12

F.—B

Enclosure 1 in No. 46. The Chairman, Pacific Cable Board, to the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. g IK Pacific Cable Board, 30th September, 1902. With further reference to your letter of the 19th instant, I am instructed by the Pacific Cable Board to state, for the information of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, that they have ascertained that the Eastern Telegraph Company proposes on the completion of the route vid the Cape to Australia to reduce the rate on Government messages, not to Is. 6d. a word as the Colonial Office letter assumes, but to Is. 7Jd., viz.: — s. d. Australian terminal charge ... ... ■•• ■•• ... 0 4 Eastern Company's charge (half rates) ... ... ... ... 1 3| 1 7i On the same principle the Board, it is presumed, should reduce the rates to Is. viz.: — s. d. Tariff to Vancouver ... ... ... • ... ... ... 0 8 Australian terminal charge ... ... ... • • • ... 0 4 Half rate Pacific cable ... ... ... ... •■- ••• 0 9£ 1 9* They write this on the assumption that — 1. The Government of the Commonwealth have reduced the terminal rate on Government messages from sd. (the ordinary rate) to 4d. a word; and 2. The pool companies and Commercial Company will not consent to take Government traffic to Vancouver for less than Bd., against the reduced rate for ordinary messages of Is. a word. The companies have so far refused to carry Government traffic for less than two-thirds the ordinary rate, and Mr. Chamberlain is doubtless aware that the carriage of an ordinary telegram to Vancouver is Is. 6d. a word. I am, &c, The Under-Secretary of State, Colonial Office. S. Walpole.

Enclosure 2 in No. 46. The Assistant Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies to the Chairman, Pacific Cable Board. g IB Downing Street, 10th October, 1902. I am directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 30th September respecting the rates for Government telegrams to Australia. 2. Having regard to the fact that the rate over the Eastern and Eastern Extension Telegraph Company's lines will be 2d. per word less than the rate vid Vancouver and the Pacific cable, Mr. Chamberlain feels that it will be necessary seriously to consider whether messages from this Department to the Australian Governments can be sent by the latter route. 3. I am to inquire, with reference to the letter from this Department of the 4th and the Board's reply of the 6th August, whether the rates for the transmission of Government telegrams between Queensland, Norfolk Island, and Fiji have yet been reduced to half the ordinary rates. Mr. Chamberlain will also be glad to learn what will be the rates for telegrams vid Vancouver to Fiji and New Zealand. I am, &c, The Chairman, Pacific Cable Board. H. Bertram Cox.

Enclosure 3 in No. 46. The Chairman, Pacific Cable Board, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. g IB ,— 24, Queen Anne's Gate, S.W., 27th October, 1902. I have laid before the Pacific Cable Board your letter of the 10th instant respecting the rates for Government telegrams for Australasia. In reply, I have the honour to state that upon representations made by this Board, the Atlantic telegraph companies have agreed to reduce the through rate on Government messages from Vancouver from Bd. to 6d. per word, and that in consequence the Board will be in a position to quote the same rates for these messages to Australasia as will be conceded by the Eastern and Eastern Extension Companies on such telegrams forwarded vid the Cape of Good Hope. 1 am further to state that the Board's rate for the cable for Government telegrams between Queensland or New Zealand to Norfolk Island has been fixed ever since the opening of the cable at Id., or one-half the rate for ordinary messages. The rates between Australia or New Zealand to Fiji are—so far as the cable is concerned—7d. for ordinary and sd. for Government messages. It is proposed to reduce the latter to 3|d. or onehalf the rate on ordinary messages, so soon as the new tariff rates vid Vancouver are announced. I need hardly add that it rests with the Governments of the Australian Commonwealth and New Zealand, and not with the Board, to make corresponding reductions in the terminal rates charged by them on Government messages. In conclusion I beg to add that the Board proposes that the rates for ordinary telegrams from this country to Fanning Island shall be 2s. 6d., and to New Zealand 3s. per word. I am, &c, The Secretary of State, Colonial Office, S. Walpole.