D.—No. 3

ESTIMATE COST OF LINE TO BE CARRIED OUT IN TWO YEARS FEOM THE SIGNING OF THE CONTBACT. 1,855 knots of Main Cable, at £157 10s. per knots .£292,1.62 250 knots of Shore Ends, at £252 per knot . . 63,000 Insurance, 5 per cent, on £355,162 .... 17,758 Total Cost of Cable free on board in England, including Insurance during the voyage .... £372,920 8,000 tons of Cable conveyed to its destination in sailing vessels specially chartered and fitted with Wrought Iron Watertight Cable Tanks, Pumps, <fcc. 62,975 * One Steamer, 1,600 tons gross register, fitted with large Watertight Cable Tanks, with picking-uj) and paying-out Machinery ..... 40,000 Coals.—345 days at 25 tons per day — 8,625 tons, at an average of 50s. per ton .... 21,563 Wages, Stores, Provisions, Insurance, Special Stores, and Contingencies ...... 39,134 Total Cost and Working Expenses of Steamer . 100,697 Five Stations, with Furniture, Instruments, Land Line, and Salaries of Clerks during construction of Line 43,130 Engineering and Electrical Staff employed to superintend the manufacture in England, and to lay the Cable 34,217 Expenses of Management in England . . . 10,000 Total Stations, Salaries, and Management . 87,347 Interest daring Construction . . . 37,500 Reserve Fund 60,000 Total Cost of Line . . • . . 721,439 Say—Total Capital .... £725,000 * This Steamer will take out 1,000 tons Cable; Coals during the outward voyage and laying the cable, in all, 345 days at 25 tons per day = 8,625 tons, at an average of 50s. per ton. Note.—The above estimate is £15,000 in excess of that furnished you on 22nd November last. The excess is due to the late rise in the price of Gutta Percha, which, however, may not be maintained. MAINTENANCE PER ANNUM. £ 5 Stations, including general Superintendence . . ] 5,000 * Annual cost of Steamer and Stores .... 7,500 Direction and Home Expenses, with Engineer . . 5,500 Eemoval Fund 10,000 Total £38,000 FOKDE AND FlEEMING JeNKIN. 6, Duke-street, Adelphi, London, 5th March, 1863. * This amount of £7,500 is only one-half the total cost of keeping a Steamer on the Station. The remaining half of the cost is chargeable to the Rangoon-Singapore and Siugapore-Batavia Sections.

No. 8. MR. F. GISBOR2JE TO GOVERNOR SIB GEORGE GREY, K.C.B. 6, Duke Street, Adelphi, London, 25th March, 1863. Sir,— Since writing to you on the 19th instant, the enclosed letter, dated on that day, has been received by Sir Charles Nicholson from the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. You will observe that the Treasury undertake to deal with the question at once. I have been asked why the Queensland land line to Gulf Carpentaria, if adopted, should not be carried on to Port Essington, making that the terminus of the sea line. My answer has been that the intermediate country is not settled, and that so important a communication as that between Australia, India, China, and Europe cannot be left to depend upon a line of Telegraph which would

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TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION.