A NEW INDO-AUSTRALIAN CABLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6815, 20 September 1883, Page 6

A NEW INDO-AUSTRALIAN CABLE.

OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.} Losdox, August 9. SKVENor eight yews ago Sir Julius Vogel ■was almost too only Australasian statesman who favoured a proposal to lay a deep-sea cable from some point on tho Western Australian coast to Ceylon, in preference to duplication the cable through the coral seas and acro-s Java. He was overborne then, but never abandoned his favourite route, and -quite recently he has secured concessions from the Western Australian Government which will, ho believes, enable him to lay cables f-om Nickol Bay, a port about 200 milrs N E. of North-west Cape, to Ceylon, aud to Singapore, en rouCc for China. The former will supply an alternate route between India and Australia, passing entirely throngh English turritory, aud considerably shorter than that at present in usi. The cost of cables and the difficulty of laying them ate so very much leas now than was the case eight years ago that it i 3 estimated the two proposed cables can be laid djwn for a million sterling. If so, the capital e nploycd will be very much less than that utili«-d by the Eastern Extension Company, and the prospects of a reduction in the present cxhorbitant rates charged to Australia and N'ew Zealand may perhaps be realised. Sir Julias Vogel, I believe, contemplat- s such reduction. He argues "The present cost of a word from Sydney to London is 10s 10.1, and it may be divided as follows : Sydney to South Australia, 3d ; South Australia to Por 1 : Darwin, Is 2d ; Port Darwin to India, 63 lOd; India to London, 2s Id. Tho first two items, amounting to Is SJ, will, if the scheme can be carried out on the bas.s proposed, be reduced to sd, and On the second item (6* 10.1) also, it is hoped, some redu tion can be made. It is also proposed to materially reduce Press rates. If the Eastern Telegraph Company can afford to c mcede to the Times and several other London dailies the right of sending messages from Cape Tow.a at Is a word, it is sur<dv most outrageous to charge the Australian Pr ss between 6s and 7s per word. Sir Julius, too, hai not the unreasonable antipathy to coding which the present monopolists profess, but wou'd allow codes to be used as readily as ordinary language. The di-taoce between Kickol Bay and Colombo i< about 3000 milos, and it is estimated nat these points could be connected for £700,0 :0. This amount is several hundreds of thousands less than the work could be -aud rt iken for eight years ago, but if a new Atl.i tic cable only costs £600,000 now, the estimate does not seem unreasonable. Theex«ct route to Singapore has not yet been decided upon, but it will probably be via the end of Java, which will necessitate a caole of 161S miles, ,If laid via the east end of Java, a cable of 1315 miles will suffice. ''UG a land line 600 m;les long ft'ill be ' required. The scheme has attracted a good deal of attention. Tho Economist considered that if the Eastern Extension Company desire to avoid the threatened competition, the best thing thev can do is to concert with the South Australian Government for an immediate and substantial r-duction of their tariff. It is unlikely that even this could deter Sir Julius Vog J, for h) would probably argue that if the public want the reduction to be maintained. they can only ensure that by encotiragin j c -mpetition. He is besides a great believer in the future of the huge western colony, and thinks that ere lons, to usa an Americanism, there will be a "great boom'' in Western Australia. He is interested in some very 1 >rge land speculations atEucla, which will ere long be placed upon the Stock Exehan e He is also concerned in soJie very extensive pastoral speculations in Central Australia, of which more will shortly be heard.