The American Mail Service. 73 



they added the diiFerence of the journey from Liverpool to 

 Belfast and compared it with the Queenstown journey, they could 

 easily judge what the change would mean to them in the North 

 of Ireland. There was another argument in favour of the 

 Queenstown route, which might be called a patriotic one, and 

 that was that, while the liners which adopted the Southampton 

 route all sailed under a foreign flag, those on the Liverpool route 

 carried the mails under the British flag, and, moreover, could 

 be used in case of war for the defence of their country. Still 

 another fact to remember was that on the Queenstown route the 

 letters were all sorted between Queenstown and London, while 

 on the Southampton route they reached the General Post Office, 

 London, for the most part unsorted. Mr. Roche threw upon 

 the screen numerous diagrams, contrasting the merits of the two 

 routes. One table showed that, taking the average of eight 

 voyages by the Southampton route, the journey was accomplished 

 in 6 days 19 hours 53 minutes, while the average of nine voyages 

 made by the Campania and Lucania on the Liverpool route was 

 5 days 15 hours 28 minutes. The Lucania at present held the 

 record for the fastest westward passage, her time being 5 days 

 12 hours 47 minutes, while the Campania held the record for 

 the best eastward voyage — 5 days 12 hours 7 minutes. , After 

 exhibiting views of the Teutonic and Majestic, which were 

 received with applause, the lecturer said when it was borne in 

 mind that those fine vessels had been seven years longer on 

 the service than the Lucania and Campania, and that they had 

 nevei been beaten by more than three and a half hours, 

 notwithstanding the enormously increased horse power of the 

 Lucania and the Campania, he thought they might practically 

 say that up to the present the Teutonic and Majestic were 

 unbeaten as splendid specimens of Transatlantic liners. One of 

 the chief weapons used by the Southampton people was mis- 

 representation ; they stopped short of nothing which would in 

 any degree favour the Southampton route; but, notwithstanding 

 all their efforts, it could easily be proved that the Queenstown 

 route was much superior for the carrying of the mails, for letters 



