CABLE RATES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1147, 7 June 1911, Page 5

CABLE RATES.

REDUCTION OF 50 PER CENT. IMPORTANT REPORT. Dv TclcsraDh-l'rcss Association-OopyiiEut Paris, June 5. The hilwiinlionnl Telegraphic Commission lias recommended a reduction of 50 per centum in the charge-) for luug-dis-tanco telrgrnms trniisinillvd by cubic in plain language. Tho recommendation will be communicated to tho Government represented on the Commission. HOW AUSTRALIA IS BURDENED. The Atlantic cable rates for general trailic have remained at the same iiguro— a shilling a word—lor 2.') years. Out of the shilling originally charged for every word cabled at press rates via thu Pacific (o Australia, twopence went to the Conimonwealth Government, fnurpenco to tho Pacific Cable, anil sixpence to the private lines. At the nincpenny ruto now in force, one penny goes to tho Commonwealth, twopence, to the Pacific Cable, and still sixpence to tho other lines. If allowance is made for the land-lino charges —which arc now, directly or indirectly, all under State control—the Atlantic cables still absorb rather more than half the total charge for a press, message between England and Australia. Tho advantages to British trade of a reduction of t'lio Atlantic rates were pointed out some tiino ago in "The Times" by its Canadian correspondent, who wrote:—"The chief competitor with Great Britain in tho Canadian markets is the United States, and there is. no denying that tho proximity of the United Stales to Canada gives tho United States certain great advantages; chief among them is that goods may be ordered from the United Stntes and received in Canada in a few days. ... "Where goods are ordered by letter, they aro a long timo coming from Great Britain, whereas they will retch Canada from the United States in from six to ten day?. If the cable could be employed for ordering goods, and simple codes could be arranged so that a message could be sent for, say, 35., the goods could easily reach Canada two weeks after the order was sent , and the cost of the cablegram could be made up from the low parcel rates and the preferential Customs advantages."