On Tuesday night, the Postmaster-General, during a debate on a
resolution moved by Sir E. Birkbeck, announced that it was the intention of the Government to connect telephonically all the Coastguard stations in the South of England,—namely, those stretching from the Isle of Wight to Lynmouth, in North Devon. This will only cost £16,000. Further, he mentioned that a rough estimate for the establishment of communication between all our lighthouses and lightships and the shore had been made, and that the cost would be some £300,000. It was the intention of the Government, however, to appoint a Royal Commission to investigate the matter. It is to be hoped that this means that the Government is seriously determined not only to ring the whole coast with the telegraph-wire, but to put out electric antennae into the sea. The country, both on grounds of humanity and of self-defence, should willingly vote the money. In case of a threatened invasion, it might be of the greatest moment to get early intelligence of the enemy's movements from lighthouses and lightships.
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