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we are to build up a great British commercial union, the first essential step is to bring every British community throughout the world into direct telegraphic connection. These considerations lead me to think it a matter of supreme importance to trade and shipping, to the expansion and support of British interests, that the telegraph should, as speedily as possible, be extended across the Pacific Ocean. The day is not far distant when the Pacific will be traversed, as the Atlantic is, by many cables, but we must take one step at a time, and the first step which circumstances demand is undoubtedly that which will give to Australia an alternative line of telegraphic connection with England. In my humble judgment this step is of vital importance to the Empire as a whole, and I appeal to every one of the delegates who constituted the Parliament of Trade and Commerce which recently met in London , I appeal to every British merchant at Home and abroad, I appeal to every Chamber of Commerce within Her Majesty's dominions, to urge upon the Home and Colonial Governments that the establishment of this cable should not be long delayed. There is no section of the globe's surface where a telegraph is more needed , nowhere within the influence of the Empire would it serve purposes more important. The spanning of the Pacific Ocean by the electric wire will be of immense advantage to British shipping, it will stimulate the development of new trade , it will strengthen the attachment of the sister colonies on both sides of the ocean to the Mother-land , it will effectually promote that Britannic union of trade and commerce so earnestly desired by every speaker at the recent Congress of Chambers of Commerce of the Empire.

No. 4. [-The Hon. the Ministee of Tbade and Commeece, Ottawa, to the Hon. the Peemiee, New Zealand. Sic,— Minister's Office, Ottawa, 7th March, 1894. I enclose herewith for your information, and that of your Government, a statement of facts bearing on the nautical survey in connection with the Pacific cable. You will notice that there has been an apparent unwillingness on the part of the Admiralty to proceed with the examination, and it may become expedient, when the Conference meets here in June next, to consider the adoption of other means of completing the work, among them that of having the survey made by colonial ships, should such a course be deemed necessary I enclose also for your information a copy of a letter from Mr Fleming to Sir Charles Tupper, on matters connected with the cable. I have, &c, M. Bowell, Minister of Trade and Commerce. The Hon. E. J Seddon, Premier, &c, Wellington, New Zealand.

Enclosure 1 in No. 4. Statement eespecting the Nautical Sdevey in connection with the Pacific Cable. Fbom the first conception of a trans-Pacific cable it was considered necessary to obtain a proper nautical survey. This was especially the case when statements were made in certain quarters that such an undertaking could not be carried out owing to insuperable difficulties alleged to exist on the route. In order to invest the project with public confidence, it was deemed exceedingly desirable that the survey should be undertaken by the British Admiralty, as being the highest nautical authority in existence. Application was accordingly made at various times through the proper channel to the Admiralty to have the survey carried out by them. At the Colonial Conference of 1887, Sir Alexander Campbell moved a resolution setting forth " That the connection of Canada with Australia by direct submarine telegraph across the Pacific is a project of high importance to the Empire, and every doubt as to its practicability should without delay be set at rest by an exhaustive survey " In submitting the resolution, Sir Alexander at some length dwelt upon the importance of the cable and the necessity of a survey He likewise explained the repeated efforts which had been made to have it accomplished by the Admiralty Among other things, he said, — " Canada proposed two or three years ago to assist in a survey The difficulty which the Admiralty urged was that they had no vessel to spare, and therefore they could not do it. " Canada had several vessels of her own, and she found a suitable one, the ' Alert, an excellent ship for the purpose, which she had been using in connection with observations which she had been making for a couple of years as to the time Hudson's Bay was open every year for navigation. " She offered the ' Alert for the purposes of the survey, and in that way she seemed to have answered completely the difficulty raised by the Admiralty " Canada wrote over to the Admiralty telling them that she had a suitable vessel, and then they would not do it at all. Then we offered to pay half the expense. Still the Admiralty would not do it, and there the matter stopped." After the resolution moved by Sir Alexander Campbell was unanimously passed and the Conference closed, the following letter was addressed to the Eight Hon. Sir Henry Holland (now Lord Knutsford), Secretary of State for the Colonies : — " Sic,— " London, 16th May, 1887 " During the discussion on the subject of the postal and telegraphic communications of the Empire before the Colonial Conference, the question was raised as to the practicability of submerging cables in the Pacific Ocean so as to connect Canada and Australia telegraphically, and, as all doubts on the question should be removed with as little delay as possible, a thorough and exhaustive nautical examination should be at once made.