File No. 811.741/147
The British Ambassador (Spring Rice) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 29.]
Sir: I have the honour to inform you that I have recently received a despatch from the Governor of British Honduras with regard to the method of transmitting telegraphic messages from the colony to the United States and Europe.
It appears that all messages from British Honduras to Europe are sent by the wireless station at Belize and have to be listened for by the station at Swan Island, which transmits them to New Orleans, and the Swan Island stations will not now transmit messages for British colonies or other countries until they have been approved by the censor in New Orleans.
The governor has requested me to ascertain whether commercial messages from the colony to addresses in the United States could be sent through New Orleans in code, provided that such messages were sent in a code approved by the United States authorities, so that the meaning can be ascertained by the censor at New Orleans. The saving of expense to commercial houses telegraphing to the [Page 884] United States would of course be very considerable, andthe local authorities are therefore anxious to ascertain whether any objection is seen to this proposal.
I may add in this connection that communication with Belize by cable is very irregular, owing to the frequency with which the communication through Mexico has broken down recently. Both the government and private persons and firms are therefore entirely dependent on the wireless system.
I have [etc.]