Tawar is a constant struggle going on between the public and the submarine cable companies for'a reduction in the cost of messages. The companies being! the home and colonial governments better organised than the public always make a long and stubborn defence.
They have the advantage, too, of knowpany one-half of any loss that the re-shall guarantee to make up to his com-
auction in rates will show. The ing the cost of their service, while the reduction is a very important one, public can only have a general idea for to Queensland and New Zealand, that it is being squeezed, which is con-which apparently have declined to join firmed, or not, by the dividends that in the guarantee, the old rates from the companies declare; and on this London of 9s. 11d. and 12s, 9d. a word point it can be and often is entirely respectively remain unaltered, while misled by a skilful manipulation of they are from to-day to Australia, Mo-accounts, and a judicious diversion of ridional and East, 4s. 2d., to Victoria the profits to depreciation and reserve 4s. 3d. to New South Wales 4s, 4d., public companies is to make their funds. While the tendency of most and to Tasmania 4s. 10d. The reduction is extended to mossi between dividends as large as possible, and to Shanghai and Australia, for while to put accordingly to capital account much Queensland and New Zesland the expenditure that ought to be charged charge of $2.79 a word remains unto working, telegraph companies are altered, the cost from to-day is only more apt to disguise their success as $1.99 a word to the rest of Australia much as possible, in order to maintain and Tasmania. their tariffs, and they lay everything Now that the rate from London to on working account that it will possi Australia is reduced to 4s, 2d. a word, bear. How the cable companies with it is time that senders of m es to. which we in China are specially con-China at home agitated to get this cerned make the maintenance of the tariff reduced. It is notorious that tariff their first, last, and only aim we the Great Northern Telegraph Company have recently seen proved by the streng could reduce the rate considerably, and nous attempt that was made to get yet make a handsome profit, but for the Telegraph Convention ratified; and its compact with the Eastern Extension nothing was more amusing in connec-Company. We are glad to know that tion with this effort, than the ingenuous a very laudable attempt is now being way in which the astute Sir John made here privately to effect a practical Pender turned round and advised the reduction of the homeward tariff to British government to drop the negotia-Europe by 25 per cent." There are tions when he realised how strong the public opposition to it was. When the two ways by which a reduction can be
next fight comes between the Great effected; by employing the Chinese and French Indo-Chinese and lines, or by Northern and the Eastern Extension sending the- messages to an agent on companies, Sir John will be able to claim the Siberian frontier, and there havin, public support for the Eastern Exten-them sent on at the local Russian tariff. sion Company on the ground that it Traffic by the Franco-Chinese land line was by his advice that the British government withdrew its support from junctions has been open since the 5th of June last, and the rates by that the Convention. route are very much lower than by Stubborn and determined as the cable cable, as the following examples of the companies are, they have to give way cost per word will show in the end, for the public has always From Shanghai Franco-Eastern: to Chinese. one last weapon, an effective one if very cumbrous, the threat to lay a competing cable. For years the Australian colonies have been fighting against the excessive tariff to which they had to submit, higher even' than the one under which we in, but the threat of a Pacific cable has brought it down. Sir John While there is the farther concession Pender, however, has not submitted with that for stations in French Indo-China a good grace, and it must be allowed a word may consist of 15 instead of 10 that experience shows that it is s long letters, or 5 instead of 3 figures. There time before increased business makes ig one drawback, we learn, that has pre-up to cable companies for reductions in the tariff. Sir John, ingly, has only submitted on the condition that vented this route being generally used it is subject to considerable delays, and the result is that the Hastern Extensi ion
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.