THE NERVES OF EMPIRE
By THE HON. GEORGE PEEL
'These submarine lines are the true nerves of the Empire; they are the nerves by which all these Colonies are brought into simultaneous action with ourselves.'—Secretary of Treasury, Speech in House of Commons, May 22, 1900.
Everyone agrees that the telegraphic communications of the Empire should be as cheap as the circumstances of the case allow, should be efficient in point of speed and accuracy, and should be controlled by ourselves. It would be a waste of words to establish these obvious propositions, and accordingly I shall confine the following observations to a consideration of the Imperial policy best calculated to preserve, or to secure, such desirable results. Let me examine, then, the connections between Great Britain on the one hand, and the most important of her Colonies and possessions on the other; the connections between these Colonies and possessions, inter se; and also the connections between the British Empire as a whole and foreign nations. From the mere statement of the facts, certain conclusions will suggest themselves naturally, while hasty and ill-considered opinions will similarly disappear. There are twenty British cable companies. They own about 121,000 miles of cable. The market value of their capital is £22,300,000. I touch, therefore, upon a great and weighty subject.
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