PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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TELEC.O. 885
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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PACIFIC CABLE COMMITTEE:
withdrawn and an Act passed incorporating a company to lay the cable. This company proved abortive, and when its charter expired, further information having meanwhile been obtained respecting the Southern Pacific, it was represented to the Canadian Government that the physical features of the Southern Ocean would admit of a cable being laid on a direct route from Canada to Australia, and that the long detour by the Aleutian Islauds and Japan could be avoided. (See my letter of October 20th, 1885.)
Correspondence followed, and on June 8th, 1886, an Order in Council was passed by the Canadian Government recommending that means be taken to obtain an expression of opinion on the projected direct cable to Australia from the several Governments concerned, and to ascertain what amount of assistance each would be prepared to give, and that for this purpose a Conference of agents of the Colonies be invited to discuss the subject. The co-operation of Her Majesty's Imperial Government was likewise sought.
On November 25th. 1886, the Home Government summoned a Conference to meet in London the following year, to which the principal Colonial Governments were invited to send representatives, One of the questions to be specially considered was the development of telegraphic communications of utility to the Einpire.
At the Colonial Conference held in 1887 the Pacific cable was specially considered, and resolutions were passed in respect thereto strongly favouring its establishment. The published proceedings of the Conference give the discussions at length.
Since the Conference of 1887 repeated efforts have been made to induce the Admiralty to make A statement a complete survey of the bed of the ocean on the most direct route for the cable. respecting the nautical survey appears in the report of the Canadian Minister of Trade and Commerce on his mission to Australia in 1893 (pages 106 to 122).
In 1888 the Canadian Government invited the Governments of Australia and New Zealand to send delegates to Canada to consider the question of telegraphic connexion and trade relations. Correspondence resulted, when it was finally agreed that delegates should be sent from Canada to Australia In 1889 the Hon. J. J. C. Abbott (afterwards Sir John Abbott, Premier of Canada) with several other gentlemen were appointed to proceed on this mission, but the proposed federation of the Australian Colonies then actively discussed had the effect of postponing the visit. It was felt that the time was inopportune, and that it would be advisable to wait until the Colonies would be united politically.
Early in 1893 a Postal and Telegraph Conference was held at Wellington, New Zealand, at which all the Australasian Colonies were represented, and resolutions were passed urging the establishment of a Pacific cable.
In September 1893 the Canadian Minister of Trade and Commerce (the Hon. Mackenzie Bowell) was sent as a delegate to Australia to confer with the several Governments on the subject of the Pacific cable, and the development of trade. A full account of this delegation will be found in the report on the mission to Australia (see pages 66 to 106).
As an outcome of the delegation to Australia, a Conference was held in Ottawa the following year (1894).
At this Conference the Imperial Government, the Canadian, the South African, and all the Australasian Governments were represented.
The published proceedings of the Conference held in Ottawa in 1894 furnish a full account of the discussions. The following resolutions were passed in respect to the establishment of the Pacific cable :-
1. Resolved That in the opinion of this Conference immediate steps should be taken to provide telegraphic communication by cable, free from foreign control, between the Dominion of Canada and Australasia.
2. Resolved That the Imperial Government be respectfully requested to undertake at the earliest possible moment, and to prosecute with all possible speed, a thorough survey of the proposed cable route between Canada and Australia; the expense to be borne in equal proportions by Great Britain, Canada, and Australian Colonies.
3. Resolved That it is for the interest of the Empire that, in case of the construction of a cable between Canada and Australasia, such cable should be extended from Australasia to the Cape of Good Hope, and for that purpose arrangements should be made between the Imperial and South African Governments for a survey of the latter route.
4. Resolved-That in view of the desirability of having a choice of routes for a cable connexion between Canada and Australasia, the Home Government be requested to take immediate steps to secure neutral landing ground on some one of the Hawaiian Islands, in order that the cable may remain permanently under British control.
5. Resolved-That the Canadian Government be requested, after the rising of this Conference, to make all necessary inquiries, and generally to take such steps as may be expedient in order to ascertain the cost of the proposed Pacific cable, and promote the establishment of the undertaking in accordance with the views expressed in this Conference.
Acting under the instructions of the Conference of 1894, the Canadian Government invited cable manufacturing contractors and others to state the terms upon which they would be prepared to lay and maintain in efficient condition a submarine electric cable across the Pacific from Canada to the Australasian Colonies. Proposals were invited in three different forms.
I herewith submit, for the information of the Committee, the detailed general conditions under which proposals were invited (see Appendix A); likewise the tenders subsequently received by the Canadian Government; likewise my report on the tenders, dated November 20th, 1894, made at the request of the Minister of Trade and Commerce (see Appendix B.),
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Soon after the tenders were received I prepared a memorandum giving my views respecting the establishment of the cable. As these views are strengthened and confirmed by subsequent events, I beg leave to submit this memorandum to the Committee as part of the present
statement.
MEMORANDUM.
Ottawa, December 1st, 1894.
The information obtained since the meeting of the Colonial Conference in July last is of a character to call for special notice.
The Conference, by the 5th resolution relating to the Pacific cable, requested the Canadian Government to take the necessary steps to urge forward the undertaking in accordance with the views expressed by the delegates and the resolutions passed by them.
On September 10th a Special Commission was appointed by the Canadian Government to proceed to Honolulu, to enter into negotiations with the Hawaiian Government for the posses- sion of a neutral landing ground for the cable, should it be deemed expedient or desirable to touch at Honolulu or at some other island in the Hawaiian Group.
The object was to obtain a choice of routes. While it was the decided feeling of the Conference that the cable should only touch islands on the route in the possession of Great Britain, there were technical as well as commercial reasons for obtaining the use of an island within the Hawaiian archipelago.
The report on the mission submitted for the information of his Excellency the Governor- General, November 15th, points out that while there is a fair prospect of obtaining the use of an island on conditions generally acceptable, the result of the mission remains undeter- mined, as it awaits the action of the United States Government, owing to a treaty engagement between the two countries.
As
Consequently, as the matter at present stands, there is no alternative line which can be chosen. The route known as No. 1, touching at Fanning Island, is the only route open for adoption. The question of carrying the cable by way of Honolulu or some one of the Hawaiian Islands rests with the Hawaiian Government and the Government of the United States, soon as the Hawaiian Government feels at liberty to enter into an agreement, such as that suggested during the recent mission, which would secure to them the advantages of telegraphic connexion with the markets of the world, it will probably be heard from. Any offer it may make may be considered on its merits before contracts for laying the cable be entered into.
TENDERS.
On August 6th an advertisement appeared in the London newspapers asking for tenders Cable-manufacturing contractors and others were invited by the Canadian Governinent to state the terms upon which they would be prepared to lay and maintain in efficient condition a submarine electric cable across the Pacific from Canada to Australasia.
Tenders have been received from some of the best and oldest firms; they establish four important desiderata :—
1. They set at rest all questions respecting the practicability of the project.
2. They establish indisputably that Great Britain can obtain direct telegraphic communi. cation with the British Colonies of the southern hemisphere, without having resort to any soil not British territory.
3. They clearly prove that there is no requirement for delay in order to take elaborate preliminary surveys, offers having been received from cable manufacturers of the widest experience, who, with the information and data possessed, are prepared to lay the cable and guarantee its success.
4. The tenders give definite information as to the cost of the undertaking; moreover, they furnish proof that the outlay of capital required is less than the amount which has been estimated.
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The definite data thus obtained overcome all obstacles which were supposed to stand in
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of the first resolution passed by the Conference, viz., that "immediate steps should "be taken to provide telegraphic communication by cable, free from foreign control, between "the Dominion of Canada and Australasia." The Governments concerned are now placed in possession of information essential to the consideration of the best means necessary to the consummation of the project.
As there might be some divergence of opinion as to the best means to be taken to carry out the undertaking, the Canadian Government, in asking for proposals, intimated that offers would be received in three different forms, viz. :-
Form A.-The cable to be owned and controlled by Government, to be worked under Government authority, and to be kept in repair by the contractor for three years.
Form B. The cable to be owned, maintained, and worked by a company under a fixed subsidy for a term of years.
Form C.-The cable to be owned, maintained, and worked by a company under a Govern- ment guarantee of traffic for a term of years.
The only actual offers received are according to Form A. That no offers were received according to Forma B. and C. may be due to the fact that it was felt desirable to predeter- mine the maximum charges, so as to preclude a subsidised or traffic guaranteed Pacific Cable Company amalgamating or combining with the existing company to the disadvantage of the public
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