AUSTRALIAN CABLES.

Gisborne Times, Volume V, Issue 44, 21 February 1901, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN CABLES.

By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyrigh Brisbane, Feb. 20.

The Premier has received a letter from a well-known financial agent in Frankfort, Germany, stating that in order to make Germany, in time of peace or war, independent of any of the British lines, the German Government has decided to lay a purely German cable to Eastern Asia, reaching in China as far north as Kioutchan, and in Japan as far as Nagasaki. The German and Dutch Governments have signed an agreement whereby the Dutch Government undertakes to lay in conjunction with Germany an East Asia branch cable connecting the Dutch East Indies with the German cable. The latter will run to German New Guinea, the Caroline Islands, and other German possessions. He adds that the laying of the cable will be undertaken forthwith, the material being already ordered in Germany. A commencement has been made to raise a sixth contingent. It is expected the number will bo about four hundred men and five hundred horses.

Sydney, Feb. 20. The Herald, commenting on the proposed German cable, says there should be little difficulty in arranging a connection between the Commonwealth and, say, German New Guinea. We need not troublo ourselves about the nationality which owns the cable. The more cables there are between Europe and Australia, tho better, whether German, British, or French, and the good they do in bringing continents nearer overshadows' the purely national objections. The Fiji Times to hand by the Birksgate, commenting on Mr Barton’s black labor proposal, says that under those conditions it would seem almost hopeless for tho inhabitants of Fiji to look towards Australia with the idea of federating with that dominion on anything like an equal footing.