THE NEW CABLE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3179, 1 September 1917, Page 8

THE NEW CABLE

CELEBRATING ITS COMPLETION REVIEW BY SIR JOSEPH WARD At the Grand Hotel yesterday the Eastern Extension Cable Company*) which has just rearranged its submarine communications between .New Zealand and Australia, celebrated the successful conclusion of the work by enter-* taining Sir Joseph Ward (the Postmas-ter-General), the. Hon. XL Beaton. Khodes,, Mr. Donald Itobertson (Public Servicer'. Commissioner), Mr. W. it. Moms (Sec-J retary of the Post and telegraph De-| partmeut), and the heads of the various-! GP 0 departments at iumeheon. Thosa-: present also included the officers of the J Eastern Extension Company s cable • steamer and the local staff of the company. „. „ , . j After luncheon "The King was toast*

ed. Mr. E. It. Black, the company s super-: intendent, who presided, then proposed, the health of the Postmaster-General. Mr. Black said he had to thank bir. Joseph Ward, on behalf of the cpmpaay, for authorising the transfer ot the cable to Wellington. Sir Joseph Ward had always taken a keen interest in encouraging greater facilities in cable communications. Their thanks were also due to the Government for the handsome accommodation which had been provided, for them in Nathan's Buildings, where he was sure tliev would all- be very happy. Ilr. Black also eulogised the Department for the work done m laying down the land portion of the table, it had taken a longer time than anticipated, owing to adverse weather conditions, but all difficulties had been surmounted, and the work was completed most satisfactorily. _ ■ In response, Sir Joseph Ward expressed, his appreciation of the courtesy he hsul always received from the Eastern Intension Company and its able general manager in Australia, Air. Webster. There had been great developments m the cable service between here and Australia, which he hoped would be of benefit both to the country and the enterprising company which was entertainin" them. He wanted to say that owing to the Eastern Extension Company coming into Wellington the country would I save' .£SOO a year. They had paid £600 a vear for the offices at Wakapuaka, and now thev had to pay .£3OO a year only— a clear "saving of .£SOO a year. He emphasised the benefits that would accrue from the action of the company in establishing themselves practically in the Wellington Post Office and the Sydney Post Office, for it meant that they were brought into nearer touch one with the other. The alteration was of value to the Government, of value to the countrv, and he hoped it would be of the greatest value to the company. (Hear, hear.) Replying to Mr. Webster s opening message, Virished along life to the cable, to the Eastern Extension■ .-om-. n»ny and he thanked them for■ U» cordhilitv of the wishes that had been con--I'he Hon!"*. H. Rhodes also congratulated the Eastern Extension company on its latest achievement. Sir Joseph AVard proposed the toast ot the "Eastern Extension. Australasia and China Telegraph Company and in once more referring to the latest achievement in cable-laying, expressed his appreciation of the ready co-operation which . ad Ut accorded by Mr W R. Morris and Mr. J. Orchiston, who had been called upon to assist in the work ofl«wg'the land cable from TitaVii Bay to Well ngton. Indeed, he would personally bse to express his deep appreciation ot the good work those officers do in many respects. This was only additional Ustimony to their efficiency and that ot the Post and Telegraph service. He (hir Joseph Ward) was a cadet m the lele"ranh Department before we Had cable communication, and he could remember ending out the news of the Franco-Prus-sian War after the arrival of a mailboat. He could remember, too, being fined '2s. fid. for Telling the receiver that ho was not taking the message as well as Tie should. Ho would not paytuefnie. but the postmaster, was a sympathetic man. and paid it—«nd then'.deducted it from his "screw.' (daughter.) The first' cable between Australia and New Zealand was laid down in 1376, so that it had only existed during the span of a. man's life. Indeed, there were men of middle-age in New Zealand when the cable was laid who were stilt alive. The first subsidy paid was one of ,£7500, and they were helped in that by New South Wales paying one-third. As lo charges, the first rate per word was lis. 2d., which in 1593 was i educed to ss. 2d. In 1900 they commenced laying the Pacific cable, and in April. 1902. the rates to the United Kingdom were reduced from ss. 2d. to 3s. 4d. per" word (ordinary rates). .-jn-jSeceniuer !he saniS year the rate dropped lo 35.. per word, whilst the present rate was 2s. Bd. per!; word. The rate to Australia was re-\ duced from 3s. Sd. to 2s. 2d. in 1893, and> s on the Pacific cablo coming into opera-s tion, the-rate was cut down lo Is. pet"! word. In 1909 it dropped to od., and to 7kl. in September, 1912. Sir Joseph; Ward spoke of the fine work the East-: ern Exkn;;ion Company- had done in al-. lowing tho next-of-kin of wounded toldiers to send three messages of inquiry free of cost,- with the replies.. The company had sent 30,000 cf such, messages, and had received 20,000 replies. •When they reflected what that meantj they would agree that the company de-j served the thanks and 'congratulations of ; every section and all classes of the com-, mun'ity. (Applause.) Sir Joseph Ward 1 also referred to tho good war workj which'had been done by this "great,; powerful, and very finely conducted company," and also expressed thanks for the. work the company's steamer had done in presenting the Government with and; relaying another cablo across . Cook Strait, which had saved the Government; anything from .£14,000 to .£16,000. That) work 'had been done in 36 hours, 'ind.; was a praiseworthy achievement for Captain Bredenburg and his officers. Sirs Joseph Ward said he looked forward 10, the time when the cable rates would be even lower than they were to-day, as the result of the development of their c<K ■ adiutor and competitor, the wireless.. The time might bo not so far distant when they would be telephoning across, to Sydney through the air, but long be-; fore that ho hoped that the superintending officer would be getting a 25 per cent, increase in salary. (Laughter.) Development was bound to take place, and he hoped it would all be for the benefit of the members of the staff and the Eastern Extension Company. UPPl Mr e Black, after thanking Sir Joseph Word for his remarks, said the comSv had been doing "its little bit" m mssin* on the free messages, and be hoped o that in helping the people they were helpin- the Government. In conclus on Mr."Black presented Sir Joseph -Ward with the first message (neat y opening day. ■ »*■" ls . ™, a a]3SW6r a gentle *«**£ Firsl distant ftepartment, P^°f > «*, J Snien pre*"S f 'SHfrW I Morris (Secretary) felicitous terms. Tn »£«<» « the -^h^-trSvd^.Ve'answer rt'4«; " Yes; ~ave jpu got any work for us.