THE CABLE DISPUTE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7791, 10 November 1886, Page 5

THE CABLE DISPUTE.

The Melbourne Argus of the Bth has the following :—-'• The telegraph authorities in New Zealand are accepting the control of telegrams sent from Australia whether the terminal charge of 4s 6d, imposed by Sir J. Vogel, may have been collected on them or not. Mr. Durham has learnt that Victorian telegrams on which the New Zealand land rates have been paid, are being forwarded to their destination, but he has no intimation as to whether messages sent to New Zealand from New South Wales, on which the authorities of the latter colony have declined to collect such charge, are being detained in the New Zealand telegraph offices, or are being sent on to the receiver. Mr. Derham is particularly anxious to obtain information on this point, in order that they may adopt a course of action which will relieve the commercial community from the tax which would be placed upon it by the polioy adopted by Sir J. Vogel. He accordingly telegraphed on Saturday morning to Mr. Suttor, Postmaster-General of New South Wales, asking for particulars as to the ezaot position of affairs. He has since received a reply from Mr. Suttor, stating that Sir J. Vogel has not acknowledged the message from Sydney informing him that the New South Wales Government would not collect New Zealand terminal rates, and that therefore no fresh development of the difficulty had arisen. Mr. Derham feels that some decisive action must be taken to relieve the trade of the colony from the strain placed upon it by the conduct of Sir J. Vogel, and he hopes, with the co-operation of Mr. Suttor, to shortly initiate measures which will do away with the present difficulty. The South Australian Advertiser, referring to the cable dispute, says :—" Perhapa Mr. Pender has not at every stage of the negotiations shown perfect temper or entire ingenuousness, but on the whole his part of the correspondence contrasts most favourably with that of Sir Julius Vogel, whose spirit of overbearance and whose slipperiness are anything but creditable. He has persistently and unreasonably rejeoted every basis of settlement that has been proposed. The business of telegraphing is of too muoh public concern to allow the mere whims of an eccentric politician to dictate its terms, and the people of New Zealand have in this matter little for which to thank Sir Julius Vogel. It is not easy to see how the affair will end, but we shall be surprised if it is allowed to rest where it is."