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No. 104. The Right Hon. the Secretary of State for the Colonies to His Excellency the Governor of New Zealand. My Lord, — Downing Street, sth March, 1908. With reference to my despatch, Miscellaneous, of the 19th July last [No. 102], I have the honour to transmit to you, to be laid before your Ministers, a copy of a despatch from the Governor-General of Canada enclosing copy of a letter from the Ottawa Board of Trade and copies of printed papers on the subject of Empire cables. I have, Ac, Elgin. Governor the Right Honourable Lord Plunket, K.C.M.G., X.C.V.0., Ac, [Tel. 08/2706.]

Enclosure in No. 104. His Excellency the Governor-General of Canada to the Right Hon. the Secretary of State for the Colonies. My Lord, — Government House, Ottawa, 3rd February, 1908. With reference to my despatch No. 272 of the 23rd June, 1907 [not printed], I have the honour to forward copy of a communication from the Ottawa Board of Trade, covering copies of printed papers relative to a system of telegraph-lines encircling the globe, intended for the use of His Majesty's Government and -for distribution to the several colonial Governments concerned with the matter. I have, Ac, Grey. The Right Honourable the Earl of Elgin, K.G.

Sub-enclosure in No. 104. The Secretary, Ottawa Board of Trade, to His Excellency the Governor-General of Canada. Your Excellency,— Ottawa, Ontario, 22nd January, 1908. On behalf of the Board of Trade of the City of Ottawa, I have the honour to submit the enclosed papers on the subject of a globe-girdling system of telegraph-lines by sea and land, the object in view being to place the several self-governing communities separated b}- the oceans in direct electric touch with each other and with the Mother-country. This collection of papers is issued as a jubilee appeal of the Board to the citizens of the Empire. It includes the address to Your Excellency, an outcome of the Imperial Conference held in London last summer, and Your Excellency's reply thereto. It includes, also, other papers in which Sir Sandford Fleming, a member of the Board, reveals facts of high importance which it is desirable should be made known to the Home Government and each of the Governments concerned. I have the honour, therefore, on behalf of this Board, respectfully to express the hope that Your Excellency will be pleased to bring the present appeal to the attention of the respective Governments. I have, Ac, Cecil Bethune, Secretary. His Excellency Earl Grey, Governor-General of Canada.

Enclosure to Sub-enclosure in No. 104. Ottawa Board of Trade Papers.—An Address to His Excellency Earl Grey, Governor-General of Canada; with His Excellency's Reply and other Documents bearing on the proposed Imperial Cable Service to girdle the Globe. To the Reader. This pamphlet is an.appeal to thoughtful men, and is issued with the view of familiarising the public with a subject of the highest national importance. While some of our best men are doubtful about the desirability of public ownership of lines of communication of every kind, there are none who doubt that the carrying of letters is a proper function of the State, and that under no other control could Imperial pennj- postage, that inestimable boon, be obtained. The transmission of correspondence by telegraph is analogous to the postal service, and is controlled by the State in nearly every civilised country, with highly advantageous results. The proposal now advocated is confined to State co-operation and control in the matter of a single globe-girdling system of telegraph-lines by sea and land, a system which would place the several British communities separated by the oceans in direct electric touch, and admit of a telegraph service being maintained with a low transmission-charge, comparable with the penny postage service. The Board of Trade of the City of Ottawa has long considered the proposal. It is entirely non-party and non-jingo. It is a simple, practicable, and patriotic proposal, which, while directly promoting trade, would at the smallest cost provide the means of establishing an intelligence union between the autonomous States of the Empire. As an agency for diffusing and interchanging views