IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 7 // (/ w- &?/ i/l :/. 1.0 I.I :: K iiiiM 1^ %^ lill|2.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 .4 6" — ► V r^^^ 4^A '•"'■ .%"" - ,• J*^'^ ■■ ;' V V ■'. -' ./- ■' "*r ' • '- ^""': . - ,' " ■^ ■ • Mx;- V ^ "l , ;i v''>'ir >■ ■ ,tiv. • .... .' ' ■\. r vx ■.••' - , . ■ . ■ 1 / .••' - -."*»?! i . > .v^; >T 1897.1 I'l'^'; ("'■ •«,.■ .A;'- 'JX'"^'' ,*■ .'i' ■ ■.t^U ' ':',< ■ '■i' i'V ,.!f;,-4^' '. ■-. ■ 1 V:^-.iV ■--" - - r ' * --V-, ■•.■ ■*■■ ■- /•■-.■ * ' ■»-.,■ . > ■ ;^- ViJ- - . , ■ ■'•■.' sf^rs' ■ ■ . ■■ ' ■w b''oll'--'^* ir''::''- ■-."K ^X^'^K.W'^^^ -^■. ^ '\. •■/V .'», »• <.r- ' ,.• . ■ ..■ ^■'«;?«-*/---''^'''' V ;,^'"'.v'. '. 1-: & ^.fv;-;' = ■ ^ , ] No been the a( the P ' best ) projec fi evidei ! roalisf no ni( ' ducte cheap /- graph almos Engli ' ; such - separj shouh „ _y a niessa '^^^1 throu ■a ties, coram ■^ acrosE theh; v"!^ ■ 1 "why ^ long .*'r^'"' Th the t the fi cable inten Cana ed in to J Boni chos( ■■". line to ^ ► 1 car 01 surv t ■ was too ., Fiel « com cab] con< ^ . of t visi ry '•f'v 1897.] • ::l:.*. -^:*g>^it tji tiog r^ -'T •^ m «i;?«warT»oi--T« 270 The All-British Trans-Pacific Cable. [Feb, named the Alert was offered, but was not accepted. Finally, Canada proposed to pay half the expenses of the survey, but even this offer was refused by the Liberal Govern- ment then in power. In 1887 the First Colonial Con- ference was held in London. In the previous year the Canadian Pa- cific Railway had been completed, and in a letter to her Majesty's Government the High Commis- sioner for Canada reopened the question of telegraphic communi- cation to Australia by that route. It was doubtless this letter which induced the Colonial Secretary, the Right Hon. H. E. Stanhope, in the invitation to the Confer- ence, which he addressed to the different Colonies, to mention im- proved telegraphic communication as one ot the leading subjects for discussion. In his statement to the Con- ference Mr Sandford Fleming, who was present as one of the Canadian delegates, gave his reasons for the importance of a Pacific cable, and combated the adverse criticism of the late Sir (then Mr) John Pen- der, who represented the companies owning the existing telegraph routes to Austrrlasia. Mr Sand- ford Fleming pointed out that the coral - reefs, which Mr Pender represented as forming such a difiiculty, lay in well - defined groups, which could easily be avoided. The ocean expanses be- tween them contained wide and uniform depressions very suitable for a cable. Finally, the existing tariff of 9s. 4d. per word to Aus- tralia, instead of 3s. 3d. by the proposed Pacific route, was alone sufficient reason for breaking up the cable monopoly to the East, even if the alternative route were not pronounced to be a necessity from an imperial point of view. Although the Postmaster-Gen- eral acknowledged that it was impossible to recognise the mono- poly which Mr Pender claimed, he declared that her Majesty's Govern- ment could not, by laying a Pacific cable, become a competitor with ex- istip/^f commercial enterprise. In consequence of this statement, the colonial delegates, realising that their Governments could not carry through the project unassisted by Great Britain, and relieved by Mr Pender's offer to substantially reduce the tariff on receiving a guarantee against half the loss incurred by the reduction, did not commit themselves to any more definite resolution than the follow- ing : " That the connection of Canada with Australasia by direct submarine telegraph across the Pacific is a project of high import- ance to the empire, and every doubt as to its practicability should without delay be set at rest by a thorough and exhaustive survey." A result of this resolution was a letter signed by all the delegates and addressed to Sir Henry Hol- land (afterwards Lord Knutsford), who succeeded Mr Stanhope as Secretary of State for the Colonies, respectfully requesting that her Majesty's Government would cause the survey to be made. The Secre- tary replied to the effect that un- less there was a prospect of the cable being laid, the Admiralty did not recommend despatching a vessel solely for the purpose. Correspondence was still kept up during the rest of the year by Mr Sandford Fleming on the subject, but nothing came of it. At the Postal Conference, however, held at Sydney in March 1888, the Governor of Victoria, in accord- ance with a resolution passed at it, telegraphed to Lord Knutsford, asking that the Admiralty should be moved to make an early survey for the Pacific cable, the cost of IVa»>fllM . i ni ii n i fn-i.if-a i f i n i^iia i« m- 1897.] The All-British Trans-Pacific Cable. 271 the survey to be defrayed by Great Britain, Canada, and Australasia. In reply Lord Knutsford said that the Egeria was about to survey the islands between New Zealand and Vancouver, and could be in- structed to take, in the course of her three years' work, soundings which would give some idea of the suitability of the sea-bottom for the laying of a cable. With the view of expediting the survey, Mr Sandford Fleming addressed a memorandum to Lord Stanley, Governor-General of Canada, who forwarded it to the Imperial Gov- ernment, but without result. A month or two later the total interruption of the two cables from Java to Port Darwin caused Aus- tralia to be cut off for ten days from telegraphic communication with the rest of the world. These two cables being in the vicinity of volcanic disturbances were liable to frequent rupture, and between 1880 and 1888 there had been no less than forty-one days of total interruption. The outcry which followed induced Sir John Pender to announce his intention of adding a third cable between Java and Australia. It was laid in the spring of 1890, but in July of the same year all three cables broke down ; and as the rate to England still stood at 9j3. 4d. per word instead of 3s. 3d. which the Pacific cable would aflbrd, the agitation for the latter was once more renewed. To do away with one of the arguments in favour of the rival route, Sir John Pender offered to reduce the rate to 4s. if Australasia would guarantee to the Eastern Extension Company half the loss to be incurred by the reduction. The Australian Colonies, including .Tasmania, were already paying to this company an annual subsidy of £36,600, and Sir John Pender's proposal made them liable to a further £60,000. This sum alone would pay the interest on the capital required for a Pacific cable ; but the prospect of its construction still seemed far distant, and Aus- tralasia, in her desire for immediate relief, was compelled to accept the terms. In May 1891 the tariff was reduced from 93. 4d. per word to 48., but the loss incurred by the Colonies during the first year was found to be so heavy that in January 1893 it was raised to 4s, 9d. By this politic reduction the supporters of the Eastern Extension Company calculated that they had laid the ghost of the Pacific cable for at least a dozen years. The fact of the shelving of the English scheme may have given a stimulus to the Ameri- can one, for the Albatross and Thetis, U.S.N., were commis- sioned in 1891 and 1892 to sur- vey the route between Honolulu and San Francisco. The report of their work showed an excellent bottom, barely exceeding in any part 3000 fathoms, but beyond furnishing useful information for the proposed British cable, noth- ing practical resulted from their survey. About this time another com- petitor, the French Pacific Com- pany, appeared on the scene, and in the early part of 1893 actually laid the first section of their cable from Queensland to New Cale- donia, the Queensland and New South Wales Governments agree- ing to pay a subsidy of £2000 each for a period of thirty years. As the cable was also subsidised by France, and completely under her control, the action of these two colonies was adversely criti- cised by the Home Government as well as by the rest of Aus- tralasia. K;';. C'^^^ J:^.^^-i ^trntm 272 The All-Jhitish Tram-Paeijic Cable. [Feb. In the same year the Canadian- Australasian stciamship service was inaugurated. The fact that Canada and Australia are in ditlerent hemi- spheres, and that the winter of the one is the summer of the other, pointed to a good prospect of trade in agricultural produce. In Canada during the winter butter was Is. Gd. per lb., while in Australia at the same time it was only 5d. There would be an almost equally good market for potatoes, apples, and eggs. Impressed with this fact, the Canadian Government, as early as 1889, offered a subsidy of £25,000 for a fortnightly steamship service ; but it was not till New South Wales was prepared to add an- other £10,000, and the service was made monthly, that any one could be induced to undertake the contract. The first steamer of the line, the Miowera, left Sydney for Vancouver in May 1893. In the following September the Hon. (now Sir) Mackenzie Bowell, the Canadian Minister of Trade and Commerce, left Vancouver on a mission to Australia to promote the extension of trade which the new line made possible. But as no steamship service can thrive unless the ports at which it touches are in telegraphic communication, the subject of the Pacific cable was also to be discussed, and in this connection the Minister was ac- companied by Mr Sandford Flem- ing. It was impossible in the short time at their disposal before the opening of the Canadian Parlia- ment to make a tour of all the Australian colonies, but such as they visited evinced great willing- ness to co-operate both in the mat- ter of trade and telegraphic com- munication. In order to obtain a definite expression of opinion from the whole of Australasia, it was proposed to hold a Conference at Ottawa in the following year. Before this met, however, the Intercolonial Postal Conference, held at Wellington in March 1894, showed that the Australian colonies were in earnest with re- gard to the Pacific cable, by pro- posing to guarantee interest at 4 per cent on a capital not exceeding £1,800,000 for fourteen years to any private company undertaking to lay the cable and not to charge more than 3s. per word for tele- grams to Great Britain. The Ottawa Conference was opened in June of the same year, and the subject of the Pacific cable was made of primary im- portance. The majority of the Australian colonies — including Queensland and New South Wales, who had bound them- selves to a subsidy for the French cable to New Caledonia — were strongly in favour of it. West Australia was not represented, and the delegate from South Australia, the Hon, Thomas Playford, al- though he declared that his Gov- ernment would not oppose the scheme, criticised it very freely. His attitude in the matter is explained by the fact that South Australia, at great expense, con- structed land - lines right across the. continent from south to north in order to make a junction at Port Darwin with the first cable laid from Java. The land -lines had always proved a loss, and if the Pacific cable were laid, the annual deficit would be still further increased. Against loss from this cause, however, the other colonies were prepared to indemnify South Australia. The first point that Mr Play- ford urged against the scheme was its impracticability, in sup- port of which he quoted a state- ment made by Mr Patey at the Colonial Conference of 1887, in which he mentioned depths of I man;i I must I the I line. ■"■■ • i the i Austl * twofd I tralia I layinj "I [Feb. , the rence, March iralian ith re- ly pro- ,t at 4 eeding iara to •taking charge 3r tele- ;e was iB year, Pacific ary im- o£ the icluding South [ them- French , — were ,. West ited, and Australia, ford, al- his Gov- pose the y freely, aatter is at South nse, con- it across to north action at rat cable and -lines as, and if laid, the be still linst loss ever, the epared to ),Ua. Mr Play- He scheme. , in sup- d a state- tey at the : 1887, in depths of 1897.] The All-British Trans-l'acijic Cable. 273 12,000 fathoms to be found in the Pacilic. Mr Patey afterwards withdrew the statement, admitting that he was in error ; and indeed up to the present time the deepest sounding in the world does not exceed 5155 fathoms. The second objection was based on the hydro- grapher's report of the project in 1887. In this report it was stated that, from an Admiralty point of view, the sole use of such a cable would be communica-tion with ships at Honolulu and Fiji, — an unimportant matter in times of peace, and during a war only important with regard to Fiji. From an imperial point of view it would be of little value, as in case of a breakdown occurring there would be no quick line of steamers to bridge across the broken section. In conclusion, it was argued that a single line of cable never paid commercially, that a very large subsidy would be required, and that if anything was to be done the existing route should be tripled. It must be remembered that this report was written no less than seven years before the Ottawa Con- ference, since which date the cir- cumstances atlecting the case had undergone considerable alteration. With regard to the strategical advantage of an All-British route there can be no question ; and as to the objection to a single line, even if it survived a declaration of war no more than a couple of days, the service it could render to the empire might represent many times its original value. It must also be remembered that the proposed cable is an additional line, and cannot but strengthen the present communication with Australia. In other woids, a twofold communication with Aus- tralia already exists, and the laying of a Pacific cable triples the telegraph service. The ad- verse charact(T of the Post Ofiice report in 1893 was felt by the Conference to be of greater weight. The total cost of the line according to their estimate was no less than £2,924,100. This was almost a prohibitive price, but the figures will be criticised later. Finally, there was the statement that no soundings had l>ecn taken between Honolulu and Vancouver, and that a survey was necessary before any decision could be ar- rived at. The apparent necessity for a survey seems to have prevented the Conference from formulating any definite plan for the construc- tion of the cable, and the follow- ing resolutions were the only re- sult of their deliberations on the subject: "That immediate steps should be taken to provide tele- graphic communication by cable, free from foreign control, between Canada and Australia ; that the Imperial Government should be requested to make, at the earliest possible moment, a thorough sur- vey of the proposed cable route, the expense to be borne equally by Great Britain, Canada, and Australasia; and that the Canadian Government be requested to ascer- tain the cost." The report of the proceedings by the English representative, the Earl of Jersey, appeared in De- cember 1894. The Report took a broad and liberal view of the situation ; but with regard to the statement that the long stretches of water between Vancouver and the Sandwich Islands or Fanning Island were virtually unexplored, it is curious that the soundings of the Albatross and Thetis in 1891 and 1892, which were pub- lished in 1893, should have es- caped the notice of the Conference. The discontinuance of the survey 274 The AU-Briti8h Trans- Pacific Cable. [Feb. by the Egeria, Lord Jersey re- marked, evoked from the delegates an expression of great disappoint- ment that the request of the Con- ference of 1887 had been so im- perfectly met. In connection with the necessity for a survey, he men- tioned the memorandum of Mr Alexander Siemens, which was received after the Conference had risen. In this memoranduin Mr Siemens gave it as his opinion that no special survey was neces- sary, a view confirmed by the other cable - manufacturing companies, who subsequently sent in tenders for the work. Coming to the cost of the cable. Lord Jersey quoted from Mr Sandford Fleming's memoran- dum, which put the whole sum roughly at X2,000,000. The in- terest on this capital at 3 per cent would be £60,000, the cost of working was estimated at £60,000, and the renewal fund at £32,000, representing an annual liability of £152,000. The earnings of the cable at 23. across the Pacific — reducing the rate between Aus- tralia and England from 4s. 9d. to 3s. 3d. — would in 1898 (supposing the cable to be opened in 1897) be £99,465, and in 1904 £153,023, thus producing in seven years a balance of receipts and expendi- ture. There would, consequently, be little or no loss to the con- tributing or guaranteeing Govern- ments. As to the question whether the cable should be laid as a na- tional undertaking, or by a com- pany with a subsidy or guarantee, the delegates were not unanimous; but in favour of the former it was urged that the expenses of promo- tion would be avoided, and the danger of amalgamation with exist- ing companies precluded. In conclusion, Lord Jersey said that with regard to the commercial value of the cable there was but one opinion, and that it was evi- dent the Colonies were most anxious to obtain it. lie closed his Report with the following words : — " Never, perhaps, in our empire's history has such an oj)])oitunity presented itself. Tlie ' passionate sentiment ' of Canada, as 8iv John Thoni]i8on so well described it, and the hopeful attachment of the growing colonies of Australasia and the Cape, turn eagerly at this time to the mother-country for some sign of her regard for their development. Their leading statesmen appreciate the value of the connection with (ireat Britain, and the bulk of their population is loyal. It is within the power of (ireat Britain to settle the direction of their trade and the current of their senti- ments for, it may be, generations. Such an opportunity may not soon recur, as the sands of time run down quickly. There is an impatience for action which would be tried by delay, and most sadly disappointed by indif- ference to the pro))osals which are now brought forward. A ready and generous consideration of them would be hailed, with intense satisfaction." The proceedings of the Ottawa Conference seem to have revived the project of the American cable to Honolulu, and in February 1895 the Senate voted £100,000 for the purpose. It was also ru- moured that France, Russia, and Japan would unite with America in carrying the line across to Japan. Russia is anxious to se- cure a route which will avoid British cables, while France de- sires a connection between New Caledonia and Honolulu vid her possession of Tahiti. In July 1895 the Liberal Gov- ernment, which had done little to assist the All-British scheme, was defeated, and when Mr Chamber- lain became Secretary of State for the Colonies, he announced in a letter that he had taken that post with the object of see- ing if something could not be 1897.] The All-British Trans- Pari fir Cahh. 275 done to bring the self-governing colonies and ourselves closer to- gether, and to develop the re- sources of the Crown colonies. The new Secretary did not lose any time in proving that he was in earnest. In November of the same year he received a deputa- tion of Australian agent-generals on the subject of the Pacific cable. In reply to their representations, he declared that the Imperial Government was willing to assist in the matter, and proposed a Commission, to be formed of two delegates from Canada, Austral- asia, and Great Britain respec- tively. These delegates were se- lected at the beginning of last year, and the first meeting of the Conference took place on June 5. Unfortunately the sittings clashed with the Buda-Pesth Telegraphic Conference, at which the Austral- asian delegates were representing their Governments, and as it was too late for anything to be done in Parliament with regard to the project before the end of the ses- sion, the Conference was adjourned till November 11, when work was resumed. The position as it now stands is a hopeful one for the immediate realisation of the All-Pjritish Pacific Cable scheme. The fact that France has already laid the Queensland- New Caledonia section, and that America, Russia, Hawaii, and Japan are ready to assist in lay- ing the San Francisco - Honolulu section, makes it imperative for the British project to be taken up at once if the French scheme is not to be the first in the field. As recently as December 2 the Minister of Commerce announced in the French Chamber of Depu- .ties that, with a view to maritime and national security, he would soon have to ask for a large sum towards telegraphic extension. It is extremely improbable tliat there will be enough trallic to support two cables between Australia and North America for some years to come, and priority is consequently all-important. That the Americans are fully alive to the situation can be seen from a recent speech of Vr Chauncey M. Depew at a meet- ing of the Nf^w York Chamber of Commerce. " No ))()wer can estimate," he Haid, "and no lanjiuage can adequately state, the benefits of a cable. C'oni- meice is revolutionised, coniniunica- tion between ditl'ereut parts of the earth is infinitely (luickeiied, and intel- li^'ence is widely disseminated. Peoj)le are benefited by cheaper living, better homes, hi<,dier thinking, broader edu- cation. Peace is j)ronioted among nations. The value of a cable lias been inestimable on the Atlantic side, and the same advantages will accrue to the Pacific coast of America, if a cable is laid with coniniunica- tions to China, .Japan, JIawaii, and Australia." The objections which were raised in past years against the British Pacific Cable scheme have been met one by one and overcome. The Eastern Telegraph Company, with its allied companies, has been active in raising these objections ; and the late Sir John Pender, chairman of this group of com- panies, in the interest of his shareholders, opposed the project with all his well-known energy and ability, belying for once his claim to be the leader of telegraph extension throughout the world. At first Sir John Pender contended that the cable could not be laid at all ; then, if laid, that it could not possibly pay ; finally, that if it had to be laid, his company should have a voice in the construction. There is no doubt that the Eastern and Eastern Extension Companies have rendered great service to India and Australia ; but they have not w 276 The All-Britiah Trans-Pacifw Cable, [Feb. neglected their own interests, and there is no reason why their mon- opoly should be extended in per- petuity. A scheme which secured their shareholders against actual loss by the laying of the Pacific cable would sulliciontly meet the case. It may not here be out of place to observe that in subsidies from the Australian Colonies, the East- ern Extension Company will have received by the year 1900 no less than ,£778,250, a sum exceeding the cost of two cables over the whole intervening distance from Asia to Australia. In 1893 the reserve fund of the company amounted to ,£G33,G8G, after pay- ing out of revenue the cost of new cables and cable- renewals to the extent of £1,100,685. These are large sums to be reali!>*'d out of revenue, in addition to dividends equivalent to 9 per cent on the capital, before it had been watered. The best of the various routes which have been proposed for the All-British Pacific Cable runs from Vancouver to Fanning T'^-'and, Fanning Island to Fiji, i iji to Norfolk Island, and from Norfolk Island in two sections, one to New Zealand and the other to Australia. Fanning Island is of coral forma- tion, and about ten miles long by four miles wide, with an excellent anchorage called Whaleman Bay, where ships of the largest class can lie. Its fertile soil produces bananas, figs, melons, and tomatoes in great abundance. In 1850 an Englishman, Captain Henry Eng- lish, settled there with about a hundred and fifty natives, and placed himself under British pro- tection. It has since been an- nexed to the Crown. The island was chosen as a landing-place for the cable on account of being the nearest British possession to Van- couver on the route to Australia. Tha distance between Fanning Island and Vancouver is 3230 miles, which with 10 per cent for slack will represent a cable of about 3560 miles. The longest cable that has hitherto been made is the Jay Gould Atlantic cable of 1882, which is 2563 miles long, or nearly 1000 miles shorter. The length of a cable in itself adds very little to the difficulty of lay- ing it from an engineering point of view, as it can be paid out in diffe'-ent sections, and if necessary from different ships, the section in one ship being spliced on to the buoyed end of a section laid by another. But the length of a cable make • all the difference in the speed of working it, and on this its com- mercial value depends. The speed varies inversely as the square root of the length, so that a type of cable which gives 40 words a minute for 2000 miles would only give 10 words a minute for 4000 miles. For a given length the speed of a cable varies inversely as the product of its copper resist- ance and electrostatic capacity, so that in order to get a high speed it is necessary to have a low copper resistance and capacity. The cop- per resistance — or the resistance which the conductor offers to the electric current— can be decreased by increasing the thickness or weight of the copper, while the capacity can in like manner be decreased by increasing the thick- ness or weight of the insulating covering, which is generally of gutta-percha or india-rubber. As, however, a pound of insulator or dielectric is seven or eight times more expensive than a pound of copper, it follows that the most economical way to construct a long cable so as to give a good speed is to increase the weight of the conductor without increasing the 1891 degH be nece| the rati(| to sami of eh gres thisl the I of lowl Gof Foi [Feb. 189; The All-lh-itiah Trans- I'arijli- Cable. 277 .•J2;J0 t for le of ngest mado ble of g. or TJio adds |f lay. nt of t in ssary n in the Id by weight of the insulator to an equal degree — taking care, of course, to be well within the limits of the necessary thickness for safety for the latter. Thus a core with a ratio of copper to dielectric of 3 to 2 or even 3 to 1 will give the same speed as a mucli larger core of equal weight, and will cost a great deal less. It was largely on this account that the estimate of the Post Oflice for the Pacific cable of £2,924,100 nearly doubled the lowest tender to the Dominion Government for the same route. For the Vancouver- Fanning h " id section alone a core of 79C lb. per mile of copper to ^)32 lb of dielec- tric would cost some £340,000 U.bk than the enormous and unw-eldy core of 940 lb. of copper to 940 lb. of dielectric which the Post Office proposed. Tli»i speed would be only 7 words per minute less — that is, 18 words instead of 25. In connection with a long sec- tion, however, it must be remem- bered that the increase in the weight of the core, in order to make it yield the same speed as a short section, adds considerably to the weight of the cable when sheathed. Thus the Anglo- Amer- ican Atlantic cable of 1894, with a core of 650 lb. per mile of copper to 400 lb. of dielectric — the heaviest core yet made — reached a total weight of 2 '01 tons per mile, or nearly double the ordinary deep- sea type. This wt'ght at a depth of 3000 fathoms entails a great strain on the cable when being heaved up to the surface for re- pairs ; but the modern type of sheathing, in which each wire abuts the next one so as to form a continuous archway, which re- sists the lateral pressure caused by a longitudinal strain, greatly minimises any chance of the core being damaged through this cause. Moreover, the method of taping and tarring each sheathing win separately, which was first intro- duced by the Silvertown Company, is an almost complete safeguard against weakness arising from rust. With regard to the nature of the ocean bed to be cros8(!d be- tween Vancouver and Fanning Island, the surveys of the Aloa- tross and Thetis prove it to be for a large portion of the distance a ' ^vel plateau barely exceeding in ay part 3000 fathoms. It will, in consequence, bo only necf isary foi' the 'hips of the company con- ' rar liig to lay the cable to survey •Tefuliy the landing-places at either end, and then to take a line of widely separated sounding along tlie intervening distance. The other sec oil ns present no special difficulties, and the line they take has already been fairly well sur- veyed. It only remains for the Imperial Parliament to sanction the carry- ing out of a project which the Col- onies have so much at heart. The liability incurred is insignificant. It consists of a third share of a capital of £1,600,000, which IMr Sandford Fleming calculates to be sufficient for the undertaking. The interest on £1,600,000 at 9\ per cent, together with any unforeseen expenses, would not amount to more than £45,000, which, with £30,000 for working expenses, makes a total of £75,000. The sur- plus of revenue over expendi<"ure for the first three years is estimated at £154,000. The contractor who lays the cable undertakes to keep it in repair for three years ; but after that the cost of repairs will have to come out of revenue, so that in the tenth year the total surplus will be £742,000, and the whole £1,600,000 would be paid off in twenty years without costing the taxpayers a single penny. The 278 The All-British Trans-Pacific Cable. [Feb. reduction of the tariff from 4s. 9d. to 3s. 3d. will effect in the first year a gross saving of £190,000 to Australasia and this country. From a strategical point of view the All-British Pacific Cable route is of incalculable importance to the Empire. The present lines to India and Australia are the following: — 1. Lisbon, Gibraltar, Malta, Egypt, and Red Sea. 2. France, Italy, Greece, Egypt, and Red Sea. 3. Germany, Austria, Turkey, Russia, and Persia. 4. Germany, Austria, Turkey, Russia, and the Pacific Coast. 5. Lisbon, and the West and East Coast of Africa. All these routes pass through foreign countries, and could at once be interrupted in case of war. The Russian journal, the * Novoe Vremya,' recently said : "In case of an armed conflict between this country and England, our first task would be to block England's communication with India and Australia." With good reason has Lord Wolseley con- demned the policy of trusting to the present telegraphic routes to the East as nothing less than suicidal. The wishes expressed by the Colonies at the two previous Col- onial Conferences met with no response from this country. It is to be hoped that the labours of the third will not end in an equally disappointing manner. All who attended the Ottawa Confer- ence, or read the report of its proceedings, cannot fail to have been struck by the deep feelings of regard which the delegates evinced for the mother - country. The "passionate sentiment of Canada," as Sir John Thompson, Premier of the Dominion and Pre- sident of the Conference, termed it, was no idle hyperbole. "On this happy occasion," he said, "these delegates assemble after years of self-government in their countries, of greater progress and development than the colonies of any empire have ever seen in the past, not to consider the prospects of separation from the mother- country, but to plight our faith anew to each other as brethren, and to plight anew with the motherland that faith that has never yet been broken or tar- nished." The hurricane of ap- plause which greeted this avowal proved that the speaker had voiced the sentiments, not only of Canada, but of all the colonies assembled there. The progress of Canada has been especially remarkable. It is not generally remembered that the first steamer to cross the Atlantic, the Royal William, was designed and built at Quebec by a Canadian. Almost thirty years ago the states- men of the various provinces had the foresight to unite in a federal Government, an example which the Australian colonies soon hope to imitate. In 188G the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed, a project which in its earlier days met with every discouragement, both from engineering experts, who declared that it could not be done, and from business men, who maintained that it would not pay for the grease of its wheels. This great work was carried out at the cost of £48,000,000, entailing an annual liability of £1,000,000 in perpetuity. Yet uhe expenditure was justified, as its revenue will prove. Since then Canada has busied herself with this other great pro- ject, which at first met with the same discourageuient. It is of 1891 hapi issu* thro beer cabl dev( evei \ !PliPiPW^W«*w»w" The All-British Trans-Pacific Cable. 1897.] happy augury for its successful issue that the man who carried through the railway scheme has been the chief promoter of the cable. After nearly twenty years devoted to the project, there is every prospect that Mr feandford Fleming will see his second great public undertaking successfully in- augurated. A well-known writer who resides in Canada has said, -Whenever the word empire is spoken, it creates a thrill in every British heart" The following extract from a speech by a prominent Canadian will show the sentiment of his countrymen in this connec- tion. Speaking of Great Britain, he said : — "Never since the world's history began has there been such an ex- ample of a country which has ex- 279 neuded blood and treasure to estabish ami strengthen her colonies, and then hand the heirship of them over to their inhabitants. To <-'^^i'f ^^^^^'^^f^ Britain handed over the fortre ses and Crown lan.ls and all the monej she had expended for a hundred years, without asking one penny in return ; and quite recently she handed over to a mere handful the colony of Western Australia-a country which may be valued by millions . ... My own impression is that there is not a man in Canada to-day who would not be prepared to spend his life and fortune to maintain the hon- our and dignity of this great empire. Imperial Parliament, let us hope, will prove that England heartily reciprocates this generous senti- ment, by readily accepting her share of an undertaking which will do more than anything else to strengthen the bonds uniting Great Britain and her colonies.