New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, MAY 20, 1878.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XV, Issue 5150, 20 May 1878, Page 2

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, MAY 20, 1878.

In another column will be found a cable message from Melbourne, stating that the Cable Conference had arrived at a decision upon the subject placed before them for their consideration. For manymonths past, the irregularity with which we have been supplied with telegraphic news from Europe has been moat tantalising. When complications in Europe had reached stages which left the impression in the minds of colonial readers that war might be declared between Russia and Britain in a few hours, some interruption in telegraphic communication has taken place, and days and sometimes weeks have elapsed before such communication was restored. These interruptions have been very annoying, not only when the critical relations between Russia and Britain were considered, but from a business point of view. When merchants had become accustomed to the transaction of business by telegraph, a sudden interruption of days or weeks could not fail to produce a derangement in their trade dealings which must have been anything but profitable. The rarious Australian colonies made loud complaints of the manner in which they were being served by the Telegraph Company, and suggestions were repeatedly made for the duplication of the cables between Australia and India. The portion of the line generally interrupted was either in the short length of cable between Penang and Singapore, or between Singapore and Java. The bed of the ocean in this Archipelago is very uneven, sharp ridges of coral reefs and volcanic rocks being common. Being submerged in comparatively shallow water, and nowhere far from land,these cables are subjected to a good dual of rough usage which they would not undergo were they laid in the deeper water, and further removed from the wash and surge ever present within moderate distance from the shore. The constant motion of the water causes the cables to be chafed on the rocks and coral reefs on the bottom, and soon they were either cut through or their perfect insulation became damaged. It was to prevent the ever-recmring stoppage of communication through these causes that the Australian colonies desired the duplication of the cable, so that in the event of one line being damaged the other might be found in working order, and business despatches and the transmission of news wouldnotbeinterfered with. The Telegraph Company sent out Colonel (slover as the, agent to negotiate with the Australasian colonies about the laying of a second cable. The message in another column states that the Conference has concluded its sittings, and has decided in favour of laying a second cable between Port Darwin and Singapore, and between Singapore and Penang, for which tho colonies are jointly to pay an annual subsidy of £32,000. The reported decision surprises us, as the second cable will be subject to the same damaging influences as the one now laid, and it is not at all unlikely that both cables may become disordered at the same time. What the Conference should have done was to select a position for the second cable where it would be less liable to injury than the existing one is on the present line. This might have been found in running a line from Western Australia to Mauritius, and thence to Ceylon. Such a line would have formed part of a system which would have united all tho British Southern possessions within one telegraphic embrace, and would probably have received substantial aid from the Imperial Government. From Mauritius a short cable could easily have been stretched to Natal, and thus the whole of the South-African colonies would have been brought into instant communication with Australasia and India and the rest of the world. We dislike being dependent upon tho lines of foreign Governments to maintain connection with the various parts of the Empire, all the more so that the telegraphicblunders occurring in some messages which are so hard to decipher are generally traceable to the Batavian transmission. Another important point is that Britain should connect her whole possessions by telegraphic wires passing through her own territory. Who can tell what vital messages addressed to commanders of our squadrons in various parts of the world may not be delayed, imperilled, or tampered with at supreme moments when passing thrwugh the territory of foreign, and it may be unfriendly, Powers 1 An effective system of cables and land lines will probably soon be established, and the Australian colonies, by a wise decision might have paved the way for this, and at the same time opened up new avenues of trade. The severed cable would certainly have been less likely to receive injury lying on the bed of the Indian Ocean than being tossed about on the sharp coral spurs in thu shallow seas between Penang and Java.