PENNY-A-WORD CABLES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 406, 15 January 1909, Page 4

PENNY-A-WORD CABLES.

% I -A; ;REPIV \Tb^THE ; ADTObAIES. ;-■.•;' ■; I'Mr. Henriiker:.Heatoh's .demonstration jn, .. avoUr : of; a;.pennyi-a-\v6i'd.cable,.ratbwithiri: ".. ;he Empire,' 1 writes a.correspondent,''"has , ; lomo'and gone without, bringing that consumriatiori appreciably "nearer.."f Mr."Hennikor ieaton filled six columnß of 'The- Times'-, ivith letters from celebrities all-yearning 1 for; I penny-a-\v6rd ! cables,., and organised a .'meet- ,'i Irig.of. tho Boyal Colonial Institute,-to which' / ie'.oamo.prinied with a, paper on the useful- / aosa of the' penny fate in cementing E pifo together,' and. backed 'up by.-tho wonder-:: c transmitter which, it'is j iaid, can.send'4o;ooo. worths in an hour from: vl L'o'ndon';t.o'.'Paris. :r ; '..-.";.'':.■".. V-:'';. : J,",:',--";.:; ] ( "Lord Jersey presided,.and was supported j byj-Lord Strathcona, Sir, Somorset.French',, the., i tton.'Rodolphe Lemieux; ;PostraasterrGeneral. j of. Canada, Mr." Marconi; and other ; authori- i ties;' Mr. Heaton' read his paper arguing that ,- cables are kept idle by monopolist companies, '' that, their/carrying ""capacity: is equal.'to. J tw;elve times their, actual performance under ' present ) conditions, ■• and ■ that '-they- should; be i bought but by: the Governments of the world i at their market, value. ,:'He asked Mr. Mar- 1 coni whether he would be willing to under- i take a'wireless service across the" Atlantic at I a penny a word.; The 1 , famous inventor ex- ' pressed'bland approval of the scheme, and ,1 said he would be quite willing if the Govern- ' ment ; would. defray the cost- of erecting and 'i worlring. the 'transmission: stations;' and:.pay! j him a subsidy against loss..'''_ ', ■■;■ ;' .' ' "Then Mf.;Neilson/'the.cable.expert, rose, ' paper in hand, arid, with relentless logic,: proceeded, .to- put::.back: tho-advont of the; penny-a-word cable; to' tho. Greek Kalends;. The capacity of the cables is not twelve times; , what is obtained'from them..; Business: men, do not'lay,:, down' costly', plant" for "nothing. Take the case, of;the Antipodes. .'There hre ; four cables'between, England and Australia.; Assume, to' please Mr.. Heaton,-: that two" could do the present work of the four. The present, rate is three shillings,a word.' It is', manifest that, in. order to obtain the existing .revenue, 72 cables would be needed for a penny rate to, the Island Continent. ' Deducting the existing four'cables, the add)-, tional. capital required for' 68 new' lines would he over 170 millions sterling, arid there would 'only/bo the present gross revenue to provide' interest on capital, working expenses, repairs and depreciation; "Similarly, in the case of Canada; 31 new cables would- be required to carry the increased traffic,; with only the present gross revenue to meet all charges. .The Imperial and Colonial Governments now lose £60,000 a year on the new Pacific ("all red") cable. At the penny per word rate ,36 Pacific, cables approximately would be wanted, and the annual loss would be about £2,000,000 to be borne by the taxpayers,, and that would represent only a small part of tho Australasian traffic. A'similar loss would result in the case of all long-distance cables. There is no salvation in Pollak-Virag or any other transmitter. In the case of the long-distance cable the difficulties Are'.not'.iirthn-instru-ments rised but' in . the cable ' itsolf. ,T'" speod of a oable varies' inversely as 'the square of its length. ,'lt is the-long neck of the bottle, and the quantity of work that can be put through in a given time is severely limited, no matter how fast the transmitter :will work. Long distance .wireless .telegraphy on the penny basi3,,is;n'ot-./mthin,sight : ,by a 'generation. -:'"; '.•'■"'..';,■"",■'■!■-'•;% "These views are echoed by .all experts. The facts,put forward seem unanswerable— at : any rate, they have hot been answered— and Mr. Henniker Heaton must own that ho liad not counted'the cost of his generous scheme, which was supported in the columns of,"The Times' by Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, Colonel Seely, Sir Gilbert Parker, Mr. Harry' Mosonthal, several ex-Colonial Governors, 'and a host of other notabilities;" -