82 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
nial Conferences of 1887 and 1894, and on other occasions. It has, 
however, been persistently opposed by the allied cable companies, who 
have left nothing undone during the fourteen intervening years to pre- 
vent its realization. 
It is not to be regretted that private enterprise should have been 
richly rewarded as in this instance, but other considerations present 
themselves. The great object of companies is to earn large profits and 
pay to shareholders high dividends; but the policy of maintaining a 
profitable monopoly is not always compatible with great publie needs. 
In the present case, the progress of the Empire and the requirements 
of the British people have far outstripped the narrow policy which 
best suits private companies, and precisely as in 1870, when it became 
necessary for the Government to assume possession of the land lines 
of the United Kingdom, it has now become a matter of general ex- 
pediency for the State to own and control the telegraph cables be- 
tween all its possessions. There has been a prolonged struggle be- 
tween public and private interests, but at length the public interests 
have triumphed. The principle of State ownership and State control 
of sub-marine cables was formally confirmed on December 31st, 1900, 
when the contract for laying the Pacific cable was signed. 
This act, the signing of the Pacific Cable contract simple and un- 
pretending as it may seem, was really a greater step towards the unity 
of the Empire than the most splendid conquest. As an act of part- 
nership between six Governments it is far reaching in its effects, and 
may be regarded as the forging of the key to the solution of the great 
Imperial problem which the new century presents to us. It is im- 
portant that we should grasp the magnitude of this problem. We 
must fully realize that the Empire is no longer limited to a group of 
comparatively small islands on the western fringe of Europe, which 
daughter nations are proud to designate their Mother Country. The 
Empire of the twentieth century is to be found in five continents; it 
comprises vast territories in both hemispheres; and its people every- 
where cherish common sentiments, sympathies and aspirations. Being 
separated by wide seas, they require the best means of mutual inter- 
course. For general security and purposes of state, no less than for 
the operations of trade, and for social requirements, they demand the 
freest use of the most perfect means of communication known. 
The improvement of the mail service by the adoption of universal 
penny postage was a wise Imperial measure, but in view of geographical 
conditions the mail service alone is inadequate. The electric telegraph 
can meet the conditions, and it is the only agency that can do so; but 
it must not be restricted by the limitations imposed by companies, 
