806 REPORT— 1900. 



not to Speak of tlieir certain and enormous possibilities of growtli. In tte celerity 

 of the actual despatch of a message we need not ask for much improTement. 

 Lightning speed will be probably sufficient for our go-ahead children of the 

 twentieth century. But where we may expect and shall undoubtedly get 

 increased success is in multiplied facilities for sending telegrams all over the earth, 

 and in widening their usefulness and convenience to all ranks and sections of the 

 community. To obtain these necessary advantages there are two requisites — 

 first a great and general cheapening of tariffs and, as a certain consequence of 

 such reduced charges, a duplication or even a quadrupling of many of the 

 present cables to prevent blocking ; and, secondly, an indefinite extension of botli 

 lines and cables everywhere. Progress in submarine telegraphy undoubtedly means 

 a lessening in the price of service and a firmer control by the State, as an obvious 

 corollary to the large help to the companies already given by the general tax- 

 payer, quite as much as it means those scientific inventions and scientific discoveries 

 which the coming years have in store for us. At the present time the charges are 

 far too high, ridiculously so as regards India, and the use of the great cables is 

 therefore very often beyond the power of the small capitalist and the trader of the 

 middle sort. Yet certain and early news is of supreme importance to large 

 numbers of both classes. Its absence hampers or stops business, while its price is 

 too severe a tax upon average profits. This fact has led to the invention of 

 ingenious and elaborate codes. They might possibly have been devised in any 

 case ; but there is no doubt that messages by code would be certainly expanded 

 so as to prevent all possible ambiguity, if telegraphing to distant countries were not 

 so costly. The spreading of land-lines and sea-cables about the earth has gone on 

 rapidly since 1870 ; to the extent that those already completed would seem even to 

 be in advance of their requirement, if that requirement were to be measured by 

 their full employment. Nevertheless it is to be wished that new companies could 

 be formed and new lines laid down to excite competition and thereby to cheapen 

 rates ; or else that our Government should step in and regulate charges over 

 subsidised British lines. For the power of the great telegraph corporations, by 

 reason of their monetary resources, enables them to overcome ordinary rivalry and 

 to treat public opinion with indifference. A general cheapening of rates has 

 constantly been followed by increased profits, earned by the resulting augmentation 

 of traffic, but it needs an enterprising directorate to face the necessary initial 

 expenditure, except under pressure. Boldness and foresight in finance are natu- 

 rally less prominent features in the management of the great telegraph companies 

 than contentment with a high rate of interest on invested capital. All their energy 

 and watchfulness are employed to crush competition rather than to extend their 

 activities indefinitely. Moreover, money-making is their business, not Imperial 

 statesmanship. If it were a question of the added security or the close coupling- 

 up of the Empire (which are probably synonymous) on the one hand and a loss of 

 profit (however splendid the dividends might still remain) on the other, we know 

 what would be the result of their deliberations. 



Important as are the sea-cables for statesmen, for strategy, and for commerce, 

 they are or will be equally important socially to keep up intimacy and swift 

 intercourse between families half in Britain aud half in India for instance, or 

 between friends and relations in these Islands and in the great Colonies. They 

 might be made to give the sensation almost of actual contact, of holding the hand 

 of your friend, of speaking directly to his heart. It is this interchange of per- 

 sonal news and private wishes, quite as much as the profound political and com- 

 mercial aspects of lightning communication with all parts of the Empire, which 

 will bind the Empire in bonds stronger than steel, easy as affection, to hold it 

 together with unassailable power. Consequently the health and strength of the 

 Empire depend very greatly upon a cheapening of telegraph charges. Doubtless 

 a time will come when all our main cables of the first importance will be in the 

 hands of Government, when they will only touch upon British territory, and when 

 they will be all adequately protected from an enemy. Those are truly Im- 

 perialistic and patriotic aspirations. But we must never forget the grand part in 

 bringing together, within whispering distance as it were, the different parts of the 

 world, and consequently of our world-wide Empire, which has been taken in the 



