The Hastings Standard Published Daily. MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1896. THE PACIFIC CABLE.

Hastings Standard, Issue 36, 8 June 1896, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily.

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1896. THE PACIFIC CABLE.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance. And the good that we can do.

The Committee io which the Pacific cable question has been referred met on Friday. The question uO be dealt with is the desirability of connecting the outlying portions of the empire by a cable which shall touch British possessions. While this will be the main consideration of the Committee, there are other matters that will no doubu receive attention. The danger threatening submarine telegraphic communication in time of war is a fitting subject for the consideration of the Committee. Almost the entire commerce of the world is nowadays dependent on the cables, and it would be a maimer of universal regret and enormous loss if, owing to any war, Lhey should be destroyed or interrupted by the ships of belligerent nations. Such a contingency is quite within the bounds of possibility, and to usjn the

Colonies it would be an excellent thing if the cables were neutralised. The cables are protected in times of peace, for an International Convention was signed in Paris in 1884 by twentyeight Powers, including the principal European and American nations, as well as the civilised States of the East, and according to the terms of the Convention, any one injuring a cable may be seized by the ship of any State and severely punished. In time of war *he belligerents are not bound by any such regulations, and it would be almost impossible to prevent the destruction of cables outside territorial waters should such destruction be deemed expedient by the belligerents. Neutralisation of the cables by international agreement is highly desirable, but such a proposition from England would not, we think, meet with general favor among the nations. Great Britain has a very extensive cable connection reaching to all parts of the world, and she would have an evident advantago in time of war over her enemy. England would be able to cable instructions to her fleets, warn her colonies, contract for food supplies, and in other ways secure advantages, but these advantages would be against only tlie nation with whom she happened to bo at war ; while the other nations would be benefited in not having their commerce disturbed. The fact that England would be placed in a position of advantage by the neutralisation of the cables is sufficient reason for the principal Continental Powers declining to fall in with any such proposals. Perfidious Albion, by her extraordinary success in colonisation, in commercial enterprise, the extent of her wealth, and her greatness, has made her neighbors jealous, and it is too much to expect that these neighbors will in any way help her to maintain her vantage ground. The enormous cost of the cables and their peace-making tendency, by widening the fields of commerce, should be sufficient to ensure them against destruction, and the neutralisation of the cables in time of war is but an extension of the protection accorded to them in times of peac-e. To permit the disturbance of the cable communication of the whole world simply because two nations may be engaged in war is against common sense, and the attempt at absolute neutralisation might very well be made now, even if failure attends the effort.