THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1896

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10033, 21 January 1896, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1896

The colonics have good reason to be gratified at tho decisions arrived at by the Cable Conference, which has just concluded its sittings at Sydney. There can be little doubt that the route selected for the Pacific cable by the representatives of the various Australasian colonies will be accepted by the Imperial Colonial Conference soon to be held at London on the invitation of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, inasmuch as the particular track of the cable, and more especially on this side of the Pacific, concerns the colonies almost exclusively, and must bo a matter of indifference to either England or Canada. The route then selected by the Conference at Sydney may be regarded as the final selection, and it is particularly gratifying to us to know that it is exactly the route which we have advocated in these columns as being in every way the most desirable of the eight different tracks proposed at the Ottawa Conference,' and for which tenders were called by the Canadian Government by request of the Conference. The route selected is from Vancouver to Fanning Island, thence to Fiji, thence to Norfolk Island, where the cable is to fork, one branch going to New Zealand and the other to Moreton Bay. It will be seen from tliis that the principle laid down by the Ottawa Conference, that the cable should touch only at British territory, has been carried out, the wisdom of which lias been abundantly confirmed by incidents that have occurred since the meeting of that Conference. The route selected is the most expensive of all those submitted, but the difference in cost over all others that were at all eligible, is more than compensated by several advantages exclusively its own. In the tenders received by the Canadian Government, and which included in their terms the survey of the route, the construction and the laying of the cable, and its maintenance in working order for three years, an offer was made by the India Rubber, Gutta Percha, and Telegraph Works Company at the cost of £1,517,000; another by Henley's ; Telegraph v ' Work 3. Company, ' £1,826,000 , another by Siemen'. Brothers and Com- >■ v, - i

pany, £2,170,000'; " and a fourth, from" the TFowler-Waring Cable Company, £2,350,000, As the lowest tenderer in this case, as in the case of all this other routes proposed, is a powerful and substantial company, the'' 5 sum stated may be regarded as about the cost at which the 1 cable 'can bo : supplied iii full working order. "The route selected is the only one of all that wholly avoids foreign territory, and 0116 of 'the principal causes of its greater cost is the length' of the'stage between Vancouver and Fanning Island, this great stretch of cable in one span- •necessitating difference in construction. But as compared with the routes showing 'any material difference in cost, this track lias the advantage • of lying in the line of the" ' routes of' commerce by Fiji, etc., instead of through such groups as the Solomon and Gilbert Islands, and tii4 further advantage of' equally serving New Zealand and the Continental colonies by branch lines from Norfolk Island. The importance of out being placed in communication with Fiji is manifest,'while the connection of Norfolk Island with Australia and New Zealand by the forking of the cable gives us the 'advantage of a second cable connection between New Zealand and Australia. For so immaterial "is 'the" detour "by Norfolk Island, that cable messages between Australia and New Zealand may be as conveniently sent by Norfolk Island as by the direct cable from Wakapuaku to Sydney. The advantages of an alternative cable across Tashiaii Sea will be appreciated in both New Zealand and Australia, and will add to the popularity of tlie route adopted by tlie Conference for the Trans-Pacific cable.

Another satisfactory feature' in the proceedings of the Sydney Conference is the decision to pool the cost of the South Australian overland telegraph line, as a common charge to the Australasian colonies. This is desirable as much as an act of justice to South Australia as it is in the interests of the Australasian concert. The" Province of South Australia exhibited a high degree of public spirit in undertaking singlehanded to erect this line for the purpose of completing the connection of the telegraph systems 'of the Eastern colonies with the cable at' Port Darwin ; and it would be inflicting an undeserved wound oil one of the sisterhood of States, if by a combined effort of the other colonies the trade was so diverted to another cable route as to leave the overland line a ■ profitless burthen oii South Australia. The division of some half a million sterling of liability will not materially increase the burthens of the other colonies, and it will maintain the federal spirit which ought to actuate the colonies in relation to one another. This sum will scarcely be included in the fund to be provided for the Pacific cable service, but can be more conveniently allocated among the colonies as a, separate account'; unless the idea is carried out, of including the purchase of the Eastern Extension Company's cables, along with the Pacilic cable in one common cable enterprise encircling the globe. This would complete the work in its most perfnet form, and it is doubtful if it would not be the cheapest as well as the most efficient iii the end, enabling the co-operating Governments to operate the cable service in the manner most profitable to he undertaking itself, and most beneficial to the public. The one question Unit is still undecided is as to the manner in which the money is to be raised for the construction of the trans-Pacific cable. Will it be by a private company with Government guarantees of interest on outlay ? or will the capital he obtained oil the joint security of the Governments of the several Australasian colonies, of Canada, and of England? That the latter would be the cheaper method of obtaining the money goes without saying ; and that the cable service would be in every way more efficiently and satisfactorily conducted, if the line is owned and worked by the Governments, as our land services in the colonies are worked, wo have no hesitation iii expressing our belief. We regard this as one of the most important questions in connection with the project, and though the Conference would not have been competent to determine a question of this kind finally, it would have been more satisfactory if it had arrived at some preliminary expression of opinion on the subject. It lias been strongly expressed by Canada as desirable that the Trans-Pacific cable should be owned and worked by the associated Governments or their representatives, and if the Australian Governments favoured the same view, there is little doubt the acquiescence of England would have been obtained. Apart from the immediate benefits it would bring in the cheapness and efficiency of the service/it would have given a concrete form to the idea of Imperial unity, presenting for the first ti|iie to the eyes of the Empire and to the eyes of the foreigner, the practical union and co-operation of England, her dominion and her colonies, in a common liability and a common enterprise,