F.—B

2

Enclosure in No. 1. Extract. jK * H' # # >>- The route that I then suggested was from Queensland to Fiji, thence Samoa, thence Honolulu, thence San Francisco; and I still feel sure that route is the best. If the contract that is now signed for the making and laying of the Pacific cable goes by way of Fanning Island to Vancouver, that section of 3,650 miles in one stretch of cable will act as a "toll-gate" to all messages going over the whole cable, without they make such an expensive cable for that section, at a cost almost as much as the whole of the other sections of the cables put together. The experts who have been advising the Pacific Cable Board in London in their negotiations must have known that the 3,650-miles stretch would act as a " toll-gate " on the whole cable for all time. If it is not too late, I would suggest —and I feel sure there is still time — to arrange for a compromise with the manufacturing cable company, and let the cable from Fanning Island be landed at Honolulu, thence Vancouver. In this way the whole undertaking will be much benefited, and at no extra cost but a repeating-station. To this day the concessions for lan ding-rights along the proper route are in my name. * * * * # , *

No. 2, The Hon. the Postmaster-General, Wellington, to the Hon. Audley Coote, Sydney. Sib,— General Post Office, Wellington, 4th April, 1901. I have the honour to acknowledge, with thanks, the receipt of your letter of the 12th ultimo, referring to the question of a State-owned cable between New Zealand and Australia, and forwarding extract from a letter from you, published in a Sydney newspaper, in connection with the route of the Pacific cable. In reply, 1 beg to inform you that consideration is being given to the question of a State-owned cable between New Zealand and Australia, and already this Government has received offers to lay such a cable between La Perouse and Wakapuaka. I have sent so much of your printed matter as affects the Pacific cable —the section between Vancouver and Fanning Island and the landing at Honolulu—to the Agent-General for this colony, for the information of the Pacific Cable Board. I have, &c, J. G. Ward, Postmaster-General. The Hon. Audley Coote, Waverley Park, Sydney.

PACIFIC CABLE.

No. 3. Sir Sandford Fleming, Ottawa, to the Hon. the Postmaster-General, Ottawa. Dear Sir, — Ottawa, 22nd February, 1900. I have read the Hansard report of the discussion on the subject of the Pacific cable on the 19th and 20th instant, and have been much interested, especially in the statement which you submitted to the House of Commons on the 19th. The question raised, as you observe, is indeed of far-reaching importance, and I fear that there are those connected with the Home Government and the Governments of some of the Australasian Colonies who are not familiar with the facts, and who have but an inadequate conception of the very great and peculiar importance of the proposed undertaking. Much as a telegraph extending from the shores of Canada to the Australasian Colonies would foster trade and shipping, and would promote business and social intercourse, the project has a far more important outlook than any immediate results in advancing commercial and industrial activity between the Dominion and Australia and New Zealand. These considerations are undoubtedly of high importance, but they form but a portion of the beneficial results to follow the establishment of the Pacific cable. Perhaps the chief importance of the undertaking lies in the fact that it would render possible a great Imperial telegraph system of supreme value to the whole Colonial Empire. If a map of the world be carefully examined and every geographical condition weighed, it will be found that the Pacific cable is the key, and the only key, to a comprehensive British telegraph system encircling the globe. By a cable extending from Canada to Australia, and by no other route, is it possible to establish and maintain such an Imperial means of communication—one which would bring every British possession on both hemispheres into direct telegraphic connection without touching an acre of foreign soil. It is no visionary project that I now allude to, nor does it involve any extraordinary expenditure of capital; but I will not lengthen this letter by enlarging on the scheme or by dilating upon the incalculable advantages to spring from it. For explanations I beg leave to direct your atten-