The Dominion. MONDAY, JUNE 28. 1909. CHEAP CABLE MESSAGES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 545, 28 June 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, JUNE 28. 1909. CHEAP CABLE MESSAGES.

' "-♦— ——-'. '■'' Quite ;the most, interesting item of. news yet received from the Press Conference: ii ■ the message this morning '. relating to : the question . of cable, services . and. cable,, ' rate's. The point of• most immediate concern to New;, Zealand is the announcement. of.a proposed reduction of charges on press messages sent over the Pacific Cable; but the larger questions of an' All-Red Im-perially-owned cable service to,link ■ the scattered parts of tho whole Empire with an; electric bond of communication', and .the proposal of the; Loudon Times in favour of '/establishing a similar connection throughout» the Empire by. means/of- wireless .telegraphy quite overshadow: tho concession in spectacular effect and potential advantage to the Empire.; It is .worthy, of note, however, that the proposed conccssionin rates over, the Pacific Cable is certain' to have an important influence on, the- major proposition of an Empire cable service, inasmuch as one of the most'attractive claims' put forward for the establishment'of the [service ;is .the: estimated cheapening of cable charges. The .success of the Pacific Cable is quoted in support of ,the Empiregirdling scheme, whioh; by the way, is no new project. Canada has for some years past been agitating in this direction, and in 1907-the Ottawa Board of Trade put forward definite proposals. This; proposition wafc set ; 'out as follows:.— '.•■";"', To establish State-owned cable telegraphs -in an 'unbroken girdle round the .'glopc, connecting/in a most complete.manner, the several groups. of self-governing British communities .in Europe,; America, . Australasia,, .Asia, and. Africa! Itus held.that the Empiro cables should be State-owned for tho following. 'reasons :—(l) In ordor.to remove them from the hands of companies whoso 'object is to make profits by maintaining rates'as high as possible. "(2) In order, to reduce tho cost of telegraphing 'throughout tho Empire to a minimum.-; (3) In 'order that'tho.British peopie, geographically separated by''the- oceans, -may; be brought as free..and unrestricted as possible. . (4).' In order that the, Governments.of the self-governing/Bri-tish peoples may be enabled.'to -.confer (with' each'other' times.with the greatest facility, on matters of mutual concern.;/(5) '-In.order;that' rio' portion of' the:lines may pomounfe foreign .influence or be -used ,to the detriment'.of British interests; './ This '.'electric bond of Empire".is divided .into./four/divisions;/; The.' -first would stretch 'from the .United Kingdom, to the Pacific/ and / \vould /consist of a .'cable across.tho Atlantic and/land linos across Canada. Tho second would bo from Can-' ada across the: Pacific to Australia and New. Zealand,, with land, lines across 'Australia to/ tho Indian; Ocean. .The: third would be a cable from Australia across the Indian Ocean to South Africa, with a branch'from .Cocos. Island, to India; the a/'cable,, from Capo Town to' the .United /Kingdom..via:, Ascension '.Island,, the';}Vest;lhdics,:nncl ;tljfl.>Barmudas, ..witfc a'branch to Canada.- The first of (these, proposals' has; met 1 With''strphg-BU'pport/iri' I Canada, the suggestion being- to., nationalise, the • existing: service. /"• This or 'some similar -scheme seems ..likely /'of- achj'evcmoritatan early date. -The second—the •Pacific■ Cable—is already an accomplished .fact.- Propositions 3'-and 4.havo'/not. received .much attention* hut' it. is 1 argued .that they would!naturally follow, on; the 'completion of the Empire. Atlantic' Cable,

.;. : It should be, ; npted that; those who have been .attempting to stimulate interest iri this; Empire cable '■• scheme,' phief 'of whom is Sir Sandford Fleming;- have not feared to place beforo tho public their ostimates of tho.cpst.. Necessarily so.larga a soheme ■must involve' large initial cost, and,- probably, what, is more important, ;'a heavy-up-' keep._■'■■.'. Based' on the, experience .':of .the Pacible Cable} however,vthe,'figures- are. not so startling as might havo been antici.pated. ; The completion of- the' whole' of the .three , remaining .■.'. described ■.above'''it is estimated would hot'eost more ;than'£s,ooo,ooo.; This - , it is. claimed, would establi'shyand completely equip the whole of the remaining the' -proposed circle of' Empire cables.'. Judged, further-. mpre, by the;bucccss of tho.Paoifiu 'Cable,' ■the..cost of up-keop would riot be a.heavy draih- on the resources of. the'various countries interested; .'As against' this they' would': have the advantages enumerated above, including tie material' gain involved in cheap .cables.'. Siß.Sandford •Fleming has gone into: figures on tho squestion" of rate's, 'and has worked tho cost down to a 'yory; fine point. '■.?.Without wearying the reader .with the details, his .conclusions.'..'' are "that the cables could transmit 25,000 paying words a day, which -raven with the cables working only half timo—at, the. low rate of ,4d. per word would pay working expenses. ,■ To this ho adds 6d. per word to meet payments on capital cost, renewal; fund, sinking fund, etc.,.making.a total charge of' lOd. per word. -Not very; long ago the charge was 9s; 4d, per word; recently it.was reduced to 3s. por.word; and under-the proposed scherhe we have tho'alluring prospect of ;10d. per word. Sir; SandfordaFlemikq; : however,appears"toi havo guine in his estimate of' the carrying capacity of the cables and working cost, and is contradicted by the Pacific Cable Board on material points. Unfortunately for the Canadian scheme, the Marconi wiroloss telegraphy proposal is eortain to bring about afurthcr division of opinion. If .this, system" 'can bo satisfactorily worked,,and there is strong evidence that it .can, -its cheapness will, probably-, far outweigh_ the claims of the advocates of the, Empiro cable service. An objection to'a State-owned wireless service would be its competition with the dxisting State-' owned Pacific Cable; but this competition would only apply to communications between Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. So far as' Now Zealand: is concerned, choap cablo communication with the outsido world is a matter of such importance, that this country is bound to interest itself keenly intho questions now raised at the Press Conference. The possibilities held out by wireless telegraphy seem likely to revolutionise existing ideas on the subject of long-distance communi cations, and; we should not be surprised t; find Sir Joseph Ward,- who has already given the matter some attention, return U the Dominion with etrong views concerning it.