The following table gives the subsidized lines and the amount of mail subsidies paid by the British Government in 1901: commerce would warrant—a policy naturally in yolving expense—but by a proper watchfulness, the Po:,t Office authorities kept the subsidies within reasonable limits. The mail business probably paid no higher profits than other traf fic, and at times it must have paid less, for the company did not wish to renew the con tracts, and at one time tried to abrogate them.
The Royal \Vest India Mail Steam Packet Company is another line which has drawn heavy subsidies from the British Government. It was founded in 1841 and was granted a subsidy of £240,000 for traversing a distance of 684,S16 miles every year. There was no advertisement for bids, and no revision of the extravagant terms of the contract until 1S74. There was lit tle freight and less mail to be carried, and, in spite of the large subsidy, the company lost about £80,000 the first year through inefficient or dis honest management. The second year the Gov ernment reduced the mileage to 392,973 miles, leaving the subsidy as before, and granting new favors. It appears to he clear that the advan tages secured by this particular subsidy were not commensurate with the expenditure involved. Without doubt a better service could have been secured at much less expenditure. The service was slow, irregular, and unsatisfactory, and in sonic years the amount paid in subsidies ex ceeded the postal receipts of the line by £183,933. The most palpable case of the use of mail sub sidy to aid in the extension of British commerce was the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, which was given a subsidy in 1840 for carrying the mails between the ports of Central and South Besides the above mail payments, a subsidy of £40,000 per annum is paid for the service to Jamaica, as the outcome of the recommendations of the \Vest India Royal Commission of 1896-97, to encourage the fruit trade of the West Indies. This is the only example of a subsidy granted by Great Britain expressly to encourage trade.
Opinions differ as to whether the British postal and Admiralty subsidies have resulted in direct advantages which justify the outlay made by the Government. Mr. Buxton Forman of the British Post Office gave it as his opinion that this is not always the case; Sir Spencer Walpole, former Secretary of the Post Office, thought full value is received. No careful statistical inquiry
with regard to this question has ever been made, nor is it possible to make one. The open bidding on mail contracts does not at all secure service at cost, because there is nothing like free com petition among steamship companies. Careful observers, however, agree that the British postal and Admiralty subsidies do contain an element of genuine subsidy for the encouragement of Brit ish shipping. This belief is strengthened by the refusal of the British Government to let the mail contract to the White Star Line after its pur chase by the Mercantile Marine Company in 1902 until full assurance was given that the White Star Company would remain a thoroughly Eng lish concern.
The policy of other European countries is quite different from that of Great Britain. Ger many pays an annual subsidy of 4,000,000 marks ($952.000) to the North German Lloyd for its East Asian service, and 2,800,000 marks ($666, 400) for its Australian service. The German East Africa company receives 1,650,000 marks ($392,700) for its services to Africa, and the German Government pays 1,600,000 marks to the North German Lloyd and the Hamburg-American lines for carrying the mails to America. The total mail subsidies to all lines amount to about 10.175,000 marks ($2,421,650). This is perhaps not an excessive amount for the services rendered, but in addition the Government gives indirect bounties in the shape of exemption from import duties on materials of construction, and preferen tial railway rates on iron, steel, and fuel used in shipbuilding and on many articles exported in German ships. These reductions in railway tariffs amount to from 36 to 60 per cent. of the ordinary rates. The Germans generally feel that these direct and indirect bounties have been a good investment, and point to the fact that Ger man shipping has developed very rapidly since the beginning of this policy of protection in 1886. The development of shipping is not, however, conclusive proof of the advantages of the sub sidies, since numerous other factors have con tributed to the growth of the German mercantile marine.