The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1911.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3294, 12 August 1911, Page 6

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1911.

Of the many surveys which have so far been made in the world 5 s press of the results of the Imperial Conference, that which has appeared in the “Westminster Gazette” is one of the most striking. What has the conference achieved? it asks. To begin: with, the “Westminster” imagines “an important logician” saying of the conference and its results: “Either your Dominions must be one with you in policy and government or they will drift apart. Either they must accept your treaties and pledge themselves to your foreign policy or they are separate nations. Either they must contribute to one fleet under one direction' or he ruled out of the defensive organisation of the Empire. There is no alternative, cries the logician ; these third courses, which foolish politicians devise, are mere illusions concealing the truth.” But the 1 Westminster” is not prepared to treat the results in this light. From the point of view the whole purpose of the conference was to establish closer co-opera-tion between Governments which are eacli of them free and autonomous. To everything decided at the conference there was an unspoken clause —“if the Parliaments of the Dominions consent.” “The fleets of Australia and Canada, says the “Westminster,” will be at the disposal of the Imperial Go's ei nment in time of war, if the Parliaments of these Dominions consent. The Governments of the Dominions will support the policy of the Imperial Government if . their Parliaments consent That ‘if’ is the great act of faith at the base of the British Empire. By admitting it, and only by admitting it, wo have made the British Empire possible; by trusting to it, and only bv trusting to it, we shall make the British Empire a serviceable unit in peace and war. There is no other way, and whether we are pessimists or optimists, we have to accept it. We confess ourselves unashamedly optimists, and we believe the ungrudgging acceptance of this *if’ to be a stronger guarantee not only of formal unity but of effective united action than anv legal bond or mechanical tie that could possibly be devised. 5 '

A Significant “If.”

After allowing a number of opportunities to slip by m the past, the British Government has now made arrangements under which it is to acquire the whole of the properties of the National Telephone Company. In this connection it is interesting to note that in 1898 the Government might have taken over the whole of this valuable concern for the sum of £6,850,000. To-day the assets of the company represent a value or £16,000,000, but the amount which the Government will have to expend to acquire the business is uncertain, and the price will probably be settled by arbitration. What the delay in taking over the concern has meant to the Home Government may be gauged when it is stated that since 1898 the annual net profits have increased by more than 150 per cent., and the capital expenditure has grown by more than 130 per cent. On the calculations made thirteen years ago, and since verified by the growth of the service, we are tola the purchase money would have been written off out of profits in ten years, and the British post-office would now be deriving from this undertaking a net revenue of £1,260,000 per annum. Even now, according to the “Birmingham Post,” the taxpayers may well believe that the Post Office has concluded a capital bargain. “By the end of the year,” says that journal, “the country will have brought under public control the whole of its system of telephonic communication, as was long ago deemed wise in regard to its postal and telegraphic services. A vital clause in the agreement provides, that the value of all plant, land, buildings, stores, and furnitiue purchased by the PostmasterGeneral shall be their value on December 31, exclusive of any payment for goodwill, for past or future profits, or for compulsory sale. In the future the main growth of the system must be in the direction of multiplying the number of small subscribers, whether im-v lie tradespeople or farmers or others who are desirous of an inexpensive system which will meet all the requirements of a domestic demand. There is some hope for a Minister who recognises that, despite the admitted improvement made in the telephone service of this country during recent years, the system is really little more than in its infancy. He looks forward to multiplying the existing number of telephones even fourfold in the not distant future. If that anticipation be at all speedily realised we shall not lag greatly behind Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland, which are the best telephoned countries in the world.” As far as New Zealand is concerned, tue State is already in possession of the telephone system of this country, which it has long been proved is a very valuable asset.

Stats Enterprise at Home.