In 1900 direct telegraph working was established between London and Genoa, and a third cable was laid to South Africa via St Helena and Ascension.
On the polar side of the high-pressure area a west wind drift is under the control of the " roaring forties," and on reaching South Africa part of this is deflected and sent northwards along the west coast as the cold Benguella current which rejoins the equatorial.
In 1893 a contract was made with the Eastern and South Africa Telegraph Company for the construction, laying and maintenance of a cable from Zanzibar to the Seychelles and Mauritius, a distance of 2210 m., for a subsidy of £28,000 a year for twenty years.
The following year the rates to and from East and South Africa were reduced, by negotiation, from charges varying from 7s.
On the outbreak of the South African War in 1899 Grant was at first disposed to be hostile to the policy of Lord Salisbury and Mr Chamberlain; but his eyes were soon opened to the real nature of President Kruger's government, and he enthusiastically welcomed and supported the national feeling which sent men from the outlying portions of the Empire to assist in upholding British supremacy in South Africa.
