named the Alert was offered, but was not accepted. Finally, Canada proposed to pay half the expenses of the survey, but even this offer was refused by the Liberal Government then in power.

In 1887 the First Colonial Conference was held in London. In the previous year the Canadian Pacific Railway had been completed, and in a letter to her Majesty's Government the High Commissioner for Canada reopened the question of telegraphic communication to Australia by that route. It was doubtless this letter which induced the Colonial Secretary, the Right Hon. H. E. Stanhope, in the invitation to the Conference, which he addressed to the different Colonies, to mention improved telegraphic communication as one of the leading subjects for discussion.

In his statement to the Conference Mr Sandford Fleming, who was present as one of the Canadian delegates, gave his reasons for the importance of a Pacific cable, and combated the adverse criticism of the late Sir (then Mr) John Pender, who represented the companies owning the existing telegraph routes to Australasia. Mr Sandford Fleming pointed out that the coral reefs, which Mr Pender represented as forming such a difficulty, lay in well-defined groups, which could easily be avoided. The ocean expanses between them contained wide and uniform depressions very suitable for a cable. Finally, the existing tariff of 9s. 4d. per word to Australia, instead of 3s. 3d. by the proposed Pacific route, was alone sufficient reason for breaking up the cable monopoly to the East, even if the alternative route were not pronounced to be a necessity from an imperial point of view.

Although the Postmaster-Gen

eral acknowledged that it was impossible to recognise the monopoly which Mr Pender claimed, he declared that her Majesty's Government could not, by laying a Pacific cable, become a competitor with existing commercial enterprise. In consequence of this statement, the colonial delegates, realising that their Governments could not carry through the project unassisted by Great Britain, and relieved by Mr Pender's offer to substantially reduce the tariff on receiving a guarantee against half the loss incurred by the reduction, did not commit themselves to any more definite resolution than the following: "That the connection of Canada with Australasia by direct submarine telegraph across the Pacific is a project of high importance to the empire, and every doubt as to its practicability should without delay be set at rest by a thorough and exhaustive survey."

A result of this resolution was a letter signed by all the delegates and addressed to Sir Henry Holland (afterwards Lord Knutsford), who succeeded Mr Stanhope as Secretary of State for the Colonies, respectfully requesting that her Majesty's Government would cause the survey to be made. The Secretary replied to the effect that unless there was a prospect of the cable being laid, the Admiralty did not recommend despatching a vessel solely for the purpose. Correspondence was still kept up during the rest of the year by Mr Sandford Fleming on the subject, but nothing came of it. At the Postal Conference, however, held at Sydney in March 1888, the Governor of Victoria, in accordance with a resolution passed at it, telegraphed to Lord Knutsford, asking that the Admiralty should be moved to make an early survey for the Pacific cable, the cost of

the survey to be defrayed by Great Britain, Canada, and Australasia. In reply Lord Knutsford said that the Egeria was about to survey the islands between New Zealand and Vancouver, and could be instructed to take, in the course of her three years' work, soundings which would give some idea of the suitability of the sea-bottom for the laying of a cable. With the view of expediting the survey, Mr Sandford Fleming addressed a memorandum to Lord Stanley, Governor-General of Canada, who forwarded it to the Imperial Government, but without result.

A month or two later the total interruption of the two cables from Java to Port Darwin caused Australia to be cut off for ten days from telegraphic communication with the rest of the world. These two cables being in the vicinity of volcanic disturbances were liable to frequent rupture, and between 1880 and 1888 there had been no less than forty-one days of total interruption. The outcry which followed induced Sir John Pender to announce his intention of adding a third cable between Java and Australia. It was laid in the spring of 1890, but in July of the same year all three cables broke down; and as the rate to England still stood at 9s. 4d. per word instead of 3s. 3d. which the Pacific cable would afford, the agitation for the latter was once more renewed.

To do away with one of the arguments in favour of the rival route, Sir John Pender offered to reduce the rate to 4s. if Australasia would guarantee to the Eastern Extension Company half the loss to be incurred by the reduction. The Australian Colonies, including Tasmania, were already paying to this company an annual subsidy of £36,600, and Sir John Pender's

proposal made them liable to a further £60,000. This sum alone would pay the interest on the capital required for a Pacific cable; but the prospect of its construction still seemed far distant, and Australasia, in her desire for immediate relief, was compelled to accept the terms. In May 1891 the tariff was reduced from 93. 4d. per word to 4s., but the loss incurred by the Colonies during the first year was found to be so heavy that in January 1893 it was raised to 4s. 9d. By this politic reduction the supporters of the Eastern Extension Company calculated that they had laid the ghost of the Pacific cable for at least a dozen years.

The fact of the shelving of the English scheme may have given a stimulus to the American one, for the Albatross and Thetis, U.S.N., were commissioned in 1891 and 1892 to survey the route between Honolulu and San Francisco. The report of their work showed an excellent bottom, barely exceeding in any part 3000 fathoms, but beyond furnishing useful information for the proposed British cable, nothing practical resulted from their survey.

About this time another competitor, the French Pacific Company, appeared on the scene, and in the early part of 1893 actually laid the first section of their cable from Queensland to New Caledonia, the Queensland and New South Wales Governments agreeing to pay a subsidy of £2000 each for a period of thirty years. As the cable was also subsidised by France, and completely under her control, the action of these two colonies was adversely criticised by the Home Government as well as by the rest of Australasia.

In the same year the CanadianAustralasian steamship service was inaugurated. The fact that Canada and Australia are in different hemispheres, and that the winter of the one is the summer of the other, pointed to a good prospect of trade in agricultural produce. In Canada during the winter butter was 1s. 6d. per lb., while in Australia at the same time it was only 5d. There would be an almost equally good market for potatoes, apples, and eggs. Impressed with this fact, the Canadian Government, as early as 1889, offered a subsidy of £25,000 for a fortnightly steamship service; but it was not till New South Wales was prepared to add another £10,000, and the service was made monthly, that any one could be induced to undertake the contract. The first steamer of the line, the Miowera, left Sydney for Vancouver in May 1893.

In the following September the Hon. (now Sir) Mackenzie Bowell, the Canadian Minister of Trade and Commerce, left Vancouver on a mission to Australia to promote the extension of trade which the new line made possible. But as no steamship service can thrive unless the ports at which it touches are in telegraphic communication, the subject of the Pacific cable was also to be discussed, and in this connection the Minister was accompanied by Mr Sandford Fleming. It was impossible in the short time at their disposal before the opening of the Canadian Parliament to make a tour of all the Australian colonies, but such as they visited evinced great willingness to co-operate both in the matter of trade and telegraphic communication. In order to obtain a definite expression of opinion from the whole of Australasia, it was proposed to hold a Conference at Ottawa in the following year.

Before this met, however, the Intercolonial Postal Conference, held at Wellington in March 1894, showed that the Australian colonies were in earnest with regard to the Pacific cable, by proposing to guarantee interest at 4 per cent on a capital not exceeding £1,800,000 for fourteen years to any private company undertaking to lay the cable and not to charge more than 3s. per word for telegrams to Great Britain.

The Ottawa Conference was opened in June of the same year, and the subject of the Pacific cable was made of primary importance. The majority of the Australian

colonies including

were

Queensland and New South Wales, who had bound themselves to a subsidy for the French cable to New Caledonia strongly in favour of it. West Australia was not represented, and the delegate from South Australia, the Hon. Thomas Playford, although he declared that his Government would not oppose the scheme, criticised it very freely. His attitude in the matter is explained by the fact that South Australia, at great expense, constructed land - lines right across the continent from south to north in order to make a junction at Port Darwin with the first cable laid from Java. The land-lines had always proved a loss, and if the Pacific cable were laid, the annual deficit would be still further increased. Against loss from this cause, however, the other colonies were prepared to indemnify South Australia.

The first point that Mr Playford urged against the scheme was its impracticability, in support of which he quoted a statement made by Mr Patey at the Colonial Conference of 1887, in which he mentioned depths of

12,000 fathoms to be found in the Pacific. Mr Patey afterwards withdrew the statement, admitting that he was in error; and indeed up to the present time the deepest sounding in the world does not exceed 5155 fathoms. The second objection was based on the hydrographer's report of the project in 1887. In this report it was stated that, from an Admiralty point of view, the sole use of such a cable would be communication with ships at Honolulu and Fiji,-an unimportant matter in times of peace, and during a war only important with regard to Fiji. From an imperial point of view it would be of little value, as in case of a breakdown occurring there would be no quick line of steamers to bridge across the broken section. In conclusion, it was argued that a single line of cable never paid commercially, that a very large subsidy would be required, and that if anything was to be done the existing route should be tripled.

It must be remembered that this report was written no less than seven years before the Ottawa Conference, since which date the circumstances affecting the case had undergone considerable alteration. With regard to the strategical advantage of an All-British route there can be no question; and as to the objection to a single line, even if it survived a declaration of war no more than a couple of days, the service it could render to the empire might represent many times its original value. It must also be remembered that the proposed cable is an additional line, and cannot but strengthen the present communication with Australia. In other words, a twofold communication with Australia already exists, and the laying of a Pacific cable triples

the telegraph service. The adverse character of the Post Office report in 1893 was felt by the Conference to be of greater weight. The total cost of the line according to their estimate was no less than £2,924,100. This was almost a prohibitive price, but the figures will be criticised later. Finally, there was the statement that no soundings had been taken between Honolulu and Vancouver, and that a survey was necessary before any decision could be arrived at.

The apparent necessity for a survey seems to have prevented the Conference from formulating any definite plan for the construction of the cable, and the following resolutions were the only result of their deliberations on the subject: "That immediate steps should be taken to provide telegraphic communication by cable, free from foreign control, between Canada and Australia; that the Imperial Government should be requested to make, at the earliest possible moment, a thorough survey of the proposed cable route, the expense to be borne equally by Great Britain, Canada, and Australasia; and that the Canadian Government be requested to ascertain the cost."

The report of the proceedings by the English representative, the Earl of Jersey, appeared in December 1894. The Report took a broad and liberal view of the situation; but with regard to the statement that the long stretches of water between Vancouver and the Sandwich Islands or Fanning Island were virtually unexplored, it is curious that the soundings of the Albatross and Thetis in 1891 and 1892, which were published in 1893, should have escaped the notice of the Conference. The discontinuance of the survey

by the Egeria, Lord Jersey remarked, evoked from the delegates an expression of great disappointment that the request of the Conference of 1887 had been so imperfectly met. In connection with the necessity for a survey, he mentioned the memorandum of Mr Alexander Siemens, which was received after the Conference had risen. In this memorandum Mr Siemens gave it as his opinion that no special survey was necessary, a view confirmed by the other cable manufacturing companies, who subsequently sent in tenders for the work.

Coming to the cost of the cable, Lord Jersey quoted from Mr Sandford Fleming's memorandum, which put the whole sum roughly at £2,000,000. The interest on this capital at 3 per cent would be £60,000, the cost of working was estimated at £60,000, and the renewal fund at £32,000, representing an annual liability of £152,000. The earnings of the cable at 2s. across the Pacificreducing the rate between Australia and England from 4s. 9d. to 3s. 3d.—would in 1898 (supposing the cable to be opened in 1897) be £99,465, and in 1904 £153,023, thus producing in seven years a balance of receipts and expenditure. There would, consequently, be little or no loss to the contributing or guaranteeing Governments. As to the question whether the cable should be laid as a national undertaking, or by a company with a subsidy or guarantee, the delegates were not unanimous; but in favour of the former it was urged that the expenses of promotion would be avoided, and the danger of amalgamation with existing companies precluded.

In conclusion, Lord Jersey said that with regard to the commercial value of the cable there was but

one opinion, and that it was evident the Colonies were most anxious to obtain it. He closed his Report

with the following words :

"Never, perhaps, in our empire's history has such an opportunity presented itself. The " passionate

sentiment of Canada, as Sir John Thompson so well described it, and the hopeful attachment of the growing colonies of Australasia and the Cape, turn eagerly at this time to the mother-country for some sign of her regard for their development. Their leading statesmen appreciate the value of the connection with Great Britain, and the bulk of their population is loyal. It is within the power of Great Britain to settle the direction of their trade and the current of their sentiments for, it may be, generations. Such an opportunity may not soon recur, as the sands of time run down

quickly. There is an impatience for action which would be tried by delay, and most sadly disappointed by indifference to the proposals which are now brought forward. A ready and generous consideration of them would be hailed with intense satisfaction."

The proceedings of the Ottawa Conference seem to have revived the project of the American cable to Honolulu, and in February 1895 the Senate voted £100,000 for the purpose. It was also rumoured that France, Russia, and Japan would unite with America in carrying the line across to Japan. Russia is anxious to secure a route which will avoid British cables, while France desires a connection between New Caledonia and Honolulu via her possession of Tahiti.

In July 1895 the Liberal Government, which had done little to assist the All-British scheme, was defeated, and when Mr Chamberlain became Secretary of State for the Colonies, he announced in a letter that he had taken that post with the object of seeing if something could not be