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Cunard – a triumph of steam-age privatisation

Plus: Expat voters; how same-sex marriage has worked in Holland; and parliament’s least populous constituencies

30 May 2015

9:00 AM

30 May 2015

9:00 AM

Steam privatisation

Cunard celebrated its 175th birthday by sailing three liners down the Mersey. The formation of the Cunard Line was an early triumph of privatisation.
— The Post Office had been operating a monthly service to New York with sailing brigs since 1756. In 1836 a parliamentary committee decided that a steamship service should replace it, and that it would be more efficient for the Admiralty to put it out to tender to private operators.

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