Our Cable Communications. 6i 
departure for the new cable. Counting the distance 
thence to Demerara as two thousand knots more, then we 
have a means of approximating a price which will be cer- 
tainly below the half of fourteen shillings. A simple rule- 
of-three sum gives us the result as about two shillings per 
word. If, however, a five-shilling or even seven-and- 
sixpenny rate, could be adopted with a quicker 
service, great benefit would result. The lessened number 
of transmissions also would greatly aid mpre rapid 
delivery ; and we might then reasonably look for sum- 
maries of the overnight's Parliament, in our daily 
newspapers. London might even wire as far as Cape 
de Verdes, and if such were the case the transmission 
there, instead of the list given above, would place 
Demerara telegraphically as near to London as we now 
are to Suddie. 
Such a scheme is, I think, enticing enough to arouse 
new energy, and enterprise, in the existing Telegraph 
Company ; or it might invite separate Colonial co-opera- 
tion for the common benefit of Demerara and the West 
Indian Islands. 
Note. — Since the above was written Mr. Hennaker Heaton, M.P., 
read a paper before the Colonial Institute, London, strongly advocating 
cheaper postal and cable rates between Great Britain and her Colonies. 
He however considers that "Australasia" embraces the whole of the 
Colonies of the Mother Country, for he did not even name the West 
Indies in his list of cable rates charged from London. It is therefore 
all the more necessary for the West Indies to look after themselves, 
and at present I see no more promising scheme of quick and cheap 
cable communication than the modest one here advocated. 
