CHEAP CABLES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 274, 13 November 1908, Page 4

CHEAP CABLES

MR. HENNIKEB HEATON'S SCHEME. CONFERENCE OPENS IN LONDON.

ti. • London, November 11. iiie conference on Mr. Henniker Henopened. A long and interesting discussion tool; place. i, t1 i ";,m 11 ""; V' c " ,i,! " x (Uu > ad ' i > «m he believedcheap cables f„ rmed the key to al the numerous problems conf.oi.ing the merchants and statesman of the limpuc. He heliev.-U the pcilnv-n-word rat.- was a grtuid ideal and would be attained sooner or later. Tile cable companies had long had the chance of showing what could be done If a shilling a word were the best they could achieve, as this was certainly a, prohibitive rate, the (iovernnient ought to institute immediate inquiries ns to the possibility and the prospects of the practical success of the penny rates. Signor Marconi said lie doubted, owing to the great cost of cables, if it were possible to send penny-a-word messages n great distance without incurring substantial loss. A reliable service at a pwiny-n-word rate hy the wireless system between Canada and Britain would be possible in time. He claimed to have made a step in the right direction by sending press messages at 2'/,d. He had every confidence | that the wireless system would ultimately and before long come into general use for cominerieal purposes ovev great distances possibly round the world.

Signor Marconi added that if the Governments would pay the working expenses of stations on both aides ol the Atlantic and give a comparatively moderate subsidy, he would be prepared to transmit penny-a-word messages to Canada by wireless. Sir George Doughty contended that the British people would be willing to grant subsidies until the experiment was made a success.

Mr. Neilson, speaking in defence of the cable companies, argued that in the ease of the Antipodes thirty-sis times the present traffic would be needed at a penny a word to earn the same gross revenues as were earned at 3s a word. At least seventy-two cables would be needed at the penny rate, and this would necessitate the construction of sixty-eight new lines at a cost of £170,000,000, and then there would be only the prevent gross revenue to provide interest on capital, working expenses, and the cost of repairs and depreciation, In view of the present fierce cable competition it seemed absurd to contend that all the companies had entered into a hideous • conspiracy to maintain high rates, Mr Neilson referred to the fact that the Pacific Company was losing £ 60,000 a year with a charge of 3s a word. Thirtysix Pacific cables would be needed at a peray-a-word rate, involving an annual Joss of £200,000. He declared that sentiment was a sorry substitute for sound finance. Mr. Hemiikcr Heaton had given no estimate of the cost of conducting the enormously increased traffic. Tnat was an enormous omission, Mr. Parkin and Lord Strathcona were optimistic. Lord Jersey, the chairman, moved a vote of thanks to Mr, Heaton. Mr. Heaton, in responding, hinted at what might happen >f we had Roosevelt here to deal with the cable ring. The managers of the various cable companies, interviewed, declared that the cost of buying out the cables would be stupendous. It was easy to understand the colonial support of Mr. Heaton's penny cable scheme, since the few millions of people in Australia, while using the cable with the same privileges as more than forty millions in the Motherland, would bear an infinitely smaller amount of the huge inevitable loss.