The Press. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1888.

Press, Volume XLV, Issue 7214, 27 November 1888, Page 4

The Press. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1888.

Thb cable news published by us the other day points to the conclusion that the question of the Pacific cable is being taken up at Home with a firm determination to carry the business through to a satisfactory conclusion. We learn that a large meeting was held in London to discuss the whole matter, and that a resolution was carried to the effect that, in view of the discontent which exists with the working of the lines belonging to the Eastern Extension Company, the meeting pledges itself to support a cable by the Pacific route, provided the custom of the various Governments is given, together with a guarantee extending over twenty-live years. The promoters promise that the maximum charge should be 4s per word, on condition that the Government custom should amount to £75,000 a year. .It was further announced that the Company had determined to construct the cable whether the guarantee was given or not. This announcement is one of the most important items of intelligence -which has been received in this colony for some time. It has long been felt that the monopoly enjoyed by the Eastern Extension Cable Company was far from advantageous to the colonies. Although the total number of days , during which the cable has been interrupted at one time has not been great, these interruptions have been in the highest degree vexatious and irritating. On more than one occasion they have taken place at critical moments both {X)litically and commercially. The public have thus been brought face to face with a serious danger, and have been enabled to realise the paramount importance of being in constant telegraphic communication with the Old World. The recent interruptions have once more given an impetus to the proposal to construct a cable across the Pacific. This proposal has now been before the public for several years, and negotiations have been carried on with the various Australian Governments respecting it. The question was very fully diecussed at the Colonial Conference held in London in 1887, and it was warmly supported both from a defensive, political, and commercial point of view. At the Conference held in Sydney in January last the matter again came under notice, when the following resolution was earned :—"That this Conference is of opinion that it is desirable a survey should be made of a suitable route for an ocean telegraph cable by way of the Pacific via Vancouver Island; the cost of the survey to be defrayed by Great Britain, Canada, and the Australasian colonies represented at the Conference. This, however, is not to bind any of the countries named to accept the proposals of the Pacific Company, and that the subject of the resolution be communicated to the

various Australasian Governments." Since that time we learn that the work of surveying part of the route has been undertaken. The question of a guarantee is one, no doubt, of serious importance. The various Australian Governments at present pay a subsidy to the Eastern Extension Company, and one of them, at least, is in no way favourable to the construction of a rival line. Much, therefore, yet remains to be done before the question of the subsidy can be settled one way or the other. If the proposals of the Company were agreed to by Great Britain and Canada, the amount required from the individual Australian colonies would be comparatively small, while the gain in the form of cheap rates and security against interruption, would be enormous. The difficulty, we have said, is to secure anything like joint action on the part of the different colonies concerned. Sir William Fitzherbert, the New Zealand representative at the Sydney Conference, was able to bring under the notice of the meeting the claima of the Pacific line, but the resolution passed, as we have seen, was studiously guarded. Another scheme for securing unity of action was submitted some time ago to the Colonial Secretary of this colony, namely, "to combine the several telegraph systems of the Australian colonies under one management, to include the submergance of a cable across the Pacific from Australia to Canada, and to provide for taking over at a valuation whenever the Company may desire all the cables of the Eastern Extension Company." It was pointed out that the construction of a Pacific cable would destroy the existing monopoly, and put an end to the profits which shareholders have hitherto enjoyed ; whereas the scheme suggested would return to them the full value of their property. The present value of the Company's lines is, of course, set down in the document bofore us at a much lower price than that put upon them by the shareholders. But assuming that the figures are fairly accurate, this is how the scheme wouid work out. The total cost of constructing a Pacific cable and purchasing the existing lines of the Eastern Company is set down at a little over £2,000,000, the annual charge for interest upon which would be about £70,000 a year. At the present time the Australian colonies pay £36,600 annually to the Eastern Extension Company. In addition, the following foreign subsidies are paid to the Company:—Malacca, £1000 ; Manilla, £8000; Tonquin, £10,600; Macao, £500; offered by Hawaii, £4000; or a total, including the Australian colonies, of £60,700. The proposal was that the foreign subsidies should remain unaltered, and that the balance of tne interest on the capital of the new Company should be divided between Great Britain, Canada, India and the Australian Colonies. So far as we are aware the scheme has not yet been seriously discussed by the different Governments, and the Eastern Company will of course resist any proposal of the kind as practically destroying a large part of their capital. If however, the Pacific Cable Company intend to proceed with the line even without a guarantee, the whole question will no doubt come to be considered in all its bearings. Without a guarantee it is not to be expected that the rates would be fixed at anything like four shillings per word, but they would have to be low enough to. command business ; while the competition which would naturally arise between the rival Companies would also help to keep the rates down to a price which place the use of the cable within the reach of almost any person in the community. We hope the Pacific Cable Company will receive every encouragement at the hands of the various Australian Governments to proceed with this great enterprise.