The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-05-31
AND
PACIFIC CABLE
THE PHILIPPINES CHAINED BY
INTER ISLAND
SYSTEM.
MACKAY CABLE MAY GO TO FAN.
NING'S ISLAND.
Colonel James Allen of the United
United States Signal Service Talks
on Inter-Island Cables.


When the cable reaches the Philip
pines, a complete system of cable and
overland telegraPhy will be awaiting
the connection. Nearly two thousand
miles of cable and between five and six
thousand miles Of overland wire have
been installed by the signal corps with
In the last four years under the super
vision and direction of Colonel James
Allen of the United States Signal
Corps. The entire group of the new
possessions are connected with a net
work of wires and only a short gap
remains to be bTidged from the soutn-
ern end of the system to Borneo and
tlen to the junction with the British
cable which it is expected will join the
Mackay cable at Fanning's Island and
| thus create a double communication
route from Manila to the United States.
The present means of communication
exists only by way of the Hongkong-'
Manila cable and a second route will
be a means of safeguard in case the
HongkOng cable should break down,
Colonel Allen is intensely interested
il. the Hawaiian cable both from the
Mainland here and between the Islands.
81 am sorry" he said this morning on
the Peking, that l am unable to stay
over here for a steamer, but my time
is up and l have to get back to San
Francisco. What Is the latest news of
the Mackay cable? 1t means lot to
your islands, 1 am sure, from all that
have heard about them, not merely
from the commercial standpoint, but
from the number of wealthy men who
cannot afford to take a pleasure trip
and get out of touch with the Western
I intaragtn1 n W
intend doing with your inter-island
communication. L hear that you have
q wireless telegraph system that has
not proved all that it might be. |
should think you would find local ca
BILE service much more satisfactory in
every way. The wireless system is all
rIght at sea where you can get nothing
else, but on land where you can get
absolutely perfect service over a cable
without any fear of mistakes there is
no doubt as to the superiority of the
cable. / should imagine you could form
local company here easily enough if
Mackay does not connect all the ISL
ands. There is a rubber cable manu-
factured in New York which we have
been using for our inter-island work
IT. the Philippines which costs under
$500 a mile and which is eminently sat
isfactory. You could get almost any
steamer fitted up with the necessary
laying machinery at small cost in
America and lay the lines with but
small trouble. l imagine however that
Mackay's people will finish up their line
to here by linking the islands. With
their equipment it would only take
day or two to finish the entire job
"Of course any inter-island cables
that you will have here will be purely
a commercial affair as against the nee
essity the government was under t. get
the wires through the Philippines for
purely military reasons. 1t was a hard
job much of it, especially the overland
wires, and we lost the lives of a num-
ber of men of the service in establish
ing it, The natives are quick to appre
ciate the value of the talking wires and
one of their tricks consists in cutting
the wire and then ambushing them
selves in readiness to snipe the repair
/ ing party when it comes along.
I'VE had no regular cable ship but
| boat that was used also as a transport.
| She was perfectly equipped for our
purpose, however, and nearly two ehou-
sand miles of cable have been success
/ fully laid. The depth at which most Of
il lies is something like a thousand
! fEthOms and the American rubber cable
has been very satisfactory in it's SER
vice. We found that there were in
varlably breaks in the weak places soon
after the cable was first laid, but these
discovered and repaired, the service
has been excellent.
There will be little difficulty about
landing an American cable in the Phil
| iIpines. The claimants are the Eastern
Extension Company and even If they
were allowed all they ask for, it would
amount to very little. All they ask is
$3.50 900 a year for twenty years, three
or four of which have already passed.
Personally 1 do not particularly desire
t. see a government cable rather than
that of a commercial company to the
Philippines, the government would be
able to give cheaper rates beyond a
doubt but the more cables that COM
municate with the Philippines the less
chance Is there of the government
luilding one. At present Manila de-
rends on the Hongkorg- Manila route
for communication, and there has not
yet been a break down in that service,
another route would of course be a
| great safeguard.
Il understand that the Mackay Com
pany's engineer, Mr.. Dickinson, has
been making inquiries about Midway
| Island, although OF course they must
have had access to the government rec
ords which would furnish them with
all they could want to know l am not
speaking authoritatively at all, but l
Aerdly expected to see the Mackay ca
hle built directly to the Philippines
from here. The impression we fave
cleaned in Manila was that the Mackay
cable would go to Fannings Island
ard there connect with the British ca
be, making the line an international
affair. / think you will find that is
what they will do
IF they should not do so, but halt
at Hawaii, | should think IT would pay
your people to construct a line of your
own from Hawaii 10 Fanning's Island.
| IL Mnmll NOT COST mnrn Lhan SllMl n