The Report further says, as to the mode by which postal communication can be procured, "where frequent and rapid communication already exists, it is only necessary for the Government to secure from time to time the services of vessels already engaged in private traffic." But as there are no such cases in the transmarine routes, and as private enterprise supplies the demand of steam lines only on the short routes, like the inter-island service of Great Britain, or that to the Continent, or the service of the Sound, 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of the mails at a high rate of speed are not in demand for the purposes of ordinary traffic, and can not therefore be withdrawn and applied to another service at short notice_.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."