
routes, etc., in the United States, the Report goes on to say:

"There still remain, however, some cases in which there exists no
private communication sufficient to render such a mode of
proceeding practicable. Where this is so, and where a
communication has to be created, it will be necessary that
contracts of longer duration should be made, _for it is
unreasonable to expect that any person or association of persons
should incur the expense and risk of building vessels, forming
costly establishments, and opening a new line of communication at
a heavy outlay of capital, without some security that they will be
allowed to continue the service long enough to reap some benefit
from their undertaking. It must be borne in mind, that the
expensive vessels built for the conveyance of the mails at a high
rate of speed are not in demand for the purposes of ordinary
traffic, and can not therefore be withdrawn and applied to another
service at short notice_. It is, then, fair, that on the first
opening of a new line, contracts should be made for such a length
of time as may encourage the building of ships for the purpose, by
affording a prospect of their employment for a considerable number
of years. But we see no sufficient reason for continually renewing
such contracts for periods equally long, after the object has once
been attained."

(_For the views of the Committee on the adaptation of the mail packets
to naval service, see pages 146 and 147._)

The Committee in summing up, presents the result of the investigation
and the fruits of the service in the following impressive light:

"The value of the services thus rendered to the State can not, we
think, be measured by a mere reference to the amount of the postal
revenue, or even by the commercial advantages accruing from it. It
is undoubtedly startling, at first sight, to perceive that the
immediate pecuniary result of the Packet System is a loss to the
Revenue of about L325,000 a year; but, although this circumstance
shows the necessity for a careful revision of the service, and
although we believe that much may be done to make that service
self-supporting, we do not consider that the money thus expended
is to be regarded, even from a fiscal point of view, as a national
loss."

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