The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-15 00:00:00

THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH COMPANY.

Yesterday, at noon, a well attended meeting of
merchants and others interested in Atlantic tele-

graphy was held at Liverpool for the purpose of
hearing explanations from Mr. Cyrus Field, Capt.
Anderson, Mr. Canning, and Mr. Varley, as to the
present position and prospects of the undertaking.
Mr. Field was voted to the chair, and he explained
the circumstances under which the enterprise had
been handed over by the Atlantic Telegraph Com-
pany to the Anglo-American Telegraph Company,
which is now subscribing £600,000 for the purpose
of laying the new cable and completing the old
one. He explained that this course was imperative
to insure the carrying out of the project during the
ensuing summer, in consequence of the decision
of the Attorney-General that the Atlantic Tele-
graph Company had no power to issue twelve per
cent. preference shares. The new company would be
answerable for the successful laying of the cable, and
would then have a claim to a certain amount on the
profits of the undertaking. If any shareholder
thought this unjust, he was of course welcome to
take as many shares as he liked in the new company.
Mr. Canning then gave a short account of the ex-
periences gained, and the improvements effected in
the machinery. He had not the slightest fear but
that in their next effort they would be quite suc-
cessful, not only in laying the new line, but in re-
covering and completing the one partially laid last
summer. Captain Anderson said they were pre-
pared to anticipate even worse difficulties than any
yet met, and no difficulty had been suggested which
they were not fully prepared to meet and overcome.
He had the fullest confidence in the Great Eastern.
Mr. Varley, the electrician, entered more fully into
the details of the project, and showed the advan-
tages which the new cable would possess over the
old one, in having a greater breaking strain. He
also showed that with improved apparatus the re-
covery of the old cable and its completion would be
a work of very little difficulty, and of almost certain
success. As to the earnings, he showed that the
Persian Gulf cable earned nearly £lOO,OOO a year,
and that with bad management and great delays ;
with the Atlantic cable, and the improved instru-
ments for the transmission of messages, which were
extremely sensitive and delicate, he believed it
would be no exaggeration to say that at the pro-
posed rate of charges, it would be quite able to
remit messages at a speed which would earn a mil-
lion pounds per annum. In the course of his re-
marks, he explained the manner in which the splic-
ings or joining of the cables are firmed. So deli-
cate, said he, were the tests employed that it was
often found that the state of an operator's nerves or
skin seriously affected the work ; and it had often
happened that when a man had been living freely
the previous day his work in splicing failed to pass
the test, and was rejected. In answer to ques-
tions, Mr. Canning and Mr. Varley explained that
the state of the cable at the bottom of the Atlan-
tic up to the point where it parted was as
perfect now as the day it was laid. Mr. Varley
also stated that the first cable laid was destroyed by
the immense power required, owing to the imperfect
instruments and probable defective insulation to re-
mit N$ ords at a rapid rate. As high a power as 5,000
cells to one battery had been then employed ; but
with the last cable an order had been made that no
greater power than 20 cells should be used, and it
was quite possible to obtain with the improved in•
struments a rate of five or six words a minute, with
a power of only a single cell. A gentleman remarked
that there appeared a letter signed by an engineer,
and apparently a man of some note, but he could not
recollect his name, who had declared that it was a
mechanical impossibility to raise the sunken cable
because of its weight. He wished to know if the
company had thought it worth while to answer that

letter. Mr. Field remarked that if the company
were to answer all the letters addressed to them, they
would soon have to employ the whole of their capital
in the task. They had already given, that day, an
answer. Capt. Anderson said he had not answered
all the letters he had received, because he could not
do so. One writer, a lady, proposed to raise the
cable with a magnet. There were lots of people who
wrote to say they would raise the cable, but they
must have £lO,OOO for doing it ; £lO,OOO seemed a
favourite sum with such people. Mr. Field said that

one gentleman called upon him and proposed to sink
a hollow tube to the bottom of the sea, and then go
down in it and look for the cable. He plagued him
considerably, until one morning he (Mr. Field) told
him that he had decided that the thing could be
done, and he (the inventor) should have the ap-
pointment to go down and look for it. He hadn't
seen him since. Captain Anderson said it was only
fair to admit that many of the letters contained very
sensible suggestions. The proceedings then con-
cluded with a vote of thanks to the speakers.

GARDENING.