THE PACIFIC CABLE

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1628, 13 May 1903, Page 69 (Supplement)

THE PACIFIC CABLE

THE CUTTING OF RATES.

PACIFIC BOARD STARTS CANVASSING.

The cutting of the cable rates since the opening of the Pacific cable and tho steps taken by tho Eastern Extension Telegraph Company to retain its share of the public business have been the subject of comment on many occasions up to tho present. The directorate of the Pacific cable has been frequently urged, particularly by chambers of commerce and other bodies having a knowledge of the conditions on which the cable was constructed, to take steps to protect itself against the competition of the Eastern Extension Company, and to secure as large a share as possible of the cable work. At length the Pacific Board has been forced to taking the necessary action, and the Board has requested the Postmaster-General (Sir Joseph Ward) to place one or two of the department’s officers at its disposal for canvassing purposes.

The department has furnished us with a number of figures which, besides being of great public interest, clearly demonstrate the duty of all colonials to support the Pacific Cable Board by using tho new line. New Zealand has a share of one-ninth in tho Pacific cable, and is consequently liable to payment of upwards of £IO,OOO should the loss on the first year’s working reach the estimated amount, viz.. £94,000. It is, therefore, to thS advantage of every taxpayer in the colony that the Pacific cable should be utilised to its utmost capacity, and it is almost a duty on the part oi senders of cablegrams to support tho line. It is also a duty to support an institution that has caused enormous reductions in cabling rates, and that offers the most expeditious mode of transmission.

Prior to tho advent of the Pacifio cable, reductions in tho cable tariff had always to be preceded by an undertaking on the part of the colonial Governments to indemnify the Eastern Extension Company against loss of revenue. For instance, when the rate to Europe was reduced in 1393 from 10s 2d to os 2d per , word, a guarantee was given that the 1 revenuo derived from international cablegrams should amount to £237,736 ' per annum. The amount of the guaran-j tee was reduced in 1895 to £227,000. j When the Wakapualca-Sydncy cable was j opened in 1876, a subsidy of £SOOO for j ten years was required. In 1893, on a j guarantee that the receipts from that, cable should not be less than £26,258 j per annum, the cable rate to Sydney was | reduced. 'Subsequently, in 1895, thej amount of the guarantee was reduced to j £20,000. On the expiration of these agreements, however, the company initiated a 3d 5

word rate from Wakapuaka to La Perouse, thus increasing the cost of a 10» word message to Australia by 6d. Be* tween the years 1893 and 1900 New land paid £19,074 9s 7d, or practically £20,000, to the Eastern Extension Company on account of guarantee agreements.

When tho Pacific Board commenced business in April, 1902, the rates to Australia, by either route, were reduced as follows: —New South Wales sd, Victoria 6d, Queensland 6d, South Australia 6d, Western Australia Gd, all reduced to 4£d per word; Tasmania Bd, reduced to sfd per word. The Fanning Island-Vancouver section of the Pacific =eable was opened for traffic on December 8, 1902, the rate to Great Britain being fixed at 3s a word*. The Eastern Extension Company immediately reduced its rate to . the .same figure, having a few months previously reduced it to 3s 4d a word. As an additional advantage, the Pacific Board allows senders to insert free of charge the name of the country or State in case of doubt owing to the duplication of names of stations.

Turning to the question of time, the Eastern Company a few months ago took about six hours in transmitting a message to London. The average time at present based on cablegrams received during the past few weeks, is as follows Pacific, 3 hours 3min; Eastern Extension, 4 hours 34min. A file of messages from London to' Auckland 1 , Christchurch, Dunedin and Wellington was taken promiscuously on four days last month, and they gave the following results: —Average time—Pacific, 2 hours 56min; Eastern, 4 houirs 30min. Longest time —Pacific, 4 hours 44mm; Eastern, 6 hours 13min. Shortest time —Pacific, 1 hour 39min ; Eastern . 3 Hours 15min. The service to and from Australia is much quicker since the opening of the Pacific cable, and the major portion of the Australian-New Zealand traffic reaches its destination well within the hour.

The present daily average of cablegrams from and to New Zealand is 60C, of which 400 are dealt with by the Pacific and 200 by the Eastern Extension. Under the old cable rates last year’s business would have cost approximately £132,2.96. Owing to the reductions in rates consequent upon the opening of the Pacific cable, tho amounts actually paid for transmission approximated £99,870. Therefore, the amount saved by users of the cable totalled £32,426. The business during the present calendar year will probably result in grass receipts of £BB,OOO. The same volume of traffic under the old rates would have yielded about £142,000, and would thus have taken about £54,000 more out of the pockets of users of the cable. The step of canvassing for business has been forced on the Board as a measure of self-protection and to conserve its own interests. The Postmaster-General concurs in this action, and the first steps were taken in Wellington yesterday. The other centres of the colony will follow in the course of a day or two.