The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News and the Morning News THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 1873.

Auckland Star, Volume IV, Issue 989, 20 March 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News and the Morning News

THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 1873.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do

J The project for connecting New Zealand with Australia by telegraphic cable, so long dreamt of, is probably now on the fair way of being realised. That such a work must sooner or later be undertaken has perhaps not been doubted by any one in the colony for many years past; and the recent telegraphic . connection formed between England and Australia has ..produced the general conviction that the time is not far distant at which we cannot afford to he left out of the great telegraphic circle. Deep interest therefore invests tbe proceedings at the recent Intercolonial Conference in relation to this; and the agreement made and practical action taken by the representatives of New South Wales, New Zealand, and Queensland will be keenly canvassed. The details of those arrangements, which are contingent on the acquiescence of the several Parliaments interested have been published and though they will doubtless send a pang to the heart of all those who believe that New Zealand should hang her harp on the willow, and mourn disconsolate for her forlorn estate, we d^Srot hesitate to say that they will Tdo accepted by the great majority of colonists as embodying terms in the very highest degree satisfactory to New Zealand. Succinctly put they comprehend not only a telegraph cable connecting the coast of New Zealand with the coast of New South Wales, but a cable separate and independent from that at present laid, connecting the terminal station of the Queensland wires on the Q-ulf of Carpentaria j with Singapore, and conse • qiiently with a series of competing lines stretching oyer the East and the whole world. For this the three contracting colonies are to guarantee for thirtyfive years a return of fifty thousand pounds per year, or about three per ceht. on the capital invested; while all receipts above twelve thousand a year allowed for repairs, are to be devoted to reduction of the annual isubsidy. The position of New Zealand would therefore be that of a j guarantor of nearly seventeen thousand i pounds per annum for thirty-five years, in mitigation of which, after 'four thousand pounds have been reitained for repairs of the cable, all the ireceipts for messages by the cable 'connecting with Australia would be idevpted to lessen the amount of subjsidyr; This would be practically jabout the result, the cost of the JNew. cable being jabout bhe-third. the cost ,of the whole Wprk as _to be constructed. It; is . evident that in such circumstances* the annual burthen on our revenue Would not be great, and would be further materially lessened by the; Receipts from the same telegrams passing oVer our colonial wires. But perhaps that which will most commend the project to general favour is the low tariff embodied in the arrangements. Not only does it fix a rate fpr Anglo-Australian messages far below that hitherto ruling, but the proposed tariff for transmission between New Zealand and Australia, v}z M fifteen shillings for twenty words,

is, with one exception, the lowest rate j for cable telegrams in the world, being j one-third—and even one-fourth—*. of i the rates ruling on various portions of i the Anglo-Australian line. "The pro- ! jeet is one of great interest, but it cannot be ignored that it is one of considerable responsibilities. It is satisfactory to see that it does not appear to involve any concessions tending to monopoly, than which|nothing could be more disastrous to the future of anyrising community. Seventeen thousand a-year for thirty-five years represents the very worst aspect in which this proposal can present itself to this colony. With reference to the in= fluence it is likely to exert on commerce, and on the general welfare, it is wholly needless to speak. New Zealand has now begun to awake to the necessity 0 f keeping up in the n&rch of progress, and t0 I-emain longer outside the pulsations of the whole world's life would soon become intolerable. While to journalism such immediate contact and intimate relations with the 'great world beyond must be of unquestionable advantage, the commercial interests of newspaper property will be weighted with new burthens in the enormous costs entailed by such connection, so that it, will exhibit a spirit angelic if we find—as we believe we shall find among our contempor : aries—a general welcome to the great scheme of telegraphic extension. Tet even to these interests the new scheme would be beneficial if telegraphy in New Zealand could only be conducted with Common honesty of purpose and capacity for grappling with the work to be done. But unless there is a radical reformation in the system within the colony itself it seems idle for the colony to undertake so great works beyond its bounds. If Mr Vogel, from the experts in telegraphy with whom he came in contact during the late negotiations, had brought back with him some one capable of taking the conduct of the system iin New Zealand, and instructed him to develop telegraphing to its utmost extent among ourselves, he would not only have inspired confidence in the great scheme proposed, but would have a people prepared to take advantage of the great commercial facilities to be placed at their disposal by the telegraphic cable. The proposals provisionally accepted by the delegates in Sydney will be closely scanned throughout the three colonies immediately involved. To Queensland, over whose wires throughout their entire length the messages must pass, the advantages will be at once apparent, while the opportunity of " paying off" her old antagonist in telegraphy— South Australia —will not be missed. New South Wales -will reap a Bimiia» class of advantages in concentrating and transmitting over her wires the messages of the sister colonies, while the benefit of a competing line and lower charges for messages to England will be so much additional gain. To New Zealand the cable connecting with Australia is simply a necessity that must sooner or later be provided ; and that sympathy and co-operation should have been so readily found, and that our isolation should be removed on so favourable and satisfactory terms, will afford grounds, we believe, for general congratulatiou. The spirit of the resolution of the Assembly last session has been embodied in the present arrangements, which reflect the highest credit on Mr Vogel.' Unfortunately the San Francisco mail service is temporarily under a cloud, but consolation may be found in the successful initiation of a project of a kind, that in the progress of the age, seems destined eventually to supersede the antiquated system of mail services and epistolary communications.