The American Mail Service. 71 



and commercial community. He did not think that it would 

 be wise for him to occupy their time any longer, as they had 

 come there to hear their friend Mr. Roche, whom they cordially 

 welcomed to Belfast. 



Mr. Roche, who was received with applause, then delivered 

 his lecture, which he prefaced by saying they had heard from 

 the Chairman that not only London but also the various 

 manufacturing parts of England should be considered in 

 deciding definitely which route was ultimately to hold the field. 

 He thought he would be able to show that evening that 

 ■ Queenstown was far and away the better route for the 

 great bulk of the people of the United Kingdom. While 

 Southampton undoubtedly possessed advantages, especially in 

 connection with the passenger traffic, Queenstown was 

 assuredly far beyond Southampton in its advantages with 

 reference to the mail service. He thought they would mostly 

 agree with him that the great object to be attained in the 

 improvements in respect to the mail service which had been 

 spoken so much about during the past year or so was to decide 

 on such a service as would enable the Wednesday's letters from 

 New York to be replied to on the following Wednesday by the 

 outgoing mail steamer from Liverpool, calling at Queenstown 

 on Thursday morning, and Saturday's letters from New York 

 to be replied to by the outgoing Cunard steamer on the following 

 Saturday from Liverpool and Sunday from Queenstown — that 

 was, to have the Saturday's and Wednesday's letters replied to 

 within a week of the time they were sent from New York, 

 and vice versa. That was a feat which had actually been 

 accomplished over and over again during the past season by the 

 Queenstown route, not only in the summer months, when the 

 Atlantic Ocean was comparatively calm, but also during the 

 stormy weather of the past few months. There was another 

 fact which ought to weigh with them in the consideration of 

 that question. During the first four or five months of the 

 existence of the Southampton route vessels sailed from both 

 Southampton and New York on Saturdays, the same as the 



