THE CABLES OF THE WORLD.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 6712, 2 June 1900, Page 2

THE CABLES OF THE WORLD.

The immense measure of success which has attended the British nation as colonisers has always been one of the chief causes of Continental jealousy, for it has stung the foreign powers to the quick to see " perfidious Albion " ever expanding her dominions while they stood still. This, of course, has been perfectly well known for years ; but another fact, perhaps not so generally understood, although only the sequel of successful colonisation, has been brought prominently before the public mind by the present war, and when the Continental nations begin to intelligently grasp the situation, they will probably see in it another reason why they should look upon Great Britain with the green eye of jealousy. We refer to the fact, demonstrated by the war, that England nmnti<-n.iir possessed the monopoly of all

the great lines of cable with which the j uttermost parts of the earth are brought into closest touch with London, " the heart of the Empire." Not that monopoly means actual possession" of "the cables themselves, for most of themotiio owned by private companies, but all the sympathies of these companies are British, and moreover their property is so regulated that its service can be "commandeered" by the Government at any time. Thus, in time of war, the British authorities would have the principal lines of communication throughout the world under its entire and direct control. What this means may be gathered from the statement of a recent French writer, who compares ! England with her cable system to "an overgrown spider." No other nation has anything to be compared to this system of communication radiating from its centre. Even France is so dependent upon England for her news that she has to pay something like £100,000 per year to English companies by way of subsidies. No doubt in time of war she would be permitted to avail herself of Russia's telegraphic system as far as it would be serviceable to her, but this by no means condones the humiliating position she now occupies, from a telegraphic point

of view, or compensates for the isolated

positions her colonies would occupy in the event of trouble with England, or

any of the Great Powers. But bad as

her position is, it is not nearly so hope, less as that of Spain, who at the break, ing out of the Spanish-American war had no means of communication between

Madrid and Havana, except American cables. Germany is now seeking to

establish a State-owned cable ofhhre r own between the Fatherland and New York, via the Azores, but the most successful, and energetic emulator of Great Eritain, is America, she already having schemes in course of completion for the connection of her new colonies, the Phil, lipincs, and Sandwich Islands. When the Cape, and Pacific lines are laid, England's position will be infinitely better than it is at the present moment, and considering the scattered nature ot her dominions tho importance of having each part in touch with the other cannot bo over estimated. Everyone can now see how vastly the cable assisted in enabling forces from every colony of the Empire to be marshalled on the veldt of Africa within a few weeks when occasion required, and so it must ever be. The fast steamships and ocean tramps have done much to develop the Empire, but it is doubtful if they haye been as successful in consolidating it as the cable has which is in fact, as well as in metophor| "a cord that binds us to the Motherland." British enterprise has given us the present telegraphic supremacy of the world, and it now remains for British energy to keep the lead so honorably obtained.