PRESS CONFERENCE IMPRESSIONS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2598, 4 September 1909, Page 1 (Supplement)

PRESS CONFERENCE IMPRESSIONS.

WHERE IT SUCCEEDED AND WHERE IT FAILED.

CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE ON • ALL-RED ROUTE.

(By Mark Cohen, Editor of the “Dunedin Star.”)

LONDON, July 2. In some respects I am very pleased with the results of the Conference; in others I am much disappointed. The practical part is the immediate reduction of 2id per word on Press messages sent over the Pacific cade, with the promise of a further reduction in the near future, if the work given to that cable is* heavy enough" to justify the Beard in further considering the position. . i would have been better .pleased it the Conference had. considered the question not wholly from the standpoint of newspaper proprietors, but had pressed at the same times for a substantial reduction in favor of the public users of the cable. When I nse the term “public users,” I do not mean the business men who, by the almost lavish employment of codes, can send lengthy messages at a small cost, compared with the average individual, who, being unregistered cannot take advantage of the facilities offered by the code-books. The «reat body of our colonists,, whose domestic and social affairs are quite as important to the members of their families as the happenings in the political and commercial worlds, are absolutely prevented, so long as the piesent high tariff endures, from exchanging messages over the cables. • They have perforce to restrict themselves to the use of the universal penny post, which entails a delay of from five to eight weeks. The outposts of the Empire must, in these strenuous times, be brought into quicker communication with its heart, and there must also he a cheaper and' surer means provided for the exchange of ViSwivs and needs between every part of tM Empire. And to my great regret there was an avoidance of ah. mention of the All-Red steam service, which' was so much ir evidence during ■our colonial tour. Why this subordination of what a short month ago was regarded by the bulk of us as a quest-

ion of the first importance, ana irs supplanting by that of Defence, is just one of those things that no fellow can understand We were all impressed before we touched British soil, with the paramount, need of quickening and cheapeningithe means of travel, which must be over British soil and by trade routes commanded and controlled by the i imperial Navy, and on every possible occasion in Canada we chorused onr convictions that the bonds of Empire would be strengthened in a marked degree it our men and women of light and leadin** saw each other more frequently and were so enabled to better understand each other’s aims and aspirations. The comparative nearness of tne IJnited States and Canada to England is the prime factor m drawing to the North American Continent- the 'great numbers of British who settle in those States, and the need of Australasia getting immigration of the right stamp was, I understand, universally acknowledged, but'the tide of emigra ion will never set in the direction of Australia and Now Zealand lint'll "the tance between the Old and the- Ne , Worlds is appreciably reduced. Yet never a word has been spoken in this country about the desirability of improvingf and cheapening our oversea communications. I conceive this issue to be quite as important and quite as intimately connected withxhe maintenance of the Empire as that of the defence, and I confess a sense of grievous disappointment that there was a conspiracy of silence concerning 1 . . The fact is that the Conference, was “nobbled” on tins Defence We were given to believe that all party lines have been ; obliterated, that too lamb and the lion have figuratively, sneaking, lain down beside each other iTtli face of the impending national., danger While I yield to none in the dSS to see the naval paramount^ > Britain maintained, I decune.to be * goodness knows where at the call politicians who prefer to spend untol millions oif naval, programmes rather than do their duty by .thereat country in ameliorating its social con tions and increasing the standard o comfort of its wage earners whether the artisan or the clashes. The erv for social reform is bearr> piercing, but it will never be hstenea to so long as millions are ■wanted (vide Lord cfharta Beresford’s recent speech) for more Dreadnoughts and for other classes of ships. And mention of Lord Charles name reminds me that some of ns got a shock on Saturday last, when we heard him declare in open conference that the • Navy are not prepared for war. Those who witnessed the great Naval R<> view at Spithead, last month or, were ■present at similar great naval displays durin" the last five or six years, weTe 25? stronger than any otnpr, it omerPCn ii +Wfc the personnel of the officers line is efficient. »” d the men, under r they taow their ships better tha.n +h necessity aKfSsy peSsm is shared by. thoseto author. % at the Ato.ralty « onknown tag _ present, but little by Jp with his thP . committee have ■ P rt the orient conditions ot b<kv. I _ the navy are leaking out, . has ready affirmed that Lord paries been barking up the wr g the l venture to whcn facts are before the pu an ything found, that Quarters abouf but unanimity m. q ht of two T t D &Vbetb| perfection on England did a J®, 8 #w^eraHy,

on, and, judging by what one hears whispered in naval circles and dockyards, the Dreadnoughts of to-day may within the next ten years, be voted as inefficient fighting machines. Yet the Dreadnought laid down to-day costs nearly two millions sterling, and Lord Charles Beresford demands six beyond those already laid down or promised, the part that the aeroplane is to play in future naval engagements lias yet to be determined, so that the wisdom would seem to be in the direction of watching and waiting for developments, at the same time maintaining the preparedness of the navy to m-eet any contingency whenever it may arise. Reverting for a moment to the cable question, it is - very doubtful whether anj’ countries save Australia will benefit by it. It is no secret that the Press of New Zealand cannot, for four years, at least, take advantage of it, unless the Associated Press of Australia—the suppliers of Cable intelligence to the New Zealand papers—-climb down from their attitnd-o of hostility to the Pacific cable. At present all messages outward (i.e., from England, or Canada, or the United States) are sent over the Eastern Extension Company’s cables, and reaeli ns by way of Sydney and Adelaide; never a word comes over the Pacific from the London office of the syndicate. Possibly the Eastern Extension may modify the offer made to the conference by Sir John Pender—viz., to reduce tolls if the Press give a guarantee to recoup his companv any loss they may suffer from a reduced quantity of matter going over then lines. But as this offer was accompanied by a condition that the reduction was only to effect on© message diem sent at a time that inferential!} best suited the convenience of the Eastern Extension, the great ma3onty of delegates had no hesitation in rejecting it. That of the Pacific Cable Board, which was made later on in the day, is unhampered bv restrictions of anV kind, nor are the newspapers asked to provide guarantees. If the Pacific cable be used for outward service to the same degree that it is employed for inward (the London papers being its only customers at present), it is safe to predict that in a reasonably shoit time the Cable Board will be prepared, to censure the propriety of giving further assistance to the Press. . The real lion in the path is the cable combine across the Atlantic. It preserves an unyielding attitude of resistance to reform, because a lowering of rates for, the Canadian papers would be followed bv an instantaneous and nresistible demand for similar treatment by the United States Press. This was the factor that determined the Canadian delegation, whose unanimity on the point was quite refreshing, they avoided unnecessary talk and stood beside Mr. Ross, of Ottawa as a solid phalanx, for the fullest consideration of the relative merits o cable versus wireless telegraphy befor the Governments interested came to a final decision. Their feling was that the responsibility of making that choice irmst rest with, the experts of the Imperial and Canadian Governments, to which end the Postmaster-Gene™! of the countries owning the Pacific cable are to be asked to confer at the earliest opportunity, and take the noceSHowever the Atlantic bay be bridged, it is quite clear that the Canadian press-men wall see to it that Marconi sets a fair field, but no favor If that great inventor (whose modesty when addressing the conference imposed -all his hearers) can carry out 60 pS cent of his promises the era f s cheap telegraphy over the within sight; the bogey of vested inter est will be laid: for ever; and the dream of Sir Sanford Fleming, Mr. Henmker Eenton and Sir Albert Sasson—the sion of everybody an n leg- of a comparatively few will be realised. May that eventful day be quick in coming!