Under Spanish government there was a land Telegraph Service from Manila to all civilized parts of Luzon Island--also in Panay Island from Capiz to Yloilo, and in Cebu Island from the city of Cebu across the Island and up the west coast as far north as Tuburan. There was a land-line from Manila to Bolinao (Zambales), from which point a submarine cable was laid in April, 1880, by the Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Company, Ltd., whereby Manila was placed in direct telegraphic communication with the rest of the world. For this service the Spanish Government paid the company P4,000 a month for a period of 10 years, which expired in June, 1890. In April, 1898, the same company detached the cable from Bolinao and carried it on to Manila in the s.s. _Sherard Osborn_, 207 nautical miles having been added to the cable for the purpose. In return for this service the Spanish Government gave the company certain exclusive rights and valuable concessions. In May, 1898, the American Admiral Dewey ordered the Manila-Hong-Kong cable to be cut, but the connection was made good again after the Preliminaries of Peace with Spain were signed (August 12, 1898). Cable communication was suspended, therefore, from May 2 until August 21 of that year. In 1897 another submarine cable was laid by the above company, under contract with the Spanish Government, connecting Manila with the Southern Islands of Panay and Cebu (Tuburan). The Manila-Panay cable was also cut by order of Admiral Dewey (May 23, 1898), but after August 12, under an arrangement made between the American and Spanish Governments, it was re-opened on a neutral basis, and the company's own staff worked it direct with the Manila public, instead of through the medium of Spanish officials. Since the American occupation a new cable connecting the Islands with the United States has been laid (opened July 4, 1903), whilst a network of submarine and land-wires has been established throughout the Archipelago.