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The first plan : Each Board to take means through an efficient staff of paid officers to collect information of general interest desirable to be made known in distant parts. Such information, after being arranged and properly edited for publication, to be regularly transmitted by telegraph and made available for the Press throughout the Empire free of charge. The second or alternative plan is to leave the question of the supply of news within the Empire in the hands of the Press, as at present, and to encourage and secure the transmission of a copious supply of desirable information by lowering the Press charge to a merely nominal rate. I am reminded that this principle is already adopted in the United Kingdom, where the Press rate is reduced to less than |d. per word (Is. for 100 words) for any distance. This reduction is made purely in the interest of the general public, and it seemes to me that the same principle may with inestimable advantage be applied to the infinitely larger area of the British Empire by means of the globe-girdling Tmperial-cable system. The second plan, if not so comprehensive as the first, would, if adopted, indefinitely widen the present most restricted and meagre scope of the Press cable service throughout the Empire. It would leave the question of selection of news in the hands of those well fitted for the duty. By promoting emulation among representatives of the Press, it would pave the way for a daily review, in many instances, of the progress of events and occurrences in the sisterhood of British States, which would do more than any other agency to foster an intelligent intimacy, mould a broad public opinion, promote mutual sympathy, and present the Empire as a living reality to all. The two plans have each distinct merits. While the first would best meet the needs of much of the outer Empire, the second would probably better suit London and the populous colonial capitals ; it would likewise, as it appears to me, remove every difficulty raised by the various speakers on the 20th ultimo in respect to the selection of matter to be transmitted for publication. I incline to the opinion that the merits of both suggestions should be secured by a combination of the two plans, but this is a point which can be determined by a joint committee duly appointed, or by the Boards of Control when they come to be constituted. Empire Gables and Cable Companies. A girdle of State cables, to knit together great regions under the British flag which are separated by the oceans of the globe, cannot be established without affecting to some extent the operation of cables laid by private companies. In a case such as that of the cable now laid between Australia and South Africa, where the route of the State cable would be parallel, the interference ma)< be serious to the company. In this case the company should be dealt with in the most liberal spirit, and their cables available for that portion of the globe-encircling chain should be purchased at their full value for the use of the State. The remaining cables of the company would remain to be utilised in the mutual interchange of traffic under arrangements to be agreed upon. In respect to this question it will always be borne in mind that the object of the Empire cables is not competitive; that the primary object is the solution of a great Imperial problem; and that many far-seeing men are of opinion that a solution will not be achieved by any other means. If, as in the case of the Pacific Cable Board and the Eastern Extension Company, there be some clashing of public and private interests, the incident is unavoidable, and in the end the interests of the Empire must prevail. The Pacific cable should be regarded as the initial link of the globegirdling'chain, and it can never be forgotten that its establishment was determined on by six British Governments, that the deed of State partnership was executed on the last day of the century, and that this inheritance from the Victorian era is pregnant with beneficent consequences to coming generations. In my letter to Lord Elgin, which I have already mentioned, the matter is referred to. The whole subject is also exhaustively dealt with in a little book (" The All-Red Line") recently published by Edward Stanford, Long Acre, London. In chapter IX Dr. Morse specially considers " Imperial Partnership in a Cable System." The Canadian parliamentary returns, Nos. 67 and 67a, issued a few weeks ago, contain a number of documents in which the subject is discussed; on page 34 will be found a paper on State cables and cheap telegraphy as aids to Imperial consolidation, and much information will be found on pages 41 to 50, embracing the papers circulated over the world by the Ottawa Board of Trade. Again, the subject is considered in a memorandum included with the proceedings of the Conference, of Premiers in 1902 (page 146), presented to the Imperial Parliament by command of His Majesty. To all these I would wish to direct attention in order to make plain the position of the companies and their relation to the present proposal respecting the establishment of the Empire cables. Estimate of Cost. The capital required to establish the globe-encircling Imperial-telegraph system now proposed is estimated to be within £5,000,000. This sum does not include the Pacific cable (which may be regarded as a section of the whole system), extending from Canada to New Zealand and Australia, already established. As pointed out in my letter to Lord Elgin, the sum named includes a national cable across the Atlantic and a nationalised land line through Canada. These, together with the Pacific cable, will connect London with Australasia by a continuous line of telegraph directly under State control. The estimate includes an expenditure of £1,750,000 to establish Empire cables in the Indian Ocean as the means of connecting India and South Africa with Australia and the Pacific cable. It includes also £2,250,000 to establish cables in the Atlantic Ocean for the purpose of connecting South Africa with England by way of the West Indies and Bermuda, thus completing the Empire-girdling State-owned telegraph system. Since my arrival in London I have had the estimate examined by capable experts, whose calculations go to show that £5,000,000 is ample.

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