ANOTHER STRAND.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 12956, 15 January 1913, Page 7

ANOTHER STRAND.

IN THE IMPERIAL BOND. AUCKLAND-SYDNEY CABLE. (Per Frees Association.) AUCKLAND, last night. The completion of the laying of the direct Sydney to Auckland cable was to-day commemorated at the Town Hall, when a. number of leading citizens asMl liio I'in.iiic C'aoio iiuaid. iur Juan Milward (Australasian manager) presided, and those present included the Post-master-General, Hon. R. H. ; Rhodes, the Mayor (Mr C. J. Parr) and others. In proposing the toast of the Post and Telegraph department coupled with the name of Hon. R. H. Rhodes, the chairman said that nowhere in the world did the population enjoy greater benefits in the way of postal and telegraph facilities. New Zealand, in fact, in his opinion, . possessed the cheapest and best telegraphic service in the world. The Hon. Mr Rhodes, in reply, said he realised the truth of what Mr Milward had said, and readily admitted that all the credit there was had to be laid at the feet of his predecessors, and most of all to Sir Joseph Ward. The Minister paid a tribute* to the very fine work done by the Department and its staff in New -Zealand. In proposing the toast of the Pacific Cable Board the Postmaster-General said that he had to admit that it was only since taking office that, he had taken a stimulated interest in cable matters. They knew that the entry of the Cable Pacific Board into the cable business had been welcomed as' breaking up on existing mono'poly. Speaking of the cable work of the future he said that to lay an independent cable across the Atlantic would be the final link in the State-owned cable. The Hon. Mr Frazer, Postmaster-Gen-eral of the- Commonwealth, was to meet him in Wellington shortly to further discuss this question. Canada, of course, was every bit as much interested, and he hoped that ere long something definite would be done in regard to an Atlantic cable. Then there was the problem of wireless developments, and as long as distance trials succeeded there would be an increasing possibility of making a greater use of the wireless system. The Minister concluded with complimentary reference to the part Sir Joseph Ward and Sir Sandford Fleming had played in securing the- Pacific cable, and offered his hearty congratulations to the Pacific Board on the completion of the direct cable to Sydney. Mr Milward, in responding to the toast, said he would like' to draw attention to the fact that the laying of the Pacific cable was undertaken by a unique partnership , of the Imperial, the New Zealand, the Australian, and the Canadian Governments. It represented what' might claim to be the earliest attempt to embody in concrete 1 form the principle of co-operation between the Mother Country and the Dominions in regard to practical matters of common Imperial interest. The original capital of £2,000,000 was advanced by the Imperial Treasury, and was being repaid from the revenue earned by the cable in fifty years by instalments of £77,000. In addition the revenue was expected to provide £33,000 per annum towards the renewal fund, besides paying all working expenses. This meant that within 50 years the original capital, with interest, would have bee,n repaid and the sum necessary to lay a second cable throughout would have accumulated. ALL-RED CABLE. Continuing Mr Milward dealt briefly with the three principal aims of the cable. The first was to provide, an alternative route between the Motherland and the more outlying parts of the British Empire in times of national danger. The second was to bind more closely together the parts of ihe Empire that up to that time had no direct telegraphic communication — especially Canada and Australasia. The third object was to give commercial communities of Empire the advantage of some competition in the cable business. The new cable between Sydney and Auckland, added Mr Milward, besides providing a very much quicker, and more reliable service between Australia ajid J New; Zealand generally and duplicating connection, would, it was hoped, reduce working • expenses 'by cutting out one or two transmissions. Similar Denefits would result from the new cable laid from Auckland to Doubtlesß Bay, which enabled them to cut out that station etriirely. The Mayor responded to- the toast of "The Guests." v

Mr W. A. BeSdoe tCanadian Trade Commissioner) said be felt proud on this occasion to represent the Canadian Government, because they owed it primarily to the far-seeing Imperialism of , Canadians that the Pacific, cable, wias completed and to the enterprise of Sir &mdford Fleming, who was known as the father of the Pacific cable. He made the first overtures to the Canadian Government in 1879, when ,he submitted to them a scheme for "spanning the Pacifio Ocean by a cable wnich, in connection with the overland telegraph, of the Canadian-Pacific railway (of which he wias chief engineer) would complete the , electric girdle of the globe and bring Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India into unbroken touch, without passing over foreign territory. Sir Sandford Fleming was still hale and hearty in his 85th year,-> and had lived to see his dream realised.

Mr Beddoe addded that he had just sent away the following cable to his Government at Ottawa: — "Have participated, in function opening direct Pacific cable Auckland to Sydney. Another strand in the Imperial bond." . Referring to the commercial aspect Mr Beddoe said the Pacific cable kid played a very important part in bringing the Canadian market within reach of New Zealand produce. The distance wias too great to enable business in perishable products to be arranged by mail, and without the cable trade could never have developed to its present magnitude between the two countries. (Applause.)