THE PRESS CONFERENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 136, 9 June 1909, Page 4

THE PRESS CONFERENCE.

The most important topic of general interest that the Press Conference has

yet handled is the question of oversea communications between the various portions of the Empire. A bold stand is evidently being made by the colonial delegates to secure tl-e cheapening of cable rates; and even those who cannot follow Mr. Henniker Heaton in his demand for penny-a-word cables must agree that the cable charges are in many cases extortionate, and that their cheapening would give a great impetus to inter-Imperial trade. Even Mr. Austen Chamberlain, who seems to some extent to hold a brief for the cable companies, admitted that they must adapt themselves to the changing conditions of the age, and the resolution to appoint the members of the Conference a Standing Committee to secure the reduction of cable rates, and at the same time to consider the question of an Imperial News Service, was carried unaniIt is interesting to observe in. passing that English and colonial delegates alike complained of the paucity ami triviality of tho news forwarded by .-able from one part of the Empireto another. There is, no doubt, a great deal in Lord t'revve's remark about the

immense preponderance of sporting information in the public mind, and Englishmen and colonials are probably getting for the most part the kind of cables they deserve. But it is obvious that better facilities for cheap and rapid communication would react favourably upon public opinion, and would encourage the wide circulation of more important intelligence than results of races or cricket and football matches. In any case, JJiere can he no doubt that the reduction of cable rates is a step in the right direction, and it is to be hoped that the Conference will be able to make this desirable change something more than a pious aspiration for a distant future.