IMPERIAL CABLES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 209, 28 May 1908, Page 7

IMPERIAL CABLES.

' LORD CURZON. ' , < THE BRITON'S PRIDE OF RACE. BY TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT , London, May. 26., Lord Curzon, ex-Viceroy of India, at an. ) Empire banquet at the Hotd Cecil, denied < that ~ "Empire" was an unpopular creed "'or/ , ivas received with extreme distrust - by tho j modern democracy, for deep in tho heart ; of every Britisher was ineradicable piiclp -of race. He ady'ocated tho looping of all British possessions by cables exclusively Bri- 1 tishj and cheaper than now, and welcomed tho growth of Imperial education in schools. • A SCHEME TO COST FIVE MILLIONS. >. 1 Tho Board of Trade of Ottawa last year forwarded to tho Governor-General. (Earl Grey) an interesting proposal, which, is in effect tho establishment of a system of State-owned cables encircling the globe. The Board regards such -a cable system as an Imperial necessity, supplementary to tho proposed Imperial steamship line. The Board estimates the cost of a cable from Australia to South Africa (with a branch to-India),. from-Capetown to England, and from England to Canada, at five millions sterling. t ' The last Colonial Conference m London unanimously resolved: " That, in the opinion of this Conference; the' provision of alternative routes of cable communication is desirable; but in deciding upon such routes, the question of the strategic advantage should recoive the fullest consideration; (2) that landing licenses should not operate for a longer period than twenty years, and that when subsidies are agreed to be paid they should bo arranged on the 'standard revenue principle, ■ i.e., half the receipts after a fixed gross revonuo has been earned to be utilised for tho extinguishment of the subsidy, and, - by an agreement; for-the reduction ot rates.