The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-20 00:00:00

THE TELEGRAPHS OF THE FUTURE.

The Daily ITors remarks ;in the cnerzy with which
telegraphic enterprises are being carried out. If all the
proposals which are made be acted upon, the whole world
will soon be within the range of electrical communication.
Messages to and from England and Bombay direct may
be looked for in March or April of next year; while the
spring of 1871 will probably see Australia and China con-
nected with England by means of the Indian line. This
last extension is one of the most important of all,
for it not only provides for the places named,
but embraces Ceylon, Cochin China, Jlva, and
Singapore, Starting from Bombay, the terminus
of the British Indian line, it is to run from thence to
Point de Galle, and on to Penang, Rnigoou, and Saigon ;
besides spanning the Indian Ocean to northern Australia,
touching at Sumatra an,l Java by the way. In antici-
pation of some such enterprise, the Dutch have already
laid land lines through Sumatra, and arrangements are
completed for bringing the whole of their possessions
into electric communication with Hong Kong. Again,
Tasmania and the southwestern porti ms of Australia
are to have lines of their own, after communica-
tion Las been edablished with the north-western
division of that continent ; and a recent glance at a map
slims that every corner of this portion of the globe which
is known to commerce is now included in one comprehen-
sive scheme. Nor will there be any great difficulties to
surmount. The Brisbane Government is pushing lines to
meet the cable at Cape York, and the financial authorities
at the business centres of the different countries are giving
it their strong support, while post-office and other statistics
prove the extent of, and necessity for communication
between the various points, and between them all and
India, Europe, and America. The distance to be tra-
versed is considerable, amounting to several thousands of
miles of submarine cable, and some hundreds of miles of
land lines ; but. this is split up into sections, as from Bom-
bay to Point de Galle 1,104 miles, from the latter to
Penang 1,416 miles, and from Singapore to Hong Kong
1,696 miles. Throughout this line the soundings chew the
ocean bottom to be favourable to cable laying, and the
only deep water sections will be between the extreme end
of Java and Cape York, and between Penang and Point
de Galle.

These lines have given rise to others. There is, for
example, the Falmouth, Gibraltar, and Malta telegraph,
which completes the submarine communication, so that a
message may le hereafter eent from London to Bombay
almost without a repeat. This has been done on the
French Atlantic line from Brest to Duxbury, a distance
of 3,60) miles, and at the rate of from four to five words a
minute ; and though, even when the Falmouth
and the British Indian are both open, there
will still be a short span of land lines through
Egypt, it is already thought possible to organise
submarine substitutes for these, and so to send
and receive communicati )r _s from India almost as quickly
as a man can write. The cable will run first from Fal-
mouth to Gibraltar, a distance of 1,431 nautical mile;
and then front Gibraltar to Malta, a distance of 1,025
miles. Thus the British Indian cable runs from Suez to
Bombay, the Anglo• Mediterranean from Malta to
Egypt, and the Falmouth and Gibraltar from Eng-
land to Malta. All three companies are distinct,
but have entered into arrangements fur mutual
help and protection—arrangements which bill be partici-
pated in by the cable to Australia. But these enterprises
are thrown into the shade—so far as length of cable is
concerned—by one which is now engaging the attention
of a committee sitting in New York, which aims at
laying a telegraphic line from San Francisco to Japan, a
distance of 8 0.0 mile 3. 'We have, say cur cousins, the
longest railway in the world, and we mean to have the
longest telegraphic cable as well ; and so calculations
have been male and estimates s!nt, sn•.l if the Com-
mit' ec reports favourably a prospectus will shortly appear.
Another important project which has been recently
brought before the public aims at laying cables between
Cuba and Porto Rico, and from Habana to Porto Rico,
Mexico, and Panama, as well as between the West Indies
and South America generally ; while the International
Mid-Channel Telegraph, to which Sir Samuel Canning
and Captain Knapp Barrow have been giving much
attention latterly, is at last in band, and will be
working between Penzance and a telegraph ship
stationed by the Admiralty between Scilly and Ushant,
fffty-five miles distant, in a few months from this time.
This last line will enable ships to have messages to and
from every part of the world which has electric communi-
cation with England. As the Government statistics shew
that 313,169 vessels entered and cleared with cargoes at
ports in the United Kingdom in the year 1868, it is
argued that tho telegrams to and from underwriters,
owners, and consignees will be considerable, as well as the
telegraphic traffic with distant ports.