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Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5525, 14 May 1889, Page 2

Onk of our yesterday's special cablegrams was in tho original skeleton as follows:— " Scare Washington at fortifying Vancouver eastern coast mercy British case war." What the fortification of any part of Vancouver Island on tho North Pacific ocean could havo to do with throwing the Atlantic coist of tho United States at tho mercy of the British we did not know. S. o we took tho liberty of altering the word " eastern " to " western," thereby making some sense of the message. We took it for granted that Washington meant tho capital of the United States. Tho Press Association interpreted and promulgated tho cable- ! gram as follows:—" r Jhere is a scare at Washington iv consequence of thi> proposed action of tho English authorities in fortifying the ports of Vancouver Island, on the ground that the eastern coast of North America would then be at the mercy of the British in case of war." Wo venture to think that the above message is unadulter.ted non.euso. We believe the true interpretation to be this:—Washington is the namo of tho extreme north-west territory of the United States, and adjoins British Columbia. Vancouver Island is separated from Washington by a narrow strait, and the proposed fortification of Victoria, tho capital of Vancouver, would, if carried out, bo a direct menace to tho wholo coust-line of Washington. By dispelling the idea that Washington was meant for the capital of tho United States, and by altering the word eastern to western, a glimmering notion of what the skeloton intended to convey can be arrived at. It would bo as well if tho agent at Sydney was invited to show more intelligence in the compilation of his messages.