A contract was made in 1840 for steam to Malta, Corfu, and Alexandria, and the service was extended in 1845 to Suez, Bombay, Ceylon, Calcutta, Hong Kong, and Shanghae. It was renewed again in 1853, terminable in 1862, or after twelve months' notice, with a service between Sydney and Singapore, with the "Peninsular and Oriental Company;" and the subsidy for the whole service was increased from L199,600 or $998,000 per annum, to $1,224,000 per annum. The Company have thirty-nine vessels of 48,835 tons, and 12,850 horses' power, and run 796,637 annually, at 6_s_ 1-3/4_d_ per mile. The steamers run the whole service of 796,637 miles annually, at this low rate because much of the service is confined to the Mediterranean, as for example, their line from Southampton to Vigo, O Porto, Lisbon, Cadiz, and Gibraltar; and also that between Marseilles and Malta. This is but like the coasting trade at the utmost, and is not ocean navigation proper. Before the contract was renewed the same company got for the service between Hong Kong and Ceylon, 12_s_ 7_d_ per mile, and for that between Suez and Calcutta, L1, 0_s_ 1-1/2_d_ per mile. The contract with the "West-India Royal Mail Packet Company" was made in 1840 for a semi-monthly service to the West-Indies, Central America, and Mexico, at L240,000, and for 547,296 nautical miles per annum. The contract was renewed on the same terms in 1846, and again in 1850, when the Brazil service was added, and the subsidy increased to L270,000 or $1,350,000 per annum, for twelve years, or until 1862, and one year after notice shall have been given. The length of the routes now run by the Company is 37,000 nautical miles, with thirty-four stopping places. The West-India service of 393,432 miles, is performed at the rate of 10_s_ 10-1/2_d_ per mile, under special contract; no advertisement ever having been made for tenders. The Brazilian portion of the service embraces 153,864 miles annually. Pay per mile for the whole Royal Mail service is 9_s_ 10_d_ per mile. This Company has twenty steamers, of 29,454 tons, and 9,308 horses' power. On the Brazil portion of the service the touches are at Lisbon, Madeira, Teneriffe, St. Vincent, Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio de Janiero, Monte Video, and Buenos Ayres. On the West-India division, St. Thomas is the central depot, after touching at the Azores. Ten branch lines radiate from St. Thomas to Antigua, Barbados, Blewfields, Carriacou, Carthagena, Aspinwall, (which they call Colon,) Demarara, Dominica, Grenada, Greytown, Gaudaloupe, Havanna, Honduras, Jacmel, Jamaica, Martinique, Porto Rico, St. Kitt's, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Santa Martha, Tampico, Tobago, Trinidad, and Vera Cruz. Lord Canning says: