The Empire and the Century/The Nerves of Empire > 자유게시판

Clearly, the only solution of this problem was for British enterprise to construct a line of submarine cables to India. Clearly, then, from a purely financial standpoint, what is control cable a cable to India could be put out of existence by the land-line. But commercial as well as Imperial interests demanded the existence of both lines, and in 1877-1878 what is known as a 'joint purse' arrangement was established between the two routes. Of the remaining four cables, two are French and two are German. Broadly speaking, therefore, South Africa is now possessed of four good routes to Britain, namely, two on the West Coast, one on the East Coast, and one viâ Australia. The capital was raised at a cheap rate by the British Government, and the four Governments concerned agreed to share the loss or profit of the undertaking among them. Finally, in 1896, the first really serious State competition was inaugurated by the German Government, though the German cable was not opened until 1900. Under stress of competition the rate fell to 6d. in 1886 until 1888. But this was found to be ruinous, and the rate was raised to Is.

From 1872 up to 1888 the changes in the tariff were most bewildering; in those sixteen years there were no less than thirteen changes of tariff. Ten years again passed away, and meantime it had begun to be felt that Hong Kong was only imperfectly united to Singapore by a single line of cable, touching at the French possession of Saigon; so in 1894 a line was laid from Singapore to the British island of Labuan, off North Borneo, and thence to Hong Kong, providing a splendid all-British route. So, in spite of these high rates, the dividend on the ordinary stock of the West African cable companies averaged only 2½ per cent for the last five years of the nineteenth century. This work will continue until about sixteen miles of levee is built along the west bank of the river, in addition to the two dams with a combined length of 4,200 feet. Should they duplicate the existing East Coast or West Coast route? The Philippine traffic, which previously had to pass wholly over the British cable to Hong Kong, now round an independent route direct to America. In 1875 the cable route was totally interrupted in the Red Sea, and the land-line had won for the time.

Similarly, France has contemplated a line from Marseilles to Jaffa in Syria, thence to the Gulf of Akabah, and so down the Red Sea to Madagascar southwards, and Cochin-China in the East. If, while Germany and France use the funds of the State to subsidize and support German and French cables, Great Britain similarly uses her national credit, as is the case of the Pacific cable, against her own people, then British enterprise, hopelessly overweighted by such an overwhelming combination, will roll up its cables and sell them for what they are worth. I remember, when proceeding on the magnificent waterway of the River Min to Foochow, seeing the place where our cable, when first laid, had to be worked from a hulk in the river, owing to the refusal of the Chinese officials to provide a landing-place for so mysterious an intruder. Besides the initial cost of a cable, there is the cost of its maintenance, repair, and replacement We have to consider not only the natural causes of decay, but also damage from external causes.

SY cable is a control cable, meaning that it is specifically used to control and send signals to industrial equipment when there is a medium to high level of mechanical stress. Meanwhile, YY cable is a versatile, lighter alternative to SY, designed for use where only low levels of mechanical stress are expected. Steel wire armour (SWA) is made from galvanised steel wires which are wrapped around the cable cores in a spiral direction. Steel wire armour is applied above a layer of PVC. Control wires do not require the same sheathing and often have regular PVC insulation. As regards social messages, codes have hitherto been far less in use. Taking one of the small private commercial codes actually in use, I find that the whole code gives an average of 27· 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. I touch, therefore, upon a great and weighty subject. Great Britain and Australasia. Great Britain and Africa.