F.—B
14
Appendix to the Above Letter.
Estimated value of the cables of the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company, calculated on the data furnished by Mr John Pender, Chairman of the company-namely, original cost per mile, £184, and life of cable twenty years. The lengths of cable laid are taken from the official documents of the company
Similarly the value of the property in the three following years has been ascertained to be as follows:— 12,035 miles of cable, value in 1888 £849,473 12,035 „ „ 1889 .. 738,751 11,855 „ „ 1890 .. 629,685
No. 24. The Agent-Geneeal to the Hon. the Premieb. Westminster Chambers, 13, Victoria Street, London, S.W., 4th September 1894. (Memorandum.) The Pacific Gable. I beg to transmit herewith extracts from The Times relating to the proposed construction of a Pacific cable to Australia and New Zealand. On inquiry at the Canadian Office I am informed that copies of the specification have been sent to New Zealand, from Canada, for the information of the Government. Walter Kennaway, The Hon. the Premier, Wellington. For the Agent-General.
Enclosure 1 in No. 24. The invitation of the Canadian Government to cable-manufacturing contractors to tender for the construction of a Pacific cable has now reached this country, accompanied by the specification of the conditions under which the proposed cable is to be made. Three different forms of establishing the cable are put forward, and tenders are invited under any one of them. Under Form Ait is proposed that the cable should be owned and controlled by Government, worked under Government authority, and kept in repair by the contractor for three years , under Form B the cable is to be owned, maintained, and worked by a subsidised company ; under Form C the cable is to be owned, maintained, and worked by a company under a Government guarantee. Form A requires contractors to state the lowest cash price for which they will be prepared to supply and lay the cable and the annual payment for which they will maintain it in efficient condition for three years after the whole line shall have been completed and put in operation. Form B requires the contractors to find the capital for, establish, work, and maintain the cable in efficient condition, for a subsidy to be paid to them annually for a term of years by the contributing Governments. The offers are to state the amount of subsidy to be paid and the number of years for which it will be needed. The maximum rates to be charged on messages between Great Britain
OS [an ien an ears su 'merge* Value in 1887 H3 180 2,409 2,721 1,283 864 2,444 529 920 502 180 1869 1870 1871 1876 1877 1879 1880 1883 1884 1885 18 17 16 11 10 8 7 4 3 2 & 3 312 66,488 100,243 106,232 79,488 269,818 63,269 163,024 78,513 29,808 12,035 960,195