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l<)

n,.<

ROYAL COLONIAL INSTITUTE.

The Institute an a body is not respoyisible either for tJie statements made or for
the opiriions expressed by Authors of Papers, dc.

■w

To he read at a Meeting of the Boyal Colonial Institute, to he held
ai the Whitehall Rooms, Hotel Mdtropole, Whitehall Place, on
Tuesday, May 8, at 8 p.m., the Right Hon. the Makquis op
LoRNE, K.T., G.C.M.G., in the Chair.

CANADA IN RELATION TO THE UNITY OF
THE EMPIRE. ,

By the Hon. Sir Charles Tupper, Bart., G.C.M.G., C.B.

The most imnortant event of recent years conducive to the unity
of the British Empire was, in my opinion, the Confederation of
Canada. Dovi'n to that period British North America was com-
posed of five isolated provinces, and the great Rupert's Land was a
howUng wilderness, occupied hy 25,000 savages, and the home of
the hufTalo, The provinces were separated by hostile tariffs, with
no common interests and no means of inter-communication by
railway. The Great North-West, declared by Lord Dufferin to be
capable of providing happy homos for 40 millions of people, was
separated from the older provinces by a thousand miles of wilderness
and by the Rocky Mountains from the Province of British Columbia.
All this has been changed. These isolated provinces, separated
from the Republic to the south by an invisible line of from 8,000
to 4,000 miles in extei't, have been united under one strong Federal
Government, and bound together by a great trans-continental rail-
way from Halifax on the Atlantic Ocean to Vancouver on the
Pacific.

Another important event conducing to the unity of the Empire

rv, " . v/

>.,..^

■ ■

■ m

ig about to take place. A Conference i? to be held at Ottawa, oil
June 21 next, which will be attcncloJ by representatives of the
Governments of Australia and New Zealand, and of the Imperial
Government, and possibly of the South African Governments, for
the purpose of considering the best means of drawing tliose great '
outlying possessions of the Crown into closer trade relations with '
each other and with Great Britain. A deputation of the reprejon-
tativea of Australasia, South Africa, and Canada recently had the
honour of an interview with the Earl of Rosebery and the Marquis
of Ripon on this subject. They stated that Canada had agreed to-
give a subsidy of £175,000 a year to a fast steamship service between
England and Australasia vid Canada, and would give substantial '
supp irt to a cable from Vancouver to Australia, and that these sub-
sidies would be largely supplemented by the Governments of Aus-
tralasia; and they asked for the co-operation and aid of her Majesty's
Government to these services, on the ground of their great political,
strategical, commercial, and defensive value.

The deputation was assured that their representations would
receive the most careful consideration of the Government, and that
a representative would be sent to attend the Conference at Ottawa.
This movement has received, as might naturally be expected, the
hearty support of a large portion of the Press of this country.

Many persons have been surprised to find that Sir John Colomb,
who has professed to be a friend of the unity of the Empire, has
assumed a position of hostility to these proposals. I confess that I
did not share that surprise, as I had long since learned that that
gentleman was apparently not well-informed of the extent to which
the great Colonies have rendered yeoman service to the defence of
the Empire — unless, as Sir John Colomb seems to think, the term
Empire applies only to Great Britain. As this is a question of much
moment, permit me to draw attention briefly to some of these
services.

A few years ago every important town in British North America
was garrisoned by British troops. To-day not one of them is to be
found in that country, except at Halifax, where a small force is
kept for strategical purposes.

When Canada purchased the North-West Territory from the
Hudson Bay Company, Lord Wolseley was sent with Imperial troops
to put down a rebellion. When a subsequent rising, under the
same half-breed leader, Riel, took place, it was suppressed by
Canado, without the cost of a shilling to Great Britain.

The Government of Canada has expended on —

■ ;

An Inter-Oceanic Railway
Canals ....
Deepening the St. Lawrence
Graving Docks.
North -West and Lands .
Indians (20 years) .
North-Westllebellion .
British Columbia Fortifications

And expends annually on —

Militia . . . .

Mounted Police

British Columbia Garrison ....
Eight steamers coast service
Subsidy China and Austral, steam service .
Subsidy pledged to Atlantic steam service .
Interest at 4 per cent, on ^213,840,000

Or about £2,Zd%,\A0 per annum.

120,00u,000

60,000,100

3,384,000

2,700,000

7,000,000

13,500,000

7,000,000

256,000

213,840,000

1,340,000
625,000
47,500
172,000
200,000
750,000

8,5$«,«00

ll,6fe,#00

9g ,1

This is irrespective of the annual cost of maintenance of 741 light-
houses, ;^450,O0O ; immigration expenses, ^200,000 ; and expenditure
connected with Indians, ^959,804.

This expenditure secured the construction of a great trans-conti-
nental line of railway, bringing England twenty days nearer to Japan
than by the Suez Canal. It has provided an alternative line to India,
upon which Great Britain may have to depend for the security
of her possessions in the East. It enables her ships of war to reach
Montreal, and her gun-boats to go to the heart of the continent
at the head waters of Lake Superior. It provides graving docks at
HaUfax, Quebec, and Victoria ; extinguishes the title of the Indians,
and provides for their civilisation at a cost of nearly a million
dollars a year ; opens to British settlement the great North-West,
where every eligible immigrant is entitled to a free grant of IGO
acres of land ; maintains a permanent defensive force, and trains
38,000 volunteers, and provides a garrison for the fortifications of
British Columbia. Included in this are the subsidies for the
Atlantic and Pacific steamers, available for the use anywhere of her
Majesty's Government as war cruisers and transports at a moment's
notice. Canada also supports a Royal Military College at Kingston,
seventy or eighty of whose cadets are now officers in the British
Army.

Before confederation the fisheries of the British Provinces were
protected by her Majesty's navy. Now that service is performed

1 . .;.. V.

by eight armed steamers owned and maintained by Canada. This
expenditure of £2,33VV0lO per annum is cheerfully borne by the Y^ Z>
people of Canada for services vital to the strength, defence, and unity
of the Empire. Yet, at a meeting at the London Working Men's
College, on March 11, 1893, Sir John Colomb said, " England paid
19s. Gd. out of every pound of the cost of defending the Empire,
Australia Id., and Canada not a brass farthing ! " I may say that
in addition to the large capital expenditure made by Australasia and
South Africa for naval and harbour defensive purposes, I find the
annual expenditure for naval and military defence in those Colonies
at the last dates available to be as follows : —

Colony

New South Wales

Victoria ....

Queensland ....

South Australia .

Tasmania ....

Western Australia

New Zealand

Cape of Good Hope

Natal

Year

Amount

£
368,227

1892

1892-3 .

193,651 '

1893-4 .

56,499 '

1893-4 .

. 40,068 '

1892

19,282

1893

12,699

1892-3 .

87,865

1891-2 .

275,096 '

1893-4 .

. 60,384 '

Total

1,113,771

' Estimated Expenditure.

' Including £124,415 expended on Cape Police available for defence.

' Including £34,366 expended on Natal Mounted Police.

Then again. Sir John Colomb in his address to Mr. Gladstone
on April 13, 1893, said, " The United Kingdom bears the whole
burthen of the Diplomatic and Consular Services." He ought to
have known that, independent of the Governors, whose salaries are
paid by the autonomous Colonies, Canada paid one-half the cost of the
survey of the international boundary between the United States
and Canada from the Lake of the Woods to the foot of the Rocky
Mountains, over £68,000 ; the whole of the cost of the Halifax Arbi-
tration between Great Britain and the United States, arising out of
the Washington Treaty of 1871 ; half the expenditure connected
with the Treaty of Washington of 1888, to determine the construc-
tion of the Treaty of 1818 between Great Britain and the United
States ; and that Canada is now engaged in settling the Alaskan
boundary at her own expense, and pays one half of the expenses,
some £'20,000, of the Arbitration at Paris of 1893, when the
question at issue between Great Britain and the United States was
described by Sir Charles Russell to be :

The principle of freedom of the seas; the principlo that upon the sea

ships of all nations are e.^niil, whether it is a ship of a f,'rcat or insif,'iiifi-
CRiit Power ; the principle that iipon the high seas sliips are part of the
territory of the nation ; the principle that upon the high seas subjects of
every nation can take at tlieir will, according to their ability, of the
products of the sea.

It is interesting to turn from views of this kind to those held by the
statesmen of both the great parties in this country. About two
years ago Lord Salisbury thus expressed his opinion of the import-
ance of the outlying portions of the Empire : —

What is it that gives to this little island its commanding position ? It
is the fact that every nation from every quarter of the globe can enter
your ports with the products of countless regions, and supply your indus-
tries and manufactures, so that those industries and manufactures may
compete with every corner of the globe. And why should you occupy this
privileged position ? Because your flag floats over regions far wider than
any other, and because upon the dominion of your Sovereign the sun
never sets.

Mr. Gladstone, in terms equally emphatic, in the House of
Commons last year paid the following tribute to the Colonies : —

An absolute revolution has taken place in the entire system of govern-
ing the vast dependencies of this Empire, and the consequence is that,
instead of being as before a source of grievance and discredit, they had
become one of the chief glories of Great Britain and one of the main
sources of our moral strength.

The vital importance to England of hor Colonial trade ..s
forcibly illustrated in a speech at Leeds a few years ago bv the
Earl of Rosebery, whose views upon the subject of the unity of
the Empire are too well-known to need repetition. Who that is
interested in this great question can doubt the wisdom of the
following utterance of the Marquis of Salisbury in 1892 ? —

We know that every bit of the world's surface which is not under the
British flag is a country which may be, and probably will be, closed to us
by a hostile tariff, and therefore it is that we are anxious above all things
to conserve, to unify, to strengthen the Empire of the Queen, because it is
to the trade that is carried on within the Em]nre of the Queen that we
look for the vital force of the commerce of this country.

The maxim "that trade follows the flag" is proved beyond
question by the Trade Returns, which show that the self-governing
Colonies and West Indies take of British exports £'2 18s. del. per
head, as against 8s. 5d. per head of the population of the United
States, or seven times as much.

Six of the Colonies importing the largest quantity of British

«., '. i

""^^••'^"

produce — the Capo, Cauada, New South Wales, Victoria, New
Zealand, and Queensland -took in 1891 £'3 lis. lOd. per head, as
against 5s. dd. per liead of the populations of the United States,
(lermany, France, Spain, Brazil, and Kussia together, or a little over
twelve times as nuich.

In 1892 the- same Colonies took British goods to the extent of
13 Is. lid. per capita, as against 5s. 5(/. in tiro foreign countries
already mentioned, or a little over eleven times as much.

Exports to Self-governing Colonics and to the West Indies, 1892.

Colony ••-

Canada 6,8(59,808

Newfoundland .... 558, ()74

West Australia .... 524,'2'19

►.outh Australia . . • 1,717,492

Victoria 4,72(),.S(')1

New South Wales . . . 6,5(1(5,352

Queensland .... 1,798,391

Tasmania ..... 477,790

New Zealnnd .... 3,450,537

Cape and Natal .... 7,929,484

West Indies and British Guiana 2,936,624

Totals . . 37,550,7(52

ropulatiou

4,833,000

197,000

50,000

315,000

1,140,000

1,134,000

394,000

147,000

()27,000

f 1,527,000

\ 544.000

1,8(50,000

12,768,000

' Or £2 18s. M. per head.

Exports to United States, £26,547,234 ; population, 62,622,000; or 8s. 5d. per

head.

Exjiorts to ccrtai7i Colonics, 1891 and 1892.

Colony

Cape

Canada .

New Soutli Wales

Victoria .

New Zealand .

Queensland .

Totals .

1892
£
7,92i»,484
6,869,808
6,56(5,352
4,726,361
3,450,537
1,793,391

31,335,938 '

1891

7,957,878 ,

6,820,990

8,999,9159

7,249,224

3,369,177

2,224,316

36,62M54 »

ropuliition

2,071,000
^,833,000
1,134,000
1,140,000
(527,000
394,000

"10^1997600

Equal to £3 Is, 5rf. per head.

'■' Equal to £3 11a. lOd. per head.

United States
Germany .
Franco .
Spain .

Hra/il ■
lluB'<ia .

Exports to certain Foreign Countries,

1891
£

. 27,544,553 , • .

, , 18,804,329 ,- w

. 16,429,6(55 . »

. 4,977,473 .

. 8,290,0;v,) .

. 5,407,402 .

Totals

81,458,461

ropulation

(•>2,622,000
49,428,000
88,343,000
17,550,000
14,002,000
97,506,000

279,451~000

' Eijual to us. 9(/. per head.

United States

Germany .

France

Spain

Brazil

Russia

i:
2t5,u47,'2a I

14,G8(),.s<l4
4,»J7'2,9;W
7,910,3'2()
5,357,0^1

Totals

. 70,757,885 ' .
' Equal to 5s. 5d. per head.

I'lifiuliitioii

(52,r)'22,00(»
4'),42.s,0U()
38,34:1,000
17,550,000
14,002,000
97,50(;,'.)00

279,451,000

Who, with such evidence before them, can question from an
Imperial standpoint the importance of developing the commerce
between the Colonies and between thorn and the jMother Country ?

All the self-governing Colonies have united in asking her
Majesty's Government to take measures to so modify the treaties
with Belgium and Germany as to enable closer trade arrangements
to be made between the United Kingdom and her Colonies than
with foreign countries. All these Colonies equally desire and have
requested thv) Government to submit to Parliament an amendment
of the Imperial Act of 1873, 3G Vic. cap. 22, to enable the Colonies
of Australasia to make the same trade arrangements with Canada
and South Africa as under that Act any of the Australian Colonies
can now make with each other and with New Zealand. This pro-
posal embodies no new principle, but simply extends tin; power
already conferred by the Act in question ; and considering the
Imperial importance of drawing the great Colonies into more intimate
commercial relations with each other as well as with England, wo may
confidently anticipate the hearty support of her Majesty's Govern-
ment and Parliament. The Parliament of Canada some time since
passed a resolution pledging itself to give preferential tariif conces-
sions to this country when tlio products of the Colonies are ad-
mitted into Great Britain on more favourable terms than are
accorded to foreign countries. In the same spirit, now that the
financial position of Canada enables the Government to reduce taxa-
tion, they have adopted a tarifT during the present so.ssion which
effects reductions in the duties upon many of the staple exports of
England.

To pass on to another branch of the subject, it may be well for
me to state what is, as I understand it, in the minds of the
promoters of the Anglo-Canadian-Australian steamshij) service, in
respect to the stean\ship connection between Great Britain and
Australasia by way of Canada.

At tlio outset it is interesting to know the average time occupied

in the conveyanct- of mails to and from Sydney and London by
the present Sue/, route. The latest Rlne-l)Ook that I Jiavo been
al)le to obtain is that of the Report of the Postmaster-General of
New South Wales for the year 1892, issued in 18f);-3. There I find
that the returns of the mail service of the Orient Steamship Navi-
f^ation Company during the year 1892 give the average time between
London and Sydney as 33 and 11-13 days, and between Sydney
and London as 33 and 11-20 days; while in the case of the
Peninsular and Oriental Navigation Company during the year 1892
the average time occupied in the conveyance of mails to and from
Sydney and London was as follows : — London to Sydney, 33 and
19-2G days ; Sydney to London, 34 and 0-13 days.

The consideration paid by the British and Australasian Govern-
ments for the above mail service is £85,000 per annum to each
Company, or £170,000 together ; and out of this contribution of
£170,000 the United Kingdom pays £95,000.

The present intention of the proposed Steamship Company is to
have upon the Atlantic a Aveekly service of 20 knots speed all the
year round, and to maintain it by the building of four exception-
ally large, swift, completely equipped, express passenger steamships.

On the Pacific, at present, it is only proposed to have three
steamships, thus adding one steamship to those now performing the
monthly service between Sydney and Vancouver. The presence of
a third steamship on the Pacific has enabled the promoters of the
new service to suggest two propositions : —

1. That there shall bo during the summer months a three-
weekly service between Sydney, Moreton J5ay, Fiji, Honolulu,
Victoria, and Vancouver, and during the winter season a four-
weekly service by the same route. It may be said at the outset
that the moils by that route can bo easily delivered in the time
now occupied by the Suez route ; but it will be observed that it is
only, in tlie one case, a three-weekly service, and in the other a
four-weekly service.

2. If it shall bo hereafter decided to call at a New Zealand port
in preference to ^loreton Bay, Queensland, then, with three steam-
ships on the Pacific, the service can easily and regularly, all the
year round, maintain the four-weekly service between Sydney,
Auckland, Fiji, Honolulu, Victoria, and Vancouver.

The drawback to calling at a Now Zealand port instead of a
Queensland port would be tho lengthening of the voyage between
the last Australian port of call (i.e. of Sydney) and England by
liO hours each way ; but oven allowing an additional 30 hours

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for the extra mileage by the New Zealand route, the promoters of the
■service state that they would be able to deliver the Sydney mails,
from the date of the establishment of the fast Atlantic service,
in about the same time that is notv occupied by the steamships of
the Peninsular and Oriental and Orient Companies from Sydney to
London by the Suez route, while the New Zealand service
(Auckland to London) would be reduced to within 31 days.

It is stated that the current contracts between the British and
Australian Governments and the Peninsular and Oriental Company
and the Orient Company have been extended for an additional year,
and expire in January 1896.

At the Ottawa Conference, to be held in June next, one of the
most important subjects for consideration will be whether the time
has arrived for Great Britain and the Australasian Colonies to
recognise Canada as an Imperial highway for an Australasian mail
service, affording the Empire an important alternate route, and
I venture to hope that a favourable decision will be arrived at.

At the present moment the only Australian subsidy actually
being paid to the Vancouver service is £10,000 sterling per annum
by the Government of New South Wales. If that subsidy were
increased to at least £'50,000 sterling per annum from Australasia,
and if the British Government will give the minimum subsidy
a,sked for the Atlantic service of £75,000 sterling per annum,
Australasia will secure in 189G an alternate fortnightly route by way
of Canada.

As to the time to be occupied by the mail service between Sydney
•and London, the promoters of the new company are prepared to
iiame thirty-one days as the period for the first term of years ; but,
in any event, to do it a« quickly as can possibly be done by the Suez
route.

It is interesting to note from the Blue-book above referred to
that the net cost to New South Wales of its joint service via Suez
was in 1892 only £13,274 8s. 5d. It is reasonable to assume*
therefore, that the amount collected for stamps would go a long
way towards paying the subsidy for the proposed mail service.

As to the possibilities of the proposed line of fast steamers between
England and Canada, I can give no higher authority than Mr. Van
Home, the able President of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.
His thorough investigation of the subject is shown in the following
speech made by him at Toronto in January 1893 : —

The (liaiancG from Quebec to Holyhoad is 2,580 miles, and with stoam-

fillips of the speed of the Teutohir or the City of Paris the time will be
luade in iive days and five hours. The time from Holyhead to London is
less than six liours, and, allowing' an hour for transfer, the time from tlio
wharf at Quebec to Euston Station in London will bo made in five days
and twelve hours, and only three days and eleven hours will be in the opeit
Atlantic. While the voyage from Sandy Hook to Quoenstown is some-
times made in five days and a half, the time from the wharf in New York
to the railway station in London is hardly ever made in less than seven
days — so seldom tliat seven days ma^- be taken as the best working result
that way. Let two passengers start from London on a Wednesday at 12
o'clock noon, one by the fastest New York steamship, and the other by an
equally fast Canadian steL iship. The one will reach New York at best at
7 o'clock the following Wednesday morning, local time ; the other will
have reached Quebec nt 7 o'clock Monday evening, local time. Tlie New
York passenger may reach Montreal at 7.30 Thursday morning, or Toronto
at 10 o'clock Thursday morning. The passenger by the Canadian line
will reach Montreal at midnight Monday, or Toronto at 10 o'clock Tuesday
morning, two whole days ahead of the New York man. The Canadian
passenger will reach Chicago at 11.30 Tuesday night ; while the New York
man cannot reach there before 9.30 Thursday morning. It is no idle
boast that such a Canadian line could take a passenger at London and
deliver him in Chicago before the New York line could land him on the
wharf in New York. Lideed, Ave have a margin of ten hours, and the
statement might be made to apply to Cincinnati, St. Louis, St. Paul, and
Minneapolis. A Boston passenger may reach his home thirty-two hours
quicker by the way of Quebec than by the \vay of New York ; and a passenger
by the Canadian line will reach New York itself at 7 o'clock Tuesday
morning, twenty-four hours ahead of the quickest direct line to New York •
and this will be the mininuun saving of time to I'hiladelphia, Washington,
and all points in the United States, and as we come northward our advantage
becomes greater. In the winter our advantage by tlio way of Halifax
would be ten hours less, but our saving in time would still be great enough
to take the business. It is only necessary to provide an attractive service
both by land and sea, and to make the railway and steamship services fit
together perfectly, to make sure of the business. There are no difficulties
of navigation that cannot readily be overcome— a few more lights, a few
more fog signals, and a few whistling buoys at the entrance to Straits of
Belle Isle.

But again we are met by ths difficulty propounded apparently in
all seriousness by Sir John Colonib : —

Now let me ask who is to jiay and to be responsible for the protectio'. ni'
Avar of the new trade line and new submaiine cable we are asked to
help to establish V

I hope to be able to show him tl;e highest authority for the
opinion that the naval strength provided by these fast steamers on

the Atlantic and Paciiic Oceans, and the proposed cable from
Vancouver to Australia, form the strongest claims for Imperial
support

The contract entered into by the Government of Canada with Mr.

James Huddart requires the four Atlantic steamsliips to be capable

of steaming 20 knots, under favourable conditions, at sea, and this

will involve a trial-trip speed of 21 knots, or equal to 24 statute

^ miles per hour.

The steamships will be upwards of 10,000 tons register, and will be
built in compliance with the usual conditions necessary to secure the

« subvention for mercantile armed cruisers from the British Admiralty.
The Lords of the Admiralty in 1887, after giving this question
the fullest consideration, made the following report to the Treasury,
which was adopted and is now in force : —

My Lords would desire to state that the experience derived from the
events of 1885 has led thein to believe that true economy and real
efficiency would be best promoted by securing the use to the Admiralty
in times of peace of the fastest and most serviceable mercantile vessels.
It will be remembered that in 1885 a sum approximating to t600,000
was expended in retaining the services of several fast merchant steamers
so as to prevent their being available for the service of any Power inimical
to the interests of the United Kingdom. Had arrangements existed
"similar to those now contemplated, their Lordships believe that a very
considerable jtortion of this expenditure would have been averted, and a
degree of confidence felt by the nation on which it is very difficult to place
41 money value.

Their Lordships consider tliat subventions or annual payments for pre-
emption in the use or purchase of these steamers should only be made
with those vessels already existing which have an exceptionally high sea-
going speed, or for vessels which may bo built possessing great speed and
adaptable in their construction as armed cruisers.
H As to the standai-d of speed, the Admiralty consider that no vessel of
less than 17 or 18 knots at sea would fully meet the object they have in
view. They would add fui'ther that existing vessels, even with this speed,
but which have not been built specially to Admiralty designs, would not
be so valuable to the country as vessels which meet these requirements.
The trades which can, from a mercantile aspect, support vessels of the
type and character that their Ijordships desire to see included in the
" lleserve Fleet of the Navy" are very limited. Such steaniers are only
likely to find a profitable mercantile employment in the passenger and
mail service, and particularly in the service to America. Vessels con-
structed to meet the views of the Admiralty would be at a disadvantage
in respect to their cargo-carrying powers ; and therefore it would be a
distinct adxantage to the country if every reasonable encom'agement wero

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given to shipowners to build and maintain this dcscri))tion of steamer hi
the trades that may be expected to support them. The retention of a
fleet of " Royal Naval Reserve Cruisers " would be obviously of great
national advantage. In a pecuniary sense they would serve to limit the
necessity felt by their Lordships for the construction of ftist war vessels
to protect the commerce of the country. Not only would the nation be a
pecuniary gainer in respecS to the first cost of such vessels, but their
annual maintenance, which amounts to a large sum, would be saved were
such vessels maintained whilst not recpiired for Admiralty purposes ia
mercantile trading.

The Government of Cauatia applied to her Majesty's '"overnment
to join in a subsidy for three steamers for the Pacific service Ijetween
Vancouver and Hong Kong. This proposal was carefully considered
by the Governments of both parties in this country. It was referred
to a departmental committee, on which the Colonial Oflfice, Treasury,
Post Office, and Army and Navy were represented, with the following
results. Lord Granville said in the House of Lords : " It appeared
by a minute from his predecessor, Col. F. Stanley (now Earl of
Derby), that the late Government had come to the conclusion on
principle to approve of this project." And again, on April 29, 1887,
Lord Granville said, " He had come to the conclusion that it was
a most desirable thing from both the naval and mihtary point of
view." On June 23 the Right Hon. Mr. Goschen said in the House
of Commons that it was " an extremely valuable and important
service," and subsequently carried a vote of £45,000 per annum
for ten years for these three steamers, which with the £^15,000 peir
annum paid by Canada makes a subsidy of £'00,000 a year. I
think I am correct in saying that this vote passed nem. cun. in the
House of Commons, of Avhich Sir John Colomb was a member.

The following extracts from a Paper recently placed on record by
Gen. Sir A. Clarke, show conclusively the opinions of this high
authority on the defence of the Empire.

On all grounds, therefore, continuous maintenance of a trade route
through the Mediterranean at the outset of war cannot be counted upon. It
follows, therefore, that the transport of troops and stores to the East will
be equally hazardous, at least for a time.

Of all routes, those Oi the Atlantic and Pacific will bo safest in war
with a naval power.

Fast ships on these routes cannot well be captured, except by mere
m ischance, on the ocean.

No probable enemy, no nation, except the United States, is likely in the
immediate future to develop any considerable naval streng'ih in the

Pacific ; while the niaintonance of stronj,' squadrons on the western verg-e
of the Atlantic wiH be clillicult to any Power not in alliance with tho
United States.

Again, these ocean routes pass near no naval bases of European
Powers, which, especially at the outset of war, will confer on thoni prac-
tical imnumity from raids. On the Cape route there is the menace of
Dakkar, of lleunion, and possibly of Diego S|,»riez, which cannot bo
ignored, and which would unquestionably raise insurance rates to a
high figure.

An accustomed trade route, regularly used in peace time, will invariably
offer inestimable advantages as a connnunication m war. Along it
troops and stores could at once be smoothly conveyed without delays or
confusion.

I therefore consider that, from the purely military point of view, any
steps taken to develop the ocean route would add greatly to the potential
strength of the Empire in war.

At buch a time the first necessity will bo connnunication between tho
scattered members of the Empire. Thus only can its vast resources be
brought into play. Thus only can its existence be assured.

I have preferred to dwell on the military advantages of developing the
Western route, and thus providing an alternative line of comnmnication,
rather than on the political and economical advantages. The latter must,
however, be important and far-rer.ching.

Politically, the ell'ect will bo to bring the memlers of the Empire into
closer i;nion. Economically, the opening up of new avenues of trade will
indubitably bring about a wider distribution of products, and reduce the
stagnation which is now heavily felt by all classes.

On all these grounds I strongly support the policy urged.

It is iVr the Imperial (jovernment a primary duty to aid a project by
which national advantages in peace time, and security, as well as striking
power, in war, will bo unquestionably attained.

As to the cable, I may say the following resolution was i)assed
unanimously by the Colonial Conference, called and presided over
by the Secretary of State for the ('olonies in 1H87, and after the
siiV)jcct had been fully discussed and all the objections urged by
those interested in existing routes considered : —

First. That tho connection recently formed through Canada from the
Atlanf- ho Pacific by railway and telegraph opens a new ahernative

lino of Imperial connnunication over the high sens and through Hritish
poBsessions, which promises to bo of groat value alike in naval, military,
commercial, find political as])ect8.

Second. That the connection of Canadp. with Australia by direct tub-

• . * . ,

marine telegraph across the Pacific is a project of hif,'h importance to the
Empire, and every donbt as to its practicability should without delay bo
set at rest by a thorough and exhaustive survey.

The recent visit of the Hon. Mr. Bowell, the Canadian Minister
of Trade and Commerce, and Mr. Handford Flemin'^, who has given
so much attention to the question of a Pacific cable, has excited
increased interest in that question in 'Vustralasia. It has been
followed by a visit to Canada from Sir Thomas Mcllwraitli from
Queensland, and the Hon. Robert Reid from Victoria, and, as
already stated, a Conference is to be held at Ottawa on June 21
next. The Australasian Postal and Telegraph Conference, recently
held at Wellington in New Zealand, heartily endorsed the proposal
for a cable from Vancouver to Australia with the same unanimity
that characterised the Intercolonial Conference held at London in
1887. Of course those who have long enjoyed a monopoly may
be expected to oppose competition, and I am not surprised at the
protest made by those interested parties to her Majesty's Govern-
ment, and published in the Times of April ID, 1894. In that
protest the statement of the Wellington Confercmce, that a guarantee
of 4 per cent, for fourteen years w'ould probably induce the company
to undertake the work, is treated as an admission that the cable
must be renewed at the end of that period. No reason is shown in
the article why fourteen years should be determined on as the life of
a cable, and it is contrary to the experience of the existing cable
companies. Mr. Handford Fleming took twenty-five years as a basis
for calculation ; and that this period se(>nis a fair one ia shown
by the fact that some 5,950 miles (or about 80 per cent.) of the
18,000 miles of cable now forming tlio system of the Eastern
Extension Telegraph Company is more than twenty years old,
and is still in working condition— the balance of about 12,(150 miles
being duplications and extensions laid since 1874. Mr. iSandford
Fleming's suggestion that a j(jint guarantee of 8 per cent, would
bo snrticient was made on the suppcsition tiiat tlie Pacific cable
would be undertaken by the Goveriiments concerned, who could
obtain money at that rate : not, as would appear from the article,
on the assumi)ti(m that the scheme is to be undertaken by a
company — an alternative which he has also dealt with.

The cable companies which control the existing linos between
the United Kingdom and Australasia " urge that the existing service
was established solely by private enterprise," and without Govern-
ment aid. These lines, however, had the advantage of being tiio
first lines established, and thus had no opposition to contend with.

'.I

The Pacific cable would, however, now have to compete with these
very existing lines ; which, whatever ihe case may have been when

II they were initiated, are now, and for many years past have been,
assisted by annual sulxsidies, a fact not touched upon in the article
in the Times. Altogether the existing companies which would
compete directly or indirectly with the Pacific cable have received
in subsidies from various sources up to the present time more than

;^ £2,100,000, an amount much iu excess of the capital required for
a Pacific cable. Of the above amount the Eastern Extension
Company alone have received about £048,000, and the African lines,
which form an alternative route, .il,8-)7,000.

Then, taking the present traffic between Europe and Austra-
lasia to be 1,300,000 words, as given in the Times article, and
looking on one-half this traffic as going to a Pacific cable, at
the sum lately mentioned by jMr. Sandford Fleming — viz. 2s. per
Word -as the rate for the Pacific cable (after outpayments of Is. 3(/.
have been deducted) it would give for the first year's traffic £05,000 ;
but the reduction of the rates from Australasia to Europe (from the
present 4s. dd. per Avord to 8s. Sd. per word) would naturally bring
about a large increase of traffic. Taking this increase as an
additional 25 per cent, on the estimated number of wo/ds passing
over this cable between Australasia and Europe the amount would
come to £^1,250. As, however, the tariff for the Canadian and
American traffic to and from Australia would be cheaper by the
Pacific than by the existing routes (by about 1 9. per word), this
traffic would certainly pass through tlie Pacific cable. Besides, the
traffic from and between the islands at which a Pacific cable
touched should be added. Estimating the traffic from these
sources at £15,000 for the first year, a total traffic of £90,250
may reasonably be looked for in the first year's working.

Mr. Sandford Fleming states that the normal increase of traffic
under the old \)s. id. rate between I'juropc and Australia was 14
per cent, per annum ; but taking it only as 121 per cent., we have
for the second year the amount of £108,280, and so on progres-
sively in each succeeding year, as long as tne rate of increase of
traffic remains the same.

It is therefore obvious that the protest against the proposed cable
is largely basisd upon fallacies. If the reasons urged by those who
have so long enjoyed a monopoly should result in her Majosty'.g
Government not giving the assistance required, the ccmipetition
dreaded would not bo prevented but transferred to a company under

I
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the control of a foreign power, and England will have lost itsoppor-

tunity.

In conclusion, permit me to say that Australasia and Canada
make no " demand " upon the taxpayers of this country, but on
the contrary propose to unite with her Majesty's Government in
providing an alternative line of steam and cable communication
between England and Australasia and Canada, uniting those great
possessions of the Crown more closely to each other and to the
Mother Country, and furnishing in the best manner possible the
means of expanding the trade and strengthening the unity and
defence of the Empire.