COLONT.
Population
based on 1884
Statistics.
126
Apportionment of Guarantee.
Existing Subsidies paid by Australian Colonies to Eastern Extension
Amount to be contributed in addition to existing Subsidies if Tariff reduces!
to 45. per Word, and Traffic increased by
Company.
25 per vent.
50 per cent.
75 per cent.
tog pug vent.
לאה
£
£
£
£
£
Victoria
961.276
14.479
30,623
25,86
21,110
16,353
New South Wales -
921,268
12,617
29,350
24,792
20,232
15,672
South Australia
312,781
1,805
、 9,965
8,416
6,868
5,821
Western Australia
32,958
499
1,050
724
560
New Zealand
564,304
17,978
15,185
12,393
9,5991
309,913
9,873
8,340
6,806
5,274
Total
190,541
3,293,041
4,200
4,159
3,513
2,867
3,221
36,600
103,000
87,000
71,000
55,000
Queensland
Tasmnin
PROPOSITION of the EASTERN EXTENSION COMPANY to the AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES, subject to the APPROVAL of all the INTERESTED ADMINISTRATIONS, including the GERMAN and RUSSIAN GOVERNMENTS.
That they should guarantee to the companies carrying Australasian telegrams, viz.:-The Eastern, Indo-European, and Eastern Extension Companies, their annual revenue based on the average of the three years ended 1885, and make the through tariff 2s. 6d.
per word.
Average annual receipts of the three companies:-
£
Eastern
£ 51,338
Indo-European
7,669
Eastern Extension
124,221
183,228
Revenue at 2s. 6d. rate based on average of
three years to 1885
35,220
Amount to be made up if no increase took place
148,008
148,000
£ 139,195
130,390
121,585
112,780
Increase of 25 per cent. would reduce it to -
50
14
-
75 100
""
11
"
127
Enclosuro 2 in No. 37.
MEMORANDUM On the PAPER by Mr. HENNIKER HEATON, M.P., in the
Gazette," of 2nd April 1887.
The principal points of Mr. Heaton's paper are:—
**
Pall Mall
1. That the existing telegraphic communication with Australasia and India is insecure by reason of its passing through foreign and possibly hostile territories.
2. That the Canadian Pacific route would not be exposed to the ill-will of other
nations, but would be under exclusive British control.
pay
well.
3. That the existing rates are excessive, because they are calculated on the basis
of mis-spent millions of capital, and that a tariff of 1s. word would
per In regard to the first point, what are the facts of the case? The route followed by the existing cables is from England to Lisbon, thence to Gibraltar, thence through the Mediterranean to Malta. Alexandria and Port Said, passing through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to Aden and Bombay. From Bombay the traffic passes over the Government land-lines across India, and is taken on by the cables from Madras or Rangoon to Penang, Singapore, Java, and Port .Darwin. Consequently the only foreign territories at which the existing cables touch are Portuguese, Egyptian, and Netherlands-Indian. The expediency of laying a new cable direct from England to Gibraltar is, however, under consideration by the Eastern Company, and as Egypt is under British influence the existing communication may be said to be practically under British control the whole way. It is, moreover, entirely worked by English operators, and is duplicated (in some sections triplicated) throughout. It also follows the trade route, where British cruisers would be most frequently met with in time of war, and for the most part the cables lie in moderate depths.of water, where they can be easily and speedily repaired when interrupted.
This communication was established by the Eastern and Eastern Extension Companies in 1871 without subsidy or assistance of any kind from the Colonies or the Imperial Government, and it was only in 1880, when the importance of telegraphy became more fully recognised, and a duplicated system a public necessity, not because a single line was unequal to the transmission of the traffic, but in order to make the system more reliable, that the Colonies of Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and Western Australia, agreed to give the Extension Company a subsidy of 32,4001. per annum for 20 years, to enable it to duplicate the cables between India and Port Darwin. In return for this the Company consented to carry Government and press telegrains at half and quarter rates respectively over its cables. At first the Government of New Zealand joined in the subsidy, but after twelve months' contribution withdrew from the
arrangeinent.
Now let us examine the plan advocated by Mr. Heaton, which is apparently a copy of Sir Julius Vogel's, but with the important exception that New Zealand is left out of the connexion. He suggests that an alternative line to Australia should be established by laying cables from
Vancouver to Fiji
and
Fiji to Brisbane
Total
Miles.
5,236
1,764
7,000
to be worked in connexion with the existing British Government lines between-
Subsidies paid
COLONY.
Population
based on 1884 Statistics.
by Australian
Colonies to
Apportionment of Guarantec.
Existing
Amount to be contributed in addition to existing Subsidies
if Tariff reduced
to 2s. 6d. per word, and Traffic increased by
Eastern Extension
Company.
25 per cent.
50 per cent.
75 per cent.
100 per rent.
}
£
£
£
£
Victoria
£
961,276
14,479
41,989
38,769
36,150
33,534
New South Wales
921,208
12,417
39,664
37,156
34,646
32,138
South Australia
312,781
4,805
13,466
12,615
11,762
10,910
Western Australia
32,958
499
1,419
1,330
1,240
1,149
New Zealand
Queensland
Tasmania
Total
564,304
24,295
22,758
21,222
19,685
. 309,913
13,342
12,498
11,655
10,811
130,541
4,200
5,620
5,264
4,910
4,553
3,233,041
35,600
139,195
130,390
121,585
112,780
London and Valentia
600
Valentia to Canada (by the Atlantic cables)
1,900
And thence to Vancouver by the Canadian Pacific land
line
3,400
12,900
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
885
Making a total distance of
It would, however, be physically impossible to work through such a long stretch of cable as from Vancouver to Fiji without re-transmission, and it would therefore be necessary to land at one of the Sandwich Islands (say Honolulu, as proposed by the U 4
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