§ * SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucestershire, Forest of Dean)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer what financial arrangement has been made with regard to the strategic cable about to be laid from the Island of Gutzlaff, at the mouth of the south channel of the Yang-tsze, to the north; and whether, having regard to the fact that the island is the landing-place of the cables of the Danish Great Northern Telegraph Company running to Nagasaki and Vladivostock, it is arranged that the offices at the end of the new line will be in British hands, and
† See The Parliamentary Debates [Fourth Series], Vol. lxxxiv., p p. 626 and 1122.220 distinct from the offices in which foreign clerks are employed.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Sir M. HICKS BEACH,) Bristol, W.The proposed cable to Wei-hai-wei is not to be laid from Gutzlaff but from the Saddle Islands, which are some thirty miles further seawards. The Great Northern Company has no station on these islands. Arrangements will be made for the working of the new cable by a British staff. Negotiations are in progress with the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company as to the ownership of the cable. Pending the result, the company will lay and work the line.