F.—6c

i

In some respects, especially as regards durability of the outer covering, it is superior to the present type of Atlantic cable, which is in our opinion the best type of deep-sea cable up to this time adopted. There can be no doubt it can be paid out and also picked up in depths of 2,000 to 2,600 fathoms (the maximum depth indicated between Sydney and New Zealand), and that both operations could be performed with about the same facility as with the type of cable hitherto in use, seeing that each cable will support about the same length of itself in water, about 6,500 fathoms. This new form of cable is rather cheaper when laid, and therefore, having less material, it has not quite the same absolute strength as the ordinary type of cable. There will therefore be necessarily slightly more risk in manipulating this cable in deep water than those of the Falmouth and Gibraltar, or Brazilian patterns. On your system of lines, there is no type of cable in any way similar to the proposed new form. Upon the whole, we consider the latter as a deep-sea cable superior in mechanical construction to the line laid between Madras and Singapore, which is, so far as we can judge from the charts, the deepest section in your system. We can therefore, in the terms of your resolution, report that the new form of cable " is in every respect as suitable as the present cables of your Company." The actual breaking strain of the type originally recommended by us is 108 ewt., and that of the projected new type between 90 and 100 ewt.; but as it is a lighter cable, and has a smoother and smaller exterior surface, the diminished friction will in a great measure compensate for the difference in absolute strength ; and it is at the same time likely to prove a more durable form of cable. The form of cable which has been submitted to us is very scientifically designed, and gives more value for the money than the form hitherto in use; at the same time it requires a very careful selection of materials to obtain the full benefit of the mode of construction, and without this careful selection it would not compare so well to the forms in ordinary use. We remain, &c, Claeke, Fobd, and Co. By Authority: Giobge Didsbcby, Government Printer, Wellington.—lB7s. Price 3d.]