The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-09-06
CABLE TO
COME NEAR
The flaming Line
Would Solve
Problem.

with a cable passing within 200 miles
of Hawaii. unless Congress displays
more interest in the matter than here
tofore, these Islands will still be as
far away from the world as ever The
presence OF the Britannia, fresh from
surveying the bottom of the sea pre-
paratory to the laying of the Pacific
cable, has aroused interest in communi-
cation. and there are those who see in
the proximity of the line a probable
remedy for the local isolation.
Should there prove to be any FUR
ther delay in the American "nh'" n"ross
the Pacific, without doubt there VIII
be impetus given to plan for the lay
ing Of cable from Hawaii to Tanning
Island, for the purpose of connecting
with the British cable there. This would
mean the expenditure of about a hair
million dollars, as the cost OF such
cable would approximate $500 mile,
and the shortest distance between the
landings would be close to 700 miles.
The placing of a cable under the Cir
cumstances would involve only the mat
Ter of the raising of the money and
the arranging with the British authori-
ties for a connection at Tanning ISL
and.
Those objections which have been
urged to a landing of the British cable
here, on account of the strategic neces-
sity for stations on British soil, would
not affect such a plan, as there would
be no possible objection to a mere land
ing Of connecting cable, which would
be entirely at the mercy of the authori-
To nj TSla
would be in no way connected with the
through line and could be used only
with the consent of the British agents
there. who might If they would refuse
transmission of any cablegrams in case
Of trouble. But the great difficulty
would be that such Il line of cable
would not pay expenses and any portion
of the fixed charges as well, for the
business would not be sufficient.
Gen. A. s. Hartwell, who has been
connected with cable matters here for
a decade. can see no reason why there
should be any possible objection to such
a cable connection being made. He said
last evening: "The trouble would De
in getting money for the construction
Of the line, for there would be little
chance for the cable to earn DIVIDENDS
This is the opinion of such cable ex-
pert as Gen. Scrymser. who told me IN
1890 that he had been considering
cable from San Francisco here. but that
there seemed no chance to earn operat-
ing expenses. This was with neces-
sity for cable ship at each end OF the
line in view. which might not be the
case if the British cable would have
ship at Tanning island for repair SER
vice.
There might be some arrangement
made with the company putting down
the cable for its being laid at great
reduction of the actual cost just TO get
the connection, for it would be Valu-
able one. There are many ways IN
which the cable would be valuable to
Hawaiian interests, not the least OF
which would be the fact that there
would not then be necessary a long
term contract for sugars, but with
cables there would be transfer of
the market from the mainland to the
beach here and the sugar would be sold
on board the bottoms of the buyers. at
the current rates of the day.
II believe that the company to con-
struct such cable, II 1t ever We're to
be built, would Of necessity have to be
a local one, though the British COM
pany might have stock in the corpora
ton, The United States might object
to the landing of a cable of any other
power upon its soil, as was the case
when the French cable from Martinique
was to be landed at Jersey City. An
injunction was sought but was not OBJ
tanned because the company was really
an American one. When the Spanish
war broke out the fact that the cable
company had made this contention was
brought up again and the use of the
cable could not be protested though an
endeavor to stop it was made by the
French minister, who quit when he saw
the papers in the original case.
The feasibility of the plan seems GER
tain, but the ACCESSIBILITY of it may be
questioned. 1t would be a hard matter
to finance such a project, for l do not
believe there would be any earnings di-
rectly, for some time, in excess of the
expenses"