Untitled

Colonist, Issue 16, 15 December 1857, Page 1

marine communication. The line by this route being almost entirely submarine would no doubt be an expensive one, and the promoters of such a line must be pre-* pared with particulars respecting the soundings of the Indiag Ocean, and tlie suitability of its bed for the receptibn-of the line, before tjiey could expect to'Veceive any substantial assistance from any government,' Colonial or Imperial. A second line which appears to present even greater-facilities for this communication, would be via Cey- f lon, Sumatra and Java, Sandal_.W°o<i and Melville Islands, and Raffles Bay, on the extreme northern coast of the Australian continent. On the islands of Sumatra and Java the Dutch Government already contemplate the construction of a line of telegraph, which, when completed, will run in the direct course between India and the northern part of Australia. Sumatra extends 1000 miles In length from east to west, and' Java nearly 600 miles in the same direction, Java is a densely' populated island, '. its inhabitants numbering nearly ten millions: its people are docile, sober, and industrious, their occupation's being most' exclusively confined to agriculture, and the working in metals. In Sumatra the Dutch; (have* -obtained sovereignty over _. portion of its territory, more than. Jtjwreetimes >th^*atent of The ? '^kolV_gr___ii^^ and the ' 'Govemmentsrpossesse»'.«i^^ ' authority "-■ to Secure the"p*rdtection andflfafe custody of any telegraph ihey'^ffiay construct. The small islands which He' between the eastern extremity of Java and thf^western point of "North Australia;"?aighj£serve as useful stations for breaking the distance of the telegraphic communication; an3F in the event of any disruption or apciderl^ occurring, would afford facilities out more readily the injured part than if the line were one of several thousahds^f miles entirely submerged in the Indian/Ocean. That arrangements might b6 made^ith the Dutch Government for the use of the!line on their territory, there can be no reason to doubt. From Borneo to the north of Java, or Singapore north of Sumatra, communications might be held with -Australia and Hong Kong, and we may even look forward to the time when China ..will be opened to these electric flashes, which will afford the millions of the Chinese empire communication with the outer" w|rld of barbarians and those myriads of its population who are now at Singapore and Australia, seeking that fortune and those fields of enterprise which are denied to.them at home. Nature, in a peculiar manner, appears to have worked out a highway between India and Australia1,? in the same manner as she. has lafd 'i telegraphic plateau between Ireland an&Newfoundland. With comparatively small interruption, there exists a continuous line of islands along the southern point of the Archipelago, which lies between the southern point of the continent of Asia and Australia, which might serve for the reception of the telegraph. That a line will be completed to/Australia is an event of which we'cah entertain not the slightest doubt. Science has done its part in proving the connection possible along 3000 miles of wire; it remains only for capital and enterprise to complete the work. Governments may render some assistance to plans well conceived and digested, but Government patronage or favour will be thrown away and 4 serve only to retard progress of more, practical undertakings, if it be rashly bestowed" in support of schemes as, unsubstantial as Prospero's pagent on tlie Enchanted Isle. The Anti-Crinoline Association (Li r mited). —It is with no less pride than pleasure we announce the fact, that, fired with philanthropy and watered with the tears of joy and gratitude of gentlemen in general, and their own husbands in particular, a number of noble-minded and self-sacrificing ladies have associated for procuring the collapse of Crinoline, and imposing some restraint upon feminine extravagance. We understand that for this purpose it is proposed forthwith, to send a deputation to the Empress of the French, to whom, as Queen of the Fashions, it is believed Jwe mainly owe the long bills, which as husbands we are forced to pay for them. By pointing out'the sufferings both in purse and person which have been caused by Crinoline, it is hoped her Majesty may be induced to break off her adhesion to it, and conduct her fashionable government upon principles more moderate. If this be granted, we may look upon the air-expanded petticoat as being quite exploded, for the, game of follow-my-leader is nowhere played more regularly than in,the highest, or we should say 3 the broadest, fashionable circles. In case/Trowever, of the failure of the deputation, it is proposed to set on foot a Female Temperance Society, in which ladies of confirmed intemperance in dress may enrol themselves as members and take the pledge against extravagance. Lecturers will be despatched throughout the kingdom to advocate the cause of soberness in feminine attire, and will each be attended by a travelling assistant, who will exhibit herself nightly as a " frightful example" of the now besetting vice of overdressing. Statistics will be furnished of the fortunes which are lost in following the fashion, and of the families who have been reduced because the petticoats have not been; and whose present narrowness of means has mainly been induced by the wideness of their dresses. And, moreover, illustrations will be brought in the pictures of our ancestresses, whose costumes we were used to think the breadth of absurdity and only fit to figure in the broadest of broad farces; but which will be shown by comparative anatomy were structures "W monstrous than those which have been raised by their crinolineal descendants.— Punch. ' Arrival of Reinforcements at Macao.— borne two hundred and forty soldiers were added to the Macao garrison about a week ago, since which time nearly one hundred have beeVin the hospital, fliey got four dollars each on landing, and we suppose the soldier*' curse, shamshoo, and the unhealthy state of this part of China have led

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. (From the Australian and New Zealand Gazette.) The practicability of transmitting currents of electricity through long distances, by means of submarine wires, has very recently received additional confirmation from the experiments madi in connection with the Atlantic telegraph. It is much to be regretted that an accident, which might v have been avoided by increased vigilance anp! foresight, should have prevented the completion of the task of laying the telegraph from shore to shore,. There is however, in the fact that the line was laid successfully atvery great depths for a longer distance tjian any submarine telegraph has hitherto Been laid, and that constant communication was kept up with* the land through^ distance 61 several r srol^p_i^ot_____U__ 'which had been paid but, ground forconfi-" dently anticipating that: within a shorfi period every difficulty will have, be overcome, and a continuous line of telegraph .connect the old and new continents. While we see cause for rejoicing at the prospect of a speedy completion of laying the cable Westward, it is not less gratifying to find that attention is now very generally directed to the means of affording to our Eastern possessions corresponding advanvantages. Between the promoters of lines via the Euphrates Valley and the Red Sea, communication between England and her Indian Empire will undoubtedly soon be completed. India itself is already covered with a network of telegraphs. > _~.,- , In this state of things it is natural to look forward to the time when' Australia shall be brought close to the mother-; country by means of telegraphic communica-< tion. We perceive that some persons whose interest in the prosperity of Australia we would fain hope exceeds their geogra-n phical and political knowledge of^the polo-; nies, have presented a petition ito'_i functionary who does not exist* viz., # the Go-vernor-General of Van DiemanY Land,", praying that he will be pleased to submit to the Legislature of the colony of "Van Dieman's Land" a bill granting facilities and the exclusive rights for the construction, and a guaranteed minimum on $ie :! outlay required for the completion of a/direct independent line of submarine electric telegraph between Great Britain and the Australian colonies. The scheme .proposed is altogether too vague in its present shape to receive any practical consideratipn'tat the hands of any colonial or other: Legislature,; but the proposal may serveto*direcT attention to the feasibility of giving the Australian colonies the benefit of a line of telegraphic communication. The parties petitioning the Colonial Legislature in aid of their scheme have not yet taken even the most preliminary steps towards carrying out their views; the direction of the proposed line is not even hinted at, and the fact that the promoters selecting Van Dieman's Land, the most distant point of the Australian continent, as the terminus of a submarine line, betrays an amount of gross ignorance of geography which we should apprehend wi uld somewhat militate against the success of any application for assistance to. the Governments of Victoria orvNew South, Wales. It would afford us great pleasure to render every assistance in our power to some really bona fide scheme fOr extending telegraphic communication to Australia from India. The parties promoting such undertaking must not, however, present themselves either to the Imperial or Colonial Governments to supplicate assistance and exclusive rights for a plan which does not appear even to exist on paper. When the route for a proposed line has been fixed, it would, we apprehend, be necessary that an act of the Imperial Parliament should be passed, authorising the union of the various Australian colonies, for the purpose of rendering mutual assistance, and agreeing to an^uniform code of laws and regulations for the government, control, and protection of the lines of telegraph to be established. To suppose that the local Legislatures of Australia would blindly promise to guarantee s;x per ceht,v upon an indefinite amount of capital, and for a line which has not->been even marked on a map, to connect places of which the'promoters are so; lamentably ignorant, would be to assume an amount of recklessness on the part of those bodies which,We should regret to see existed in any persons presuming'to act for the benefit of any community. As. a straw may serve, however, to show the direction of a current, so this scheme; crude and vague though it be, shows how readily attempts will be made to carry out an undertaking destined to confer/the greatest advantages upOn our rising colonies of Australia. There are henceforth no physical difficulties which science will riot overcome in providing the links necessary to complete the chain of communication between England and Australia; S6 far, indeed, as Australia is concerned, unusual facilities would appear to exist for the economical construction of a line from Iridic Various routes might be suggested! From the southern point of Ceylon a line might belaid to the Cocos Islands, and thence to {I Cape Leuwin, in Western Australia. , This communication would, with the exception of the small islands; be entirely submarine, while the distance to be traversed between .east or west of the; islands would not be greater than that between Valentia and St. John's, Newfoundland. Western Australia would then have to be connected with the eastern colonies, either by overland or sub-.