THE AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAPH.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XII, Issue 703, 3 August 1859, Page 3

THE AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAPH.

The Indian telegraph is now completed to Aden, and,the cable for the remaining portion'will be laid next December. Land-lines exist from Kurrachee ,to Rangoon, and the Indian government has bound itself to complete the 'telegraph'to Singapore. The Dutch Government has undertaken to lay a submarine cable from Singapore to Batavia. The cable for this line is already manufactured,- and will be laid next October. A land-line exists from Batavia to Banjounangi (extreme east end of Java) and the Dutch government have undertaken to add a wire to it for messages to and from Australia. - The several colonial governments are now asked to extend the Dutch. line from E. Java to Moreton "Bay as a submarine line, a distance of 3024 nautical , miles, and thence to Sydney as a land-line (600 statute miles). The sum, including a sufficient re- ' iserve.fund, that is required ,for the submarine line ! from E. Java to Moreton Bay is £800,000. The same class of cable, and the same prices, have been adopted in the proposal now submitted as have been approved of in the case of the Indian telegraph by her Majesty's and the Indian governments.' ' The Indian line from Suez to Kurrachee is fifty miles shorter than that from E. Java to Moreton ( Bay, and the capital is the same in each case. • The Australian line will, throughout its course, be a coast line, that is to aaj, it will ran along a chain of islands or follow the Australian coast.This j will ensure moderate depths in which to lay it, so \ that it can at any time be picked up for repairs and will enable'any number of intermediate stations to ■ be established. Thus long distances need not be telegraphed through,,and the serious loss of trans- (

mitting power wl.ich occurs when stations are very far apart, will not take place. An examination of the Admiralty charts will show that from Coupang (Timor) to Moreton Bay (2370 miles) the sea is as well'sounded as the British Channel, and through--1 out that distance the cable will nowhere be in over 100 fathoms ; indeed from about 150 miles from Timor to Moreton Bay, the depth nowhere exceeds ,45 fathoms, and from Capo York the deptli varies from 9 to 20 fathoms, and the. sea is protected from 1 the swell of the ocean by the Great Barrier Ueef, ; which extends for 1000 miles at distances varying from 60 to a few miles from the coast.

A popular objection to this line is founded upon the existence of coral reefs in every part of the sea it will traverse.

The very same objection was made to the bed as the recipient of a submarine cable. The natural sea bottom all over the world is sand or mud, accumulated in the course of geological ages by a gradual deposit, and coral does not ■ grow on a, soft bottonvbut Only on the rocks or reefs interspersed here and there over the sea. A ship often finds it difficult to avoid them, but a cable once laid clear of them remains where it is laid and their vicinity and number offer no sort of danger to it. The reefs are marked on the charts, and soundings, bringing up specimens of the bottom, will always ensure the cable being laid clear of them. The Australian cable can throughout its course be laid on a sea bottom, composed of sand or mud, in which it will immediately sink by its own gravity. It is...proposed that the several colonies contribute towardssthe necessary capital in .the same proportion as they now contribute towards their moiety of the postal subsidy, that is to say—Victoria, 58. 5-16 per cent.; KS.. Wales,, 22 12:16.; S. Australia,;; 4-16;, New Zealand, 5 11-16; Tasmania, 5 1-16. _ A strong analogy will exist between the proportion of telegrams and the proportion of letters each colony will send and receive.— M'nglish Paper.