Queensland thought they had the overseas link "in the bag" with an agreement with the British Australian Telegraph Company to connect their new submarine cable from Java to Port Darwin then overland to Burketown. After negotiations with the South Australian Government relieved the British Australian Telegraph Company from the significant expense of constructing the overland line to Burketown, the BAT changed its allegiance from Queensland to South Australia.
To complete the link between England and Australia John Pender formed the British-Australian Telegraph Company in 1870. It was floated as a private company with capital of £600,000 - which was significantly oversubscribed.
The reports from series of meetings are provided below. These reveal the following developments:
Sydney Morning Herald 11 October 1870.
BRITISH AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAPH COMPANY.
A special general meeting of this company was held on the 9th of August at the offices in Old Broad Street. Viscount Monck in the chair. The Secretary having read the special notice convening the meeting. The Chairman, in pointing out the proposed changes to be made in the company, stated that the prospectus for the original scheme consisted of three distinct works;
With regard to the first section, the line had been shipped on board the Hibernia and he believed it would be in working order by the end of the year
The second portion would be proceeded with as rapidly as possible, and it was the third section to which the proprietors were to direct their attention.
About this section, there had been much correspondence with the Colonial Government, and anyone acquainted with telegraphic enterprise would readily see that this third section would be a very hazardous and difficult piece of work.
Fortunately the people in the Australian colonies were fully aware of the importance of telegraphic communication and the Parliament of South Australia had passed an Act for the making and maintenance of landlines, and this would save the company the necessity of doing anything beyond the first two sections. The company would thus be solely a submarine line company, and the motion would be one relieving the company from the necessity of carrying out this third portion of the enterprise. He therefore proposed that the directors be empowered to conclude such arrangements with the Governments of Australia as might be deemed expedient.
Lord W Hay seconded the motion.
A proprietor requested information as to the capital which would be required.
The Chairman said that no arrangements could be proposed to the Construction and Maintenance Company until after this meeting; still there was little doubt the Maintenance Company would make a considerable rebate from the contract in view of this withdrawal.
Several proprietors urged that the terms of such rebate should be made known to the meeting.
Mr. Pender said it was impolitic to tie the directors down to any figures and the Board should be left free to deal with the Maintenance Company.
Mr. Douglas wished to know if the Chairman had any objection to state to the shareholders the terms of the offer made by the Government of Queensland to the company.
The Chairman stated that an offer had been made of a guarantee of 5 percent on the additional length of cable required to lay the cable direct from Kopang to Normanton at the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria,but that the directors did not consider this so good an offer as that made by South Australia.
Mr. Douglass stated that the Government of Queensland had been induced to make this offer under the firm conviction that telegraphic communication would thus be best established. He confidently stated that the overland line to Port Augusta could not be constructed in the time mentioned and that the directors had made a mistake in anticipating such great advantages from the South Australian connection.
The resolution was put to the meeting and carried,
The Chairman then proposed a second resolution, empowering the directors to make such modifications in regard to the lines as were necessitated by the agreement with the Colonial Governments.
Mr. M. Arthur, M.P. seconded this, and it was agreed to.
A vote of thanks to the Chairman was proposed and carried.
BRITISH AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAPH COMPANY LIMITED.
April 1871.
The general meeting of shareholders in this company was held on February 8, under the presidency of the Right Hon. W. N. Massey. The report of the directors was taken as read and unanimously adopted.
The chairman congratulated the shareholders upon the position of the company and said that, since the report was issued, the company had received back half the caution money it was called upon to deposit with the Dutch Government. The Batavian section of the company's cable was laid and opened for traffic on November 19 last. The Indian section had been opened three weeks and the average profits upon the receipts had been between £800 and £900 per week which he looked upon as a most encouraging feature because it had been derived entirely from local sources and was equal to a profit of 7 per cent upon the capital embarked.
At a special meeting held subsequently, under the presidency of the Right Hon. Viscount Monck, an additional clause was inserted in the articles of association, authorizing the board to retain, in the names of trustees, the shares given as rebate by the Construction and Maintenance Company, in consequence of the abandonment by the company of the 800 miles of land lines in Australia originally proposed to be laid.
On 22 April 1871, the Wallaroo Times recorded that "Mr B. T. Finnis is appointed Port Darwin agent for the English and Australian Telegraph Co. We have seen, recently, more than one review of Mr Finnis's colonial history; but, it appears to be a " fact not generally known," that about three years ago he was rather an importunate applicant for the Editorship of a newspaper published not quite 100 miles to the north of Adelaide".
THE BRITISH-AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAPH.
South Australian Chronicle 30 December 1871.
"We are pleased to learn that a very reasonable proposition has been made to the Government by the British- Australian Telegraph Company to compensate them for the delay in the opening of the land line of the Anglo-Australian telegraph.
As we pointed out a day or two since, the alternatives which, by the agreement, the Company could insist upon were either to take possession of the landline and complete it at our risk or to carry a land line from Port Darwin across our Northern Territory to Queensland, in order to connect it with the telegraph system of our neighbors. The Company, however have not insisted on either of these alternatives but have submitted to the Government a proposal that we shall pay five per cent interest on the Company's expenditure - the Company crediting us with the earnings of the cable until complete communication with Europe and Adelaide shall have been established.
The Government has accepted the proposal and, as we learn Mr. Todd estimates that the line will be completed in two or three months, the liability of the colony for interest on the Company's outlay is not likely to be very heavy.
Our Melbourne telegrams have informed our readers that a proposition has been made by the New South Wales Government for the establishment, at the united cost of the colonies, of a steam express between Port Darwin and Normanton, in order to ensure communication with Europe within a very brief interval. But we understand that our Government has declined to accede to the request, feeling confident that a horse express will be able to bridge over the internal of line which next month may be left uncompleted, and that ere long the establishment of communication between London and Adelaide will be successfully completed".
The BRITISH AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAPH COMPANY.
2 July 1872
"The annual meeting of the British-Australian Telegraph Company was held on 2 July, 1872 and was numerously attended by shareholders, Lord Monck presiding.
The report speaks of the exertions made by South Australia to complete the land-line in time which will be gratifying to the people of that rising Colony. Discretionary powers were given to the Directors at this meeting to raise fresh capital by the issue of preference shares, to the extent of £320,000, to lay another submarine cable from Port Darwin, 1000 knots in length, to Normanton in Queensland, so as to connect the main cable with both the Queensland and the South Australian land-lines.
But here arises a curious circumstance. The company say they were asked to lay this second cable by the Queensland Government. The Agent-General for that colony writes to The Tïmes to deny that and that he merely asked them whether they would make a proposal to that effect "to be considered with those of other companies now submitted for the construction of a direct cable from Java to Normanton". Mr. Daintree further says that, for the latter purpose, his Government have it in contemplation to guarantee interest on the cost.
It is therefore natural to suppose that, if Queensland prefers to have a direct independent line from Normanton to Java and giving a subsidy to get it carried out, they will not allow the British-Australian Company to lay a cable to Normanton, which would, to a great extent, interfere with the receipts of the direct line to Java, upon which receipts the Queensland Government must rely to repay themselves for their subsidy to the direct line. This is also the view taken by the City Editor of the Times, in commenting upon the proposal of the Darwin-Normanton cable.
Meanwhile, the present position of South Australia, with regard to the company, was elicited at the meeting to be this: The company made a proposal to South Australia to pay interest at 5 per cent on their capital from the 1st of last January to compensate the company for the non-completion of the land line, as agreed, upon, to be effected by December 31 last. South Australia agreed to this on condition that the company gives up all their rights under clause 12 of the agreement. Lord Monck read this clause at the meeting, and as it is very important, I give it verbatim for the information of my Australian readers:
" Article 12: If the land-line is not complete and open for traffic on the 31st day of December, 1871 or, if having been completed and open for traffic, the traffic over any part thereof is at any time hereafter interrupted during 35 consecutive days or during different portions amounting in the aggregate to 70 days of any consecutive 365 days, the company may, at any time thereafter, lay down and complete and thenceforth maintain and use a line of telegraphic communication between their cable at Port Darwin and Burketown, in the Province of Queensland, or between their cable at Port Darwin and any point on the northern coast of the Province of South Australia, with suitable stations, buildings and works by such route, whether wholly overland, or the best route for a direct telegraphic communication between Port Darwin and Burketown, or such other point on the northern coast of the province of South Australia or may land a cable at Port Darwin, connecting that place with any other part of Australia, and, if they think fit, may abandon any station they may have selected under the authority contained in the first article of this agreement for the land end of their cable in or near Port Darwin, and surrender the land taken for the same to the Government and select and take and retain and use another station for landing their cable in or near Port Darwin, and for the offices and works in connection therewith, and may take, use and forever retain such land within the province of South Australia as they may reasonably require for any of the purposes aforesaid, but so that all the provisions hereinbefore contained with respect to land to be taken by the company for the purposes of their station at or near Port Darwin shall extend to the land to be taken by them under this article: Provided always that, should any such telegraphic line as mentioned in this article be constructed and worked by the company, the company will transmit messages for the Government on as favourable terms with regard to fees, rates or dues and with regard to promptitude and regularity of transmission as shall be applicable to any other Government or private messages."
It will be seen that this clause provides not only for the contingency of the land-line not being completed on December 31st last, but also for the possible future contingency of the land-line, after being once completed, being thereafter interrupted. Lord Monck said that it would have been insane for the company to have given up the whole of this clause for a money payment of 6 per cent on the capital of the company until the land-line was completed.
The company (his Lordship continued) then made another proposal, modifying the terms of the clause, which South Australia declined to entertain and thus the negotiations fell to the ground. South Australia pays nothing but the company resumes the right to make and lay the connecting link between Port Darwin and Normanton.
To an uninterested looker-on it seems clear that South Australia has so far the best of the bargain; the colony is saved from the immediate payment of a very large sum of money; the shareholders get no interest on their capital; whilst it is extremely doubtful whether the company will be allowed by Queensland to lay the cable from Port Darwin to Normanton, to secure which the company refused to accept the money South Australia was ready to pay. It looks very much like " falling between two stools".
If the Queensland Parliament, aided by New South Wales, vote the necessary sums to guarantee a minimum interest on the capital required to make and lay a second direct cable from Java to Normanton, there can be no doubt that a company will be readily formed to carry out the scheme; and a further strong inducement is just now given to this course from the unfortunate circumstances of the Java-Port Darwin cable, being interrupted just at this juncture from some unknown cause. This breaking-down of the cable is particularly hard on South Australia, as the Horse Express Service is now organised to carry messages across the unfinished gap; and, but, for this break-down, the through messages in five days from all the Australian capitals would have reached London on June 29 and vice-versa the English messages to Australia. The former are now lying at Port Darwin, the latter at Banjoewangie in Java. Under any circumstances, South Australia saves some £20,000 - if not more - and will have the monopoly of the one line for an indefinite period until the new schemes can be matured and carried out. I am credibly informed that the representatives of the Australian Associated Press availed themselves promptly of the opening of the line, and sent through a full budget of English news, regardless of expense, early on the morning of June 22, on which day, I understand, merchants and others interested in Australian trade also patronised the line to a liberal extent. It is really to be regretted that, after the cable has been dormant so many months, an interruption of the line occurred the following day; but as such fault is near Java, where the company had a steamer in reserve, it is hoped the line will be again in working order in a few days, and thus bring England and Australia into rapid communication with each other.
BRITISH AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAPH ARRANGEMENTS.
Empire 4 September 1872
Our last Adelaide papers give further particulars on a subject which is, or at least was lately, of interest to all Australia - namely, the probability or improbability of the British Australian Telegraph Company carrying out their contract to connect Batavia with Port Darwin by electric telegraph.
It is not difficult to perceive that the South Australians are becoming heartily sick of the blundering, vacillation and apparent want of good faith on the part of the English company and no wonder either. The ADVERTISER, adverting to the meeting of the shareholders in London in July last, quotes as follows from the remarks of the chairman, Lord Monck:
" I think it right to say that nothing, in my opinion, could exceed the good faith of the Australian Government in their endeavour to complete their contract. They have shown the utmost energy, and they have spared no expense; but I believe, from what has occurred, that they undertook an impossible performance in contracting to have the landlines laid for working by the 31st December. They are still proceeding with them with all the energy they can command".
A sarcastic commentary on these compassionately indulgent remarks is furnished by the fact that the land telegraph has now been long completed and Adelaide is in receipt of messages from the several stations along whole the length of the line. But, while paying this tribute to the vigour and activity of the South Australians, the company seems to indicate a desire, if not an actual resolution, to throw the contract overboard so far as South Australia is concerned. A published letter in a contemporary, the writer of which apparently understands the subject he is dealing with, says that a grand mistake has already been made in laying the cable by way of Sandalwood Island, as the sea-bottom is there very uneven - the soundings varying from 500 to 1500 fathoms. If the line had been taken from Melville Island to Timor, the whole length of the long sea-cable need not have been more than 300 miles and the depth at which it was sunk would in most places not have exceeded sixty fathoms.
If this be correct, and the company have really committed this grievous blunder, we can hardly conceive the probability of the present cable being permanently repaired, as it would be subject to constant chafing on the uneven bottom of the sea. This may possibly account for the apparent eagerness of the Company to leave the South Australian landline, finished or unfinished, to itself and to transfer their attentions to Queensland.
But Queensland, through its authorised Agent-General in London, Mr. Daintree,seems to have been rather coy of encouraging these second-hand favours. It is true that Mr. Daintree, in the month of May last, appears to have thrown out a suggestion to the company which, in our opinion, was decidedly a mistake. He says that he wrote to inquire whether the company was prepared to make a proposition to lay a cable connecting their Java cable at Port Darwin with the head of the Gulf at Normanton. To this letter, up to the 3rd July last, the date of his published communication, he had received no reply; but other companies had been in negotiation for the connection of Normanton with Java direct, which is the only service that could be essentially beneficial to Queensland. At the meeting of the Company, however, the Chairman, Lord Monck, seems to have put a somewhat different complexion on the case as the following is what he is reported to have said:
" Queensland became impatient. The Agent-General of the Queensland Government applied to us, stating that he had received from his Government instructions to the effect that they were about to propose to their Parliament to guarantee a line direct from Java to Queensland and asking us whether we felt inclined to make any propositions to him to meet that demand on the part of Queensland".
This overture was taken into consideration with all the "cannie" spirit which seems to have marked the proceedings of the Company. The question then arose with them whether,with a prospect of defective communication through the South Australian land-line, they should " hang on to that alone" or close with the Queensland Government and endeavour to get a communication by sea between Port Darwin and Queensland. Now, although there was much shrewdness and sagacity about this, unaccompanied by any qualms of conscience as to obligations, the whole affair seems to have broken down, and between the two stools the Company is likely to share the usual fate under such circumstances.
With regard to the Report circulated some time ago, to the effect, that the Company had taken powers to increase their capital one half, in order to extend the cable from Port Darwin to Normanton, that project has been abandoned, first because Queensland wants a direct line to Java, and secondly, for the very good and sufficient reason given by Lord Monck himself - the break in the cable. If we can repair the fault, he said, or ascertain that it is not material, I believe we shall have no difficulty whatever in a financial point of view but of course, until we ascertain that, it would, in my opinion, be great folly to extend the line beyond Port Darwin without being quite sure that you have the means of communication with Port Darwin itself.
Exactly so, remarks the ADVERTISER but adds that the cable has now been silent for more than two months; the company has already lost £20,000 of their expected five per cent payments from the South Australian Government and in short the whole affair looks marvelously like a failure. Just the time, this for another company or companies to "go in and win."
THE BRITISH AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAPH COMPANY.
7 February 1873
At an extraordinary meeting of the shareholders of this company, held on February 7, the Right Hon. Viscount Monck in the chair, the chairman said at the last meeting the directors had taken powers for an extension line from Port Darwin to Queensland. Obviously it would not have been wise, while the main cable was under repair, to attempt to raise the money. At the same time, the land lines were not in operation; but by the time the cable was restored, the land lines were completed and, under all the circumstances, it appeared to be only fair that they should give the land lines a fair trial before taking proceedings to get a duplicate line.
The land lines had, on the whole, worked fairly, but he thought the duplicate line must be established in the interest of this company, and also of the Australian colonies, which, having so large an interest, ought to contribute to the extension; and with this object, the directors were now in negotiation with the different Australian Governments, with a view of making some arrangement to place this company in a better position to carry the traffic.
THE BRITISH AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAPH COMPANY.
8 February 1873.
The general meeting of shareholders in this company was held on February 8, under the presidency of the Right Hon. W. N. Massey. The report of the directors was taken as read and unanimously adopted.
The chairman congratulated the shareholders upon the position of the company and said that, since the report was issued, the company had received back half the caution money it was called upon to deposit with the Dutch Government. The Batavian section of the company's cable was laid and opened for traffic on November 10 last.
The Indian section had been opened three weeks and the average profits upon the receipts had been between £800 and £900 per week which he looked upon as a most encouraging feature because it had been derived entirely from local sources and was equal to a profit of 7 per cent upon the capital embarked.
At a special meeting held subsequently, under the presidency of the Right Hon. Viscount Monck, an additional clause was inserted in the articles of association authorizing the board to retain, in the names of trustees, the shares given as rebate by the Construction and Maintenance Company, in consequence of the abandonment by the company of the 800 miles of land lines in Australia originally proposed to be laid.
The Queenslander 19 April 1873:
BRITISH-AUSTRALIAN TELEGRAPH COMPANY.
The report of the proceedings at the extraordinary general meeting of the British-Australian Telegraph Company held in London on the 17th of February, throws some interesting light on the position of telegraphic communication between England and Australia.
Lord Monck, the Chairman, beyond the fact that the chain of communication was now perfect, had no very gratifying intelligence to convey to the shareholders. Up to the time of the laying of the cable to Port Darwin, the shareholders had been receiving 5 per cent, from the Telegraph Construction Company on their subscribed capital; and as the accounts exhibited merely represented, so far as they were then known, the earnings on the cable during November and December, these were considered insufficient for the purpose of declaring a bona fide dividend, the Chairman himself stating that he had the strongest objection to anything which would bear even the semblance of a sham dividend. For the business covering the next six months, he, however, expressed a hope that he should be able to announce a fair dividend.
Lord Monck further congratulated the shareholders on the demonstration of the security of their property, from the facility with which the cable had been recovered from the sea, repaired, and again submerged in fourteen hundred fathom soundings. A few years ago, he remarked, this could scarcely have been dreamt of. In reply of many communications received in favor of amalgamation with the other associated companies, the Chairman begged to assure his correspondents that they preached to one who was already a convert: " I think the enormous property which is now invested in submarine telegraphs requires the insurance which is derived from extensive amalgamations". The information lately received by telegram points to the adoption of these anticipations.
Mr. Ford, however, a leading shareholder, does not appear to have been perfectly satisfied with the prospects of eventual dividends and amalgamation. He has complete confidence in the directors, and believes that the business of the company will be conducted solely with a view to their interests " but considering that Australia is one of our dearest colonies, one with which we are most associated by relationship of blood, I do think that this Board might well refer to the Imperial Government itself, as well as to the Australian Governments, to see if some subsidy cannot be given to this company".
Mr. Ford further goes on to explain that this would be for the purpose of securing a cheap system of telegraphy for the colonies and only incidently, it would appear, for the purpose of increasing the dividends of the shareholders. In reply to this Lord Monck stated that he had a strong hope that they would obtain a subsidy from Australia and, amidst some laughter, he added that he "could not allow any shareholder to leave the room laying the flattering unction to his soul that I could so mollify Mr. Lowe as to get anything out of him".
Some discussion then took place as to the reduction of the minimum number of words from twenty to ten. The Chairman considered it would be rash to make any such reduction at present and Sir James Anderson pointed out the difficulties which, in this respect, the Mediterranean and Red Sea Cables had to contend with in consequence of their competition with the Indo-European land system. In reference to this, the indomitable Mr. Ford remarked, in moving a vote of thanks to the directors," That Indo-European line appears to be the curse of these submarine lines. Whenever a difficulty occurs in the management of these companies, Indo-European crops up and is sure to be at the bottom of it". This is certainly rather strong language, but we are really quite glad to meet with a shareholder of the British-Australian Company who is so outspoken. The undertaking of that company has always met with our unqualified admiration, and we still hope that it may meet with all the success it deserves. But we have never concealed our opinion that our own provincial interests and, much more, the public and the private interests of the whole group of Australian colonies required, not only a duplicate cable, but a complete duplicate line between Europe and Australia. The best chance for this is offered through the Indo-European system, and it is no wonder, therefore, that it crops up with a persistency which is annoying to Mr. Ford. We suppose that this gentleman will be still further discomposed when he discovers, as by this time he will probably have done, that not only has a subsidy been refused, but that the three eastern colonies of Australasia propose to have a cable of their own, availing themselves of the system and the agency of the Indo-European in order to secure that wholesome competition for which duplicate lines afford the best guarantee. We have already pointed out how the two distinct lines of communication between England and India are found to work for the benefit of our Eastern Empire. One of these lines has been extended to Australia. It has been proposed to reduce the tariff of rates by subsidising the existing company.
The obvious reply to this is that which practically has been given by the Sydney Conference. The reduction of the price which the public have to pay for this very valuable and special information is no doubt much to be desired and would have a tendency to extend its useful operation. The combination of newspaper proprietors, who at present indulge their readers with delicate morsels of this expensive luxury, would no doubt be very glad to increase the quantity at some advantage to themselves, with correspondingly greater advantages to the company. Our leading merchants, also, would doubtless be very glad to accept a reduction of 50 per cent, on the cost of their telegrams at the cost of the State. Even then, the use of the cable must still be limited, and the cost a serious consideration. But what is chiefly required by the Governments, both of the mother country and the colonies, is some certainty that this mode of conveying such valuable information will not be subject to some sudden collapse. At any time, any one link of the wonderful chain of cables which unites England with China and Australia may give way, causing an interval of months perhaps of precious time before the damage can be repaired. It is against such a contingency that we are bound to protect ourselves. The very existence of one line renders the creation of another line an imperative and defensive duty. But this second and alternative cable is not likely to come to us with that spontaneity which has characterised the spirited undertaking of the Telegraph Construction combination. No company could at first face the powerful opposition of such an organisation, and it is for this reason, and dreading the effects on ourselves of an unchecked monopoly, that we think it prudent to encourage the advances of the Indo-European, the only competent competitor we are likely to find as a counterpoise to the submarine system. It may be perfectly true—nay, it would be an avoidance of truth to deny—that the present returns on even the one line are disappointing. They will certainly not yield the 10 or 12 per cent, which is not an exorbitant return for money so invested. How then can it be expected that two lines, carrying messages at reduced rates, will pay? The probability is that they will not pay handsomely for the first two or three years, and it is for this reason that a 5 per cent, guarantee for the second line has been considered necessary, and is the form of subsidy which it has been considered safest to adopt. It provides to the investor a certainty which cannot be impugned subject to the effective maintenance of the line, and it offers him the further inducement which arises from the certainty of an ultimate and speedy development of a traffic upon which hang the whole of our political and commercial transactions. Knowing as we now do the great value of this thin thread of light which beams with such intelligence, we cannot be content to rest satisfied under the possibility of its sadden extinction, sustained perhaps for months during an eventful period of political excitement and of commercial transmutation; much less is it for our interest that the issues of peace or war should vibrate along a single nerve which at anytime might cease to whisper a significant warning. The achievements of science serve not only to herald the triumphs of peace, but they also tell us of the gathering storm which might otherwise sweep upon us unawares".The British Australian Telegraph and Queensland
South Australian Register 8 July 1873.
It will be remembered that some time before the opening of the trans-Australian telegraph, considerable uneasiness was caused in this colony by an intimation on the part of the British-Australian Telegraph Company that they intended proceeding at once with the laying of a branch cable between Port Darwin and Norman Mouth. The reason advanced by them for taking this step was that, as South Australia had failed to carry out her agreement to have communication established between Palmerston and Adelaide by the beginning of 1872, they were bound to do what they could to utilize their sea line to Java with as little delay as possible. It was thought at the time that their offer to Queensland looked very much like a ruse to extort more favourable terms from this colony, but if such was their object it was signally unsuccessful.
It so happened indeed that, shortly after negotiations had been opened up with the Brisbane Government, an interruption in their cable took place and correspondence was brought to an abrupt close. Before the defect could be remedied, the land line through the continent was in full working order and the breach between the Company and the South Australian Government was tacitly healed by mutual consent. In the satisfaction caused by the establishment of a trustworthy land and sea route for telegraphic messages, all minor points of disagreement and, amongst them, the proposal made to Queensland, dropped out of sight.
But although South Australia has long ceased to take a special interest in the question of the Company's relations to her eastern neighbour, a batch of official paper recently laid before the Queensland Parliament show that negotiations were maintained until early in the present year. The first overtures of the Company to the Brisbane Government were made in May 1872, and these were at once met by Mr. Palmer with a statement to the effect that, whilst every facility would be afforded for connecting a branch cable with the landline at Normanton, no guarantee whatever would be given.
At the same time Mr. Daintree, the Agent-General, was authorized by letter "to apprise the British-Australia Telegraph Company that, in the event of their line from Darwin to Norman being laid and worked in a satisfactory manner, negotiations for the construction of an independent cable will be suspended". This instruction places in its proper light Mr. Palmer's views on the subject of ocean telegraphy. It strips his policy of all the adventitious ornamentation with which it has been enveloped by his admirers and shows that his aim really has been not to secure for Australia a reduced tariff by the establishment of a competing line, but to draw through Brisbane as much as possible of the telegraphic business that now goes through. Adelaide. Had he been able to conclude arrangements for this branch line, he would have been quite willing to have allowed the question of lower cable rates to remain permanently in abeyance. We do not blame him for taking this course, but only wish to emphasise the fact that he was willing to perpetuate all the inconveniences of a single line of communication had Queensland been brought directly within the electric circuit.
Throughout the whole of his letter to Mr. Daintree, no allusion is made to the propriety of lowering the scale of cable charges, although it is hinted that circumstances may hereafter arise to justify the employment of a second cable. In the event of such a contingency, evidently regarded as remote, the colony was to have liberty to negotiate for the laying down of this supplementary sea line. Mr. Daintree in his reply took higher ground than that recommended him by his official Chief. On October 1st, shortly before the establishment of through communication between Adelaide and London, he wrote pointing out that for Queensland to bind herself in any way to the branch between Port Darwin and Normanton would be to play into the hands of the British Australian Company in the matter of charges and leave the telegraphic connection between Australia and Singapore in rather an unsettled state. He therefore urged the acceptance of an eligible tender for the direct Java-Norman line — a recommendation which, so far as can be gathered from the correspondence published in the Brisbane Courier, was not endorsed by Mr. Palmer, probably on account of the approaching meeting of the Conference at Sydney.
At this stage a new, and decidedly perplexing element, is introduced into the proceedings. Mr. Knevett telegraphs from Adelaide: "Would negotiation on basis of joint purse be acceptable" to which Mr. Palmer (not unnaturally) replies: " Cannot understand telegram. What is a joint purse?". Mr. Knevett, evidently as much in the dark as the querist, evades the question and sends the following intimation: "Mr. Earle's reply received— Government proposal unsatisfactory. We have received definite offer". Once more Mr. Palmer has to confess himself puzzled, but his appeal for additional information does not call forth any lucid response for the very obvious reason that the telegrams to Mr. Knevett are as curt and incomprehensible as they can well be. In sheer desperation, as it seems, the Queensland Premier at length applies to Mr. Daintree for the key to all these mysteries and without delay the explanation comes. "The meaning of a joint purse is that for every message passing from Port Darwin to Adelaide via landline, or Port Darwin-Brisbane via Darwin-Norman cable, Adelaide should receive (say) 8s. 6d., British-Australia 8s. 6d., Queensland 3s." — an explanation, by the way, which to the South Australian public envelops the whole subject in little short of Egyptian darkness.
The correspondence from this point between Mr. Daintree and the British-Australian Company is brief but decisive. On the 29th November, Mr. Daintree, by telegraph, advised his Government that all further negotiations were useless, and again recommended independent action. Mr. Palmer appears to have exhibited great reluctance in accepting this counsel, for as late as January 14 we find the Agent-General addressing Mr. Earle, the Company's Managing Director, as follows: "With reference to our conversation today, I have the honour to request that you will inform me whether it is the intention of your Company to lay a branch cable from Port Darwin to Norman Mouth. If not, you will be pleased to state the reasons that have caused you to withdraw from your repeated assertions that such was your intention". To this, on January 15, Mr. Earle replies: "I have the honour to inform you that that Company is at present engaged in negotiations with the Australian Government with a view of reducing the tariff on messages. Until these negotiations shall have been brought to a close, this Company cannot give any definite answer to your enquiries and, looking to the very small amount of traffic to Queensland that has hitherto passed over the line, it is not in the power of the Board to give any assurance that they will be able to embark in so large an expenditure as would be incurred by the construction of the proposed extension to Queensland.
And so this page in the history of telegraphic negotiation closes — closes with an ill-disguised taunt at the unimportant character of the Queensland traffic and what virtually amounts to a defiance of her to do her worst. We know exactly the point she has reached in her efforts to establish a rival line, and it is pretty clear that a great deal remains to be done before the consummation she so devoutly wishes — the laying of the cable between Normanton and Singapore — is really attained.
We need not at present re-discuss the prospects of this route, but it would be of interest to know in what position we stand with the British Australian Telegraph Company in regard to any possible extension from Port Darwin to Queensland. According to the agreement, the failure of South Australia to finish her landline by the beginning of 1872 gave the Company the right to lay down a cable between Palmerston and the Norman Mouth, but it is a question whether that right is existent now. Either the Company's action in carrying out, since the opening of the line, the arrangements contemplated by the contract has condoned the breach or the contract in the main is so much waste paper. The point is one for lawyers to decide and, whatever alternative is adopted, South Australia is in the happy position of having very little to lose. Whilst the telegraph across the continent works as it has been working, she need entertain no serious fears of competition. There have been occasional interruptions, but they have not lasted long enough to cause much inconvenience to her customers.