William Findlay Maclean
Independent Conservative
Mr. MACLEAN.
I might point out that this company is so strong that it not only controls the Eastern Extension Cable Company in the matter of cables, but it has cornered every steamship and factory that can be employed not only in the manufacture but in the laying of cables ; so that if we did not make a contract with them to-day, the probability is that we would not get a cable for years, until the factories could he got ready to produce the necessary material. There is a practical monopoly in both the manufacture and the laying of cables, and this company controls that monopoly. So that there is every reason why the minister in charge of the project should see that the interests of the country and the interests of the empire are protected. This great monopoly, as I told him before, will try at every stage to balk the building of this line and its completion within the proper time ; and I trust that the minister will tell ns that there is a
strong penalty clause in the contract for the completion of the work within the specified time. If there is not such a clause, this great monopoly will attempt to balk the line and do everything they can to prevent its realization.