*Hongkong Daily Press"
December 31st, 1892.
ACTIVE measures are being taken by the Eastern Extension Telegraph Co., we learn, with the view of strengthening their cable connections between Hongkong and Singapore, for which purpose additional lines are to be laid at an early date connecting Manila with Labuan, and Labuan with Singapore. The total length of cable to be laid is about 1,480 miles, each mile costing $1,500. Hongkong will thus secure an alternative route to Singapore, via Manila, and an alternative route to Manila, via Singapore, so that total interruptions of the service will in future be of rare occurrence. Besides this, we will be placed in telegraphic communication with British North Borneo via Labuan, for before very long the Borneo land lines will reach the coast opposite Labuan and will then in natural course be connected with that island by a short subsidiary cable. It will be remembered that some years ago the necessity for a direct cable between Singapore and Hongkong was warmly agitated. That is practically what is now to be given us by the Eastern Extension Co. In the event of England's being involved in a conflict with Russia, in view of the present intimate relations between the latter Power and France, it is possible that communication by the existing cable might be cut off at Saigon. It is unlikely that there would at the same time be an interruption at Manila, but if any apprehension were entertained as to the free working of the service at that point we understand the Telegraph Company has the means on the spot of laying a cable between Hongkong and Labuan and that the execution of the work would take little longer than the time required for a vessel to steam across. Hongkong and Singapore would then be placed in telegraphic communication by means of cables touching only at British territory. The political importance of the new line can therefore hardly be overestimated. That this costly work should be undertaken without any subsidy from either the Imperial Government or this Colony speaks well for the enterprising spirit of the Company and is an evidence of a desire on the part of the Chairman and Board of Directors to leave nothing undone that is likely to result in the efficient and uninterrupted working of the vast network of cables east of Madras.
The feeling of the mercantile community towards the Eastern Extension Company as well as towards the Great Northern Company has of late been rendered somewhat hostile by reason of the Russo-Chinese Telegraph Convention, the object of which is to keep up rates. The existence of this feeling, however, ought not to be allowed to prejudice the consideration of the enterprise now about to be undertaken by the Eastern Extension. In view of its importance, both politically and commercially it is to be hoped the Government will not withhold from the Company any reasonable privileges it may be able to afford in furtherance of the work, and that should the matter be submitted to the Chamber of Commerce that body will so advise the Government. A community which of its own motion suggested the imposition of additional dues on its shipping in order to provide a light on Gap Rock and establish telegraphic communication therewith might perhaps even be content to sit quiet under the present tariff charged by the Eastern Extension as a return for increased facilities offered by the Company. We quite appreciate the advantages of cheap telegraphy, but it would be a fatal mistake to render the service of the Eastern Extension unremunerative by making exclusive use of the Chinese land lines and so place our communications at the mercy of the Chinese Telegraph Administration. That is a policy which the Government, for political reasons, could not support, and which in the long run would prove disastrous to the mercantile community, to whom reliability in the service is of greater consequence than the cost. If the Eastern Extension Company approaches the Colony in a friendly spirit prepared to conclude a bargain it would be to the interest of the Colony to meet it in the same spirit, not giving a great deal for nothing, but on the other hand not withholding reasonable privileges if the Company on its part is prepared to give increased facilities. The Russo-Chinese Telegraph Convention naturally cannot be regarded with a friendly eye by Hongkong, but when we are dealing with the Eastern Extension Company direct we may be content to ignore any soreness caused by that much-discussed agreement if it appears that our interest lies in making up our quarrel. An alternative route to Singapore, and one by means of which, if necessity arises, the service can be conducted without touching any foreign port, seems to us something worth making a concession for. And it is not certain that the concession will cost us anything, because the chances of securing a reduction in rates would not be materially advanced by placing obstructions in the Company's way.
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