CHEAPER CABLES.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14072, 17 June 1911, Page 8

CHEAPER CABLES.

The movement in. favour of cheaper cable communication was not advanced so materially as could be wished by the discussion of tho question at the Imperial Conference on Thursday. The mere fact that the Conference devoted some timo to consideration of the matter was, however, of value. Tho more it is talked about by representatives of different parts of tho Empire, the moro interest is taken in, it, and tho greater becomes tbo demand for increased facilities for commercial and social intercourse by cable. The most important feature of tho sitting was undoubtedly tho adoption of the motion by the British Postmaster-General, in which the Atlantic cable companies were warned that unless they do something to meet the demand for lower cable charges they may be faced with tho competition of a British Stateowned cable. This cautious announcement took the placo of a motion by .Sir Joseph Ward proposing that tho Pacific Cable Board should be em-! powered to lay and control a, cable between England and Canada. This step would bo the natural sequel to tho Jay-I ing of the existing "All Red" cable between Vancouver and New Zealand, and we could wish that tho Premier's motion had been accepted. Tno circumstances of the case, we contend, fully warrant the suggestion being carried out. Tho present trans-Atlantic cables aro controlled by companies who charge a uniform tariif and are said to pool their receipts, " and arc, a$ Mr Samuel said, closely associated with the great companies owning a very large proportion of tho land lines in the States and Canada. The association is, indeed, so close that the land companies—the Western Union and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company—coni rol at I least some of the cables, if not most of them. It is quite possible that, ou ' this account, a British State-owned I trans-Atlantic rable would not, as mat--1 tors are now, secure much business from Canada and the States. So far as America is concerned no ono would expect much business for such a cable, and if it is true that the association between the existing cable companies i and the companies owning the land lines would prevent Canadians using the British cable, another strong argument is supplied in favour of a State-owned wiro across Canada. That, of course, would be tho natural and necessary corollary of the Pacific Cable Board possessing cables linking England with Canada and Canada with Australasia. To give these their fullest value there would have to bo a land lino between the two points of entrance on to Canadian soil. Already something has been dono in this direction. Since last July the Pacific Cable Board has hold tho leaso from the Canadian Pacific Railway of a wire between the Pacific cable station in British Columbia and Montreal. That arrangement takes tho Pacific cable 3000 miles nearer to London. What is now needed to complete the circle is a land lino from Montreal to the Atlantic and a trans-At-lantic cable.

Mr Samuel dwelt on the loss that would bo incurred in the laying and working of such a cable, but his calculations seem to have been based on the present traffic over the Pacific cable, and ho omitted to recognise the great increase iv business that would result if that cable were completed in the manner we have described and the rates were reduced to some extent. At present the privately-owned land lines in Canada and America take the lion's share of the cost of cabling "via Pacific" from London to New Zealand, and if this cost could bo reduced by even one-third there would, we believe, be a creat accession of business. So great a boon as cheap cable communication is not to be delayed indefinitely— the development of the Empire's commerce, the convenience and

happiness of the peoples at oppcsito ends of the earth, would be so vastly advanced by it that it must come soon. The difficulties that seem at present to block its way would prove to bo shadows if boldly dealt with, and wo look to public opinion throughout tho Empire to ha*ten the day of its accomplishment.