vineyards; 11.8% meadows; 13.3% grazing lands; 54.4% was, however, forest. This territory is justly called “green Styria.” Cattle-raising has greatly developed and farming is actively carried on on the high lands. Nevertheless, in 1918 there were only 358,108 head of cattle (of which 170,630 were milch-cows) and 344,188 swine. A good breed of horses exists in Ennsthal and considerable attention is devoted to poultry-farming in Middle Styria, where the shooting and fishing are good. The forests yield a great variety of timber.
Minerals.—Styria is so rich in iron ore that it has been called the “land of iron” (eiserne Mark). Lignite is also abundant. Of the total output of the mines of present-day Austria (51,000,000 kronen in 1915) 71% (36,000,000 kronen) is attributed to Styria; its output of iron (1.8 million tons in 1915) is over 94% of the Austrian total. Iron-mining is almost exclusively confined to the Erzberg between Eisenerz and Vordernberg. The manufacture of iron in Austria is now almost entirely confined to Styria (538,753 tons out of a total of 541,004 tons). The most important iron-smelting works are in or near the above-named region and at Hieflau, Trofaiach and especially Donawitz; in the lignite districts, in Zeltweg and Knittelfeld, near the lignite diggings of Fohnsdorf and in Eibiswald; also in Mürz-Thal (Kapfenberg, Miirzzuschlag). The Mürz-Thal is also the centre of the newly created scythe-making industry.
The lignite produced, 1-8 million tons or over 74 % of the Austrian total, is found in many places. The most important mines are at Fohnsdorf in Upper Styria; the product of those near Leoben is used by the great metal works of Donawitz and others—and there are smaller mines in Mürz-Thal; in Western Middle Styria in the districts of Hoflach and Voitsberg and those of Eibiswald and Wies.
Styria also produces salt; 28,000 tons, some 17% of the whole Austrian output, was obtained near Aussee in 1915. It yields also almost the entire Austrian output of graphite and some sulphur, lead and zinc ores, clay and building stone. The output of magnesite has become especially important; Styria alone almost supplies the world, chiefly from the neighbourhood of Veitsch, Trieben, Kraubath, in the Breitenau near Brack and elsewhere.
Water-power.—The plentiful and accessible supply of water-power has caused the installation of great electrical stations of which, however, full advantage has not been taken. The electrical works of Weiz are world-famed.
Manufactures.—Notable Styrian manufacturing industries are those of the iron works at the places already named, also at Pallen-Thal (Rottenmann, Trieben) and at and near Graz. These turn out a great variety of iron goods; small articles as well as scythes, machinery, locomotives (Graz), bicycles (Graz) and wagons. Graz makes carriages and automobiles and also holds an important place in the wide-spread wood industries (including furniture). The manufactures of lignite and cellulose, pasteboard, paper (Grat-Korn, near Graz, and other places), also of beer (Graz), tiles, flour, leather, explosives (Deutsch-Landsberg and other places) are considerable. Less important are flour-milling, and the textile, glass, tobacco and chemical industries.
Communications.—The new frontier cuts through the Marburg-Unterdrauburg line so that the connexion between Middle Styria and Carinthia goes a long way round, causing considerable inconvenience. Mariazell is now connected by rail with Vienna.
SUBMARINE CABLE TELEGRAPHY (see 26.527). In 1921
there were over 298,000 nautical miles of telegraph cable in operation at the sea bottom, made up of some 3,000 separate lengths,
of which about 2,540 were administered by the various governments concerned, whilst the remainder were the property of
private (mainly British) companies. Of the world's cables, over
130,000 n.m. are owned by British companies, 71,000 by American companies, and 24,000 by companies of other countries. How
much the Allied countries especially Britain were indebted to
submarine telegraphy in connexion with the World War will
probably never be fully realized. Had British communication
with the Dominions been cut off at the outset by the enemy,
months would have elapsed before arrangements could have been
completed for the despatch of the overseas contingents which
rushed to British aid. On the other hand, within four hours of
the declaration of war, Germany was entirely deprived of direct
telegraphic communication with the United States. A British
cruiser effected the required interruption in the English Channel
by cutting both the cables running between Emden and New
York via the Azores, one being taken in to Penzance ( Cornwall).
Then in March 1917 they were both cut at points 643 and 610
n.m. respectively from New York, one of them being diverted by
a British P.O. telegraph ship into Halifax, Nova Scotia. Since
July 1917 this has been at any rate temporarily turned to account
as a connecting link with the All-British Pacific Cable system.
The other line was handed over to France and taken in to
Brest.[1] Altogether 20,000 n.m. of ex-German cables were captured during the war, covering practically every one of those passing through the English Channel.
Remarkable indeed were the achievements of submarine telegraph cable-laying and repairing authorities during the war. Despite the active German submarine warfare, a vast number stand to the credit of British ships, largely to meet immediate strategic requirements. Whilst some of these were effected by cruisers of the Royal Navy provided with the necessary apparatus and the required length of cable, they were in the most part carried out by specially designed telegraph ships, though accompanied as often as possible (where especially desirable) by a man-of-war as escort. In addition to manufacturing 20,000 m. of trench telephone cable, the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Co. made 19,000 m. of submarine cable, and its ships were actively engaged on highly dangerous work in the way of laying, repairing and diverting cables. The "Telconia" perhaps the most efficiently designed telegraph ship in existence made 75 cable repairs and laid 24 new lines around the English and Irish coasts whilst in commission for H.M. Post Office.
The first entirely new cable to be laid during the war was that by the Telegraph Construction Co.'s T.S. "Colonia" between Montevideo and the Falkland Is. in 1915, under the auspices of the British Admiralty. In the same year, this company also laid, under Post Office supervision, a direct Anglo-Russian cable from Peterhead (Aberdeenshire) to Alexandrovsk (about the nearest Arctic Ocean coast point to Petrograd). In both instances this was the earliest occasion on which a cable had been brought to the farther point. The first line had purely strategic objects in view, but the second was more especially to meet the fact that communication between Britain and Russia had previously been only effected across countries that were now to a great extent enemy countries; indeed, the Indo-European Telegraph Co.'s land line system had become practically inoperative ever since the out break of the war. This work was a truly remarkable feat. The cable was laid in the winter and was landed on Russian territory at the time of year when the sun does not rise above the horizon in those northern latitudes. In fact, the entire undertaking had to be carried out in darkness, as well as in seas infested with enemy submarines. It was conducted with every possible secrecy, it being arranged for the "Colonia," in order to mislead the enemy, to go on a preliminary cruise in an entirely different direction. With land lines at each end and special repeaters, direct telegraphic communication was thus established between the Central Telegraph Office in London and the corresponding building in Petrograd. Moreover, many telegrams from countries S. of Russia—Greece, for instance—passed over this cable in making their circuitous journey from the Levant to various quarters of the globe. This was the first piece of ocean cable work that the British Post Office had ever had to do with. Thus, for its purpose, Post Office engineers and clerks were initiated, at short notice, in the art of deep-sea cable-laying and long distance cable-working at the hands of the contractors, as well as by a staff of the Eastern Telegraph Co. provided for working the cable.[2]
The other more especially important piece of British cable work was the putting through of one of the Emden-New York cables as the first Imperial Atlantic cable to link up with the All-British Pacific line. The path taken by what now constitutes a completed “All Red” route to Australasia is London, Penzance, Fayal Isle, Azores (mid- Atlantic), Halifax, Bamfield (Vancouver), Fanning I. (a small, mid-Pacific, coral formation), Suva (Fiji Is.), Norfolk I., from whence there are two branches, one to Southport, Queensland (Australia) and the other to Auckland (New Zealand).
The Atlantic section of this “All Red” cable system was being worked in 1921 by the Post Office. Thus it has come to pass that a Government department, that, conjointly with the great cable companies, had opposed in turn the scheme for an All-British
