THE PACIFIC CABLE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 415, 26 January 1909, Page 7

THE PACIFIC CABLE.

MANACER INTERVIEWED. . .PENNY-A WORD IMPRACTICABLE. Mr.' Join'). Milward,.manager in the. Pacific for the Pacific Cable Board, .is visiting .Wellington in tho,interests nf the .board. When seen by a Dominion", reporter, ho sajd thfjj tho : cable was still working very well indeed, ami-giying.no. trouble in any way. Against tho popular idea / ': at' money is being lost annually, Mr. Miifard contended, that the gradual repayment of capital ought not to be'regarded as a recurring deficit. Tho position, was that the Imperial Government had advanced two millions sterling, which';'was being repaid at the rate of £77,000.per annum, while £83,000 per annum' in addition was being set aside for the renewal of the whole of tho cable, which would bo necessary at |ho end of fifty years. . Tho fact that the Governments concerned were contributing something annually.', towards the repayment of the capital, did not,' Mr: Milward contended, justify the public in considering tlmt the cable was being worked at a loss.-; In any case,- -tho mppey was woll, spent, as At; had led to the lowering of ;t}ip rates.':, v. '. Asked, whether in his opinion' tho further, lowering of tlio rates to.a penny awprd,/as proposed:by Mr. Henniker. . Heatqii,. was practicable, Mr. ■, Milward replied: ';' !No/. cerMinly.noti if tho cables are : to :,bo.worked so as- to meet ordinary expenses:'.i The carrying capacity.-of a cable is limited. We can .only pend a;thousand words an hour over the Pacific cable, and no main ocean lino has a much greater: capacity than that. -It-js easy to.see..that at,a.penny a word' the revenue could not exceed £30,000 /a year, and our present working expenses are twice that sum."'.' ■■;■"■;':.,'': . ."-,' In regard to am' Jess sensational reduction pf.ratesj-Mr. Milward'was'not prepared to make any' definite statement, but he. pointed : out' that jthe. matter was by rib means all in the hands of his board, because all messages'.'between Australasia and; Britain via-the Pacific/cable had to cross Canada and the Atlantic oh privately-owned lines. Rather less than half the '■ rates went'to the Pacifio' Afcble Board: '.'- ■ Mr.': Milh'ard.looks with favour op thp pro? posal to link up the islands of the, Pacifio by wireless telegraphy; Such a scheme would, nrovidb tho;Pacific,cablo-with feeders/from localities where submarine' cables would not at present be'profitable, - : .At.the same time ho considered that wireloss telegraphy was L not in its "present. stage of development sufficiently reliable : for commercial work over long distances) • though it was distinctly useful in its.spherd.: • :. •'■■.'.-,-.