CO885-(6-7) — Page 282

5

REPORT

287

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

6

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO |

I appoint-

•

The Right Honourable WILLIAM WALDEGRAVE, Earl of SELBORNE, Under Secretary

of State for the Colonies;

GEORGE HERBERT MURRAY, Esquire, C.B., a principal Clerk in the Department of

the Treasury;

Sir DONALD ALexander Smiru, G.C.M.G., High Commissioner for Canada;

The Honourable Sir MACKENZIE BOWELL, K.C.M.G., Member of the Privy Council

of Canada;

The Honourable Sir SAUL SAMUEL, K.C.M.G., C.B., Agent-General for New

South Wales; and

The Honourable DUNCAN GILLIES, Agent-General for Victoria;

to be a Committee to consider in all its aspects the proposal for laying a telegraph cable between British North America and the Colonies of Australasia, and to report to me, for the consideration of Her Majesty's Government, their views upon the following questions:-

1. Is the laying of such a cable practicable from a technical point of view?

2. If so, what route should be selected for the cable?

3. What will be the cost (a) of laying, (b) of maintaining, the cable, and (c) of the

annual working expenses?

4. What revenue will arise from the traffic which may be expected to pass over

the cable?

5. Should the cable be owned and worked by Government or by a subsidised private

company?

6. If the cable were to be national property, what would be the proper method of

management and administration?

7. What should be the form of contract offered to a contractor for its construction? It is desired that the Report should embody the views of the Committee upon any subsidiary questions of a practical nature which may arise during the investigation.

Should the Report of the Committee, after it has been submitted to Her Majesty's Government, render such a course advisable, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and myself will be prepared to discuss with the representatives of the Dominion of Canada and of the Australasian Colonies the financial side of the question in its bearing upon the interests of the Governments concerned.

June 2, 1896.

J. CHAMBERLAIN.

FURTHER INSTRUMENT OF APPOINTMENT.

I APPOINT the Honourable A. G. Jones to be a member of the Pacific Cable Committee, in the place of the Honourable Sir Mackenzie Bowell, K.C.M.G., resigned.

November 10, 1896.

J. CHAMBERLAIN.

OF THE

COMMITTEE appointed to consider the PROPOSAL

for laying a TELegraph Cable between BRITISH NORTH AMERICA and the COLONIES of AUSTRALASIA.

1. THE Committee have the honour to report that, having been appointed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies on the 2nd of June last, they held their first meeting on the 5th of that month; but that owing to unavoidable delays they were unable to begin the examination of Witnesses till the 12th of November.

2. The Committee desire to express their obligations to Mr. Sandford Fleming, whose long labours on the subject of a Pacific cable have thrown much light upon the project and materially facilitated the task of the Committee, and to all the gentlemen who have been so good as to give evidence and whose answers range over the whole ground comprised in the Reference to the Committee.

3. The Committee have carefully considered these answers and other materials bearing on the subject, which have been laid before them, and have the honour to report as follows upon the questions submitted to them.

4. The Committee consider that the most convenient course will be for them to deal with the points submitted to them in the same order as is laid down in the Instrument of Appointment.

I, PRACTICABILITY.

5. No one disputes the practicability of the project from a technical point of view, although the depth, probably in places over 3,000 fathoms, is as great as that in which any cable has hitherto been laid. The Committee consider that a preliminary survey is indispensable, principally for the purpose of ascertaining, before the cable is laid, and of avoiding, while it is being laid, any serious inequalities in the bed of the ocean which might cause "suspension," and in course of time fractures, of the cable. Such a survey could, however, be made while the cable is being manufactured; it could be made by the contractors under the supervision of an officer appointed for the purpose by the owners of the cable; and the necessary provision for it, with all proper conditions, could be contained in the contract. The present information with regard to the route is sufficient for the purpose of estimating the expense of the cable, and it may be assumed that the further survey recommended would not lead to any material variation in the tenders.

6. Further, it will be necessary that a careful examination be made of the various islands to be presently mentioned with a view to ascertaining the best spots available for landing stations.

II. ROUTE.

7. The Committee recommend that the route should be from Vancouver vid Fanning or Palmyra Island, Fiji, and Norfolk Island, with branches from the last- No doubt there would be a decided named station to Queensland and New Zealand. advantage in taking the cable via the Hawaiian Islands, instead of vii Fanning or Palmyra Island, as the section would in that case be shorter and therefore less costly for the same speed, or faster for the same cost, and some traffic would, if no liue

A 3