CABLE BETWEEN NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 215, 11 April 1873, Page 6

CABLE BETWEEN NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA.

• The . Parliamentary Papers/ relating to the proposed eable to connect New i : 'Zei' a lana with the Australian Continent and with the Mother Country, have been published in ex (en so in the Auckland papers. As previously stated, the arrangements entered .into between the representatives of the Governments of New South Wales, Queensland, and New Zealand are subject to the appro- > • val of the Parliaments of .these three Colonies. The draft of the .proposed agreement we publish to day, which will gi/eafair idea of the terms and conditions on which the scheme is to

be carried out. The, desirability of in■eluding this Colony in the grand magnetic belt which novv almost circumscribes thq civilised world, will be conceded by every ono, but whether the resources of the Cokuiy warrant the. (:ioyernment in incurring the necessary liability of a third of the guarantee required ,is a, question which requires consideration. , It will be seen that the arrangement embraces "a "proposal not only, for a cable between New Zea-' land and A'ew South' Walesj but also a cable between iS'ormanton (Queensland) and This work is I proposed to bo undertaken, by a powerful company at a cost of over one mill lion pounds, on \yhieh the three Colo-; i nies, parties to the agreement, are toj pay a guarantee of five per cent, for j t'lirtv-five years, or £50,000. a year: i his gunr.intee is only payable on the i efficient working of the two cable'lines, payment being stopped altogether if they remain, unworkable for an unreasonable time, but four weeks in each .year being allowed for ; repairs. Assuming that the*two cables are Icept workin oj £12,000 per annum, is to: be charged out of the receipts for working expenses; all receipts oyer that amount'! to be carried to a reduction of the: guarantee. ,If the.profits reach over ten per cent , the company constructing the line is to retain the excess, but the (governments maythen 'require' that the "tariff be lowered. The terms of this arraiigement (which is only provisional) appear extremely favorable. A considerable reduction in the rates between the A ustralian. Continent and Singapore is provided for, and_the cost of messages through to Kngiand iW expected to be lowered by this-new line. The tarift between New Zealand and New South Wales is not to exceed fifteen shillings for twenty worlds, and ninepence for each additional word teriiis extremely favorable for a message through a :cable 1,300 miles in length.—-Thames 4 Star/-; .