The Independent. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1895-1905, 1898-05-12
The Pacific Gable Question.

nal-Wel TO the llst oil Brltl5h p0rts
on the Pacific lend special interest
to the renewal OF activity with re-
gard to the construction OF swifter
means of communication between
the scattered British communities
The Australian Premiers in Confer
ence have agreed that, il Great Bri
tain and Canada will contribute two
thirds of the cost of Pacific cable,
Australasia should contribute one
third. In Canada an influential
deputation has waited on the Pre-
mier and laid before him a proposal
that Pacific cable trust should be
created under authority OF the Par
liaments interested in the scheme,
with power to raise the necessary
funds and proceed to the construc-
ton Of the cable. In this country
it is understood that as soon as the
Australasian and Canadian colonies
shall agree in manifesting strong
desire for the construction of the
line, any proposal which they may
make to that effect will receive at
least favorable consideration.
The need for Pacific cable is be-
coming every day more potent and
the rule which applies to all other
commercial enterprise will no doubt
hold good, that, when the advant-
ages Of a new opening have be-
come fully apparent, if one man
holds back another will certainly
come forward to profit by the offer
ed chance. That a Pacific cable
will be made before long is hardly
open to doubt. The question with
which the Imperial and Colonial
Governments are playing is whether
that Pacific cable shall be in British
or in foreign hands. The position,
very briefly summarized, is as fol-
lows: Commercial civilization has
been spreading eastward and west
ward from its more active centres
till at both extremities its extension
has reached the shores of the Paci-
fc. 1t finds the largest ocean of the
inhabited world as yet untraversed
by single line Of Geographic COM
munication. When the West wishes
to communicate with the East or
the East with the West across the
dividing water, the message has to
be sent backwards round two hemi-
spheres. Yet swift communication
is the soul of commerce, and COM
merce is the soul OF every flourish
ing modern community established
on the shores of the Pacific. The
British communities Of Canada, Aus
tralia, and New Zealand, the West
ern States Of America, the scattered
island populations now first coming
to Importance are in their nature in
dustrial before anything, The name
Of the East Indies is almost synony.
nous with trade. Japan has passed
through an industrial second birth
Russia is pushing industrial enter
prise on the northern Asiatic coast
France has not shrunk from heavy
cost to establish a commercial foot.
ing on the south. Germany has
made her latest move in the inter.
ests, we are asked to believe, OF the
protection OF her commerce. Thus
north and south and east and west
the ocean is surrounded by rivaI
nationalities. In presence OF these
waiting Powers indications are giver
that the immense commercial felC
of China is about to be thrown open
Instantly the waters Of the Pacific
are alive. The military and politica
movements which have taken place
are but the forerunners of othel
intercourse. To suppose that tn,
competing communities will remain
indefinitely without the means o
Geographic communication so essen
tial to the success of individual
aims is to ignore all the teaching
of experience, Under the protection
of one Power or another a cabl'
connecting the lines OF the eastern
with the western and of the south
ern with the northern continent