January 20.
Amona the more important of the subjects discussed at the Imrial Press Conference held in ndon in June last year was that of increasing the interest felt by the various parts of the Empire in each other by a fuller inter-Imperial telegraphic service. The Earl of Crewe, at one of the sessions of the Conference, declared that what the Empire especially needed was an increase of intimacy, and essential to that desideratum, he indicated, was easy and cheap inter-communication. As a result of the Conference and of previous efforts to secure lower charges for under-sea telegrams, the rates between Great Britain and Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, respectively, were lowered and it was announced that the more important of the colonial Governments were to reduce ma-ferially their terminal charges. These were long strides in the right direction; but the Conference went farther and 'a resolution favouring "state-owned electric communication." With the desire to cheapen telegraphic charges, which have largely contributed to the imperfect knowledge among Britons of the various units of King Edward's far-flung dominions, sympathy may be felt, but in placing electric communication in the hands of the State the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.