ON MOUNT ETAKO.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 157, 15 October 1912, Page 3

ON MOUNT ETAKO.

WIRELESS STATION OPENED.

ADORESS BY LORD ISLINGTON

THE IMPERIAL CHAIN

With a 70-mile gale tearing across the crest of tho Tinakori Hills, and shrieking a demoniacal fantasia about the aerials and rigging of the new wireless station on Etako Mount, something more than passing interest was required, one imagined, to inspire the attendance of such a large number of people as assembled at the station yesterday to attend the formal opening by his Excellency the Governor (Lord Islington). A good lnany confessed that they had hoard of the magnificent panorama which was to be seen stretched before the eye from Mount Jitako, and the occasion furnished ail opOthers came out for "a blow'' —and got it, with interest. But there was a mysterious "something" about the little building that .squatted at the foot of the lofty aerials that suggested a link with the great world beyond, and invested tho place with an interest peculiarly its own. l'or the occasion of tho Governor's visit bunting was flown from the aerials, and the flutter of the flags in the 70-miie gale sounded from a short, distance away like the roar of many motors.

c- Amongst those who were'present at the (t- ceremony, in addition to his Excellencv, the Hon. R. 11. Rhodes (Postnmsteru, General), his predecessors (Sir Joseph Ward and Mr. H. G. Ell), Sir Arthur rc Guinness (Speaker of the House), tho Hon. J. A. Miller, and the Mavor of Wel- ■. lington (Mr. D. M'Larenj. His Excellency's Address. In declaring the new high-power station to be officially open, his Excellency made some interesting remarks on the development of radio-telegraphy during recent years. In 1906, he said," radio-telegraphy had developed to such an extent all over the world that it was regarded as immediately necessary that there should be an e international ■ conference with a view of t bringing about rules and regulations to systematise the working of wireless d telegraphy throughout the world, n From naval, military and other points of e view tho continued existence of the oper- >, ating monopolies and restrictions on free 0 communication which had hitherto obtained amongst the various companies conn trolling separate systems was not der sirable. In 1907 there were 10 different il systems, with 18fi commercial stations ill t various parts of the world, and of these, 1 (!3 wero operated by the Marconi Company, and 123 by other companies. The t outcome of a conference, which was held 1 in the city of Berlin in 190G, was an International Convention. When this 1 International Convention was brought bei fore the House of Commons in 1907, tho - House was afraid that certain clauses in i tho agreement might jeopardise British interests. A committee was set up. of i which he had the honour to be appointed chairman, and that committee agreed that all British interests were protected, and that Great Britain should become , a signatory. .They were therefore able to ' recommend Parliament to adopt tho scheme, and Parliament accepted the re- . commendation. His Excellency concluded by congratulating Hi? citizens'of Wellington on having a station on such a splendid site, free from obstruction from neighbouring hills A Continuous Station. The Postmaster-General (tha Hon. R. H. Rhodes) said that the Government had decided that the new station should bo open continuously. "The guaranteed range of the station," Mr. Rhodes went on to saj;, "is 300 miles by day and COO miles by night. This, however, is only tho minimum. Exhaustive tests wero made by the Department's experts. Conversation in every direction hns been carried on • over a diTance greatly in excess of this minimum. For instance, on the westward tho Pennant Hills station at Sydney during a twenty minutes' conversation without interruption said that the signals were <5 per cent stronger than from tho General Post Office tower. Communication was also made with the stations at Melbourne and Hobart. Hobart. In the north-easterlv direction, the station at Suva, 1500 miles distant, and the steamers Marania and Atua, over 1000 miles away, wero spoken to, the signals reporting to be very strong. In the easterly direction, the steamer Turakina, en route to Cape Horn, received the signals at a distance of 1100 miles, in the south, Jlacquarie Island remarked that there was a marked difference between the signals of the two Wellington stations, the-hill station being more than tw-ico as strong. In all cases congratulatory terms wero expresed as to the quality and strength of the signals." An Important Chain. In laying out the station, said the Postmaster-General, provision had boeu made for making tests which would give data anticipated to be of valuable assist-' once in tho science of wireless telegraphv. The anemometer will . give statistics as regards wind pressure. It was believed that atmospheric pressure Imil some correlation with electrical transand the results of scientific in-

vestigations in this direction would bo very interesting. The Imperial Government had entered into n contract with Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, Ltd.. for a chain' of stations c-onnrc! i'tht I the United Kingdom with Australia (via 1 India) and with South Africa in the first instance, the installations to be erected in ] England; Egypt, tho East African l'ro- I toctorate, South .Africa, India, and Singapore. It might'bo stated that the Aus- . tralian Government was not taking part J in tho agreement; but, as in the case of New Zealand, was proceeding independently with the erection of a. station in J connection with the Imperial wireless « chain. New Zealand would be in constant communication with Australia by means 1 of its two high-power stations, and Aus- * fralia in turn would communicate (Jirect with tho Imperial station at Singapore. * It was understood that a proposal was to * be made in which wireless telegrams might be sent between Australasia and H Great Britain at a rate of 2s. per word. J Definite information on the subject must be awaited until tho stations were in a 1 more forward state. I I

Fehcilatory addresses were also delivered by Sir Joseph Ward, Mr. H. G. Ell, and tho Mayor, after which morning tea was served in a marquee erected on the sheltered side of the station. First Messages, The first message received at the station after the official opening wa.s from the senior naval officer (H.M.S 'Pioneer, Weilington), and read as follows:— "On behalf of tho commander-in-chief, the senior naval officer sends congratulations to the Postmaster-General and the Government of New Zealand on the opening °f the Wellington wireless station." To which the Postmaster-General replied:—

"Plea-so transmit to the commander-in-chief mv hearty appreciation of kind con. gratulations. Your message was the first reoeived after formal opening of station." The following message was also sent by tho Postmaster-General to Melbourne:— "Gratified announce opening new wireless station Radio, Wellington, to-day." .At midnight the following message from his Exeelloncy the Governor (Lord Islington) was sent to his Excellency tho Governor-General at Melbourne:— "In informing your Excellency that tho permanent wireless station heights above Wellington has been formally opened for business this day, I take much pleasure in sending this, the first official message by wireless across the Tasman Sea, and express tho hope that when other stations in New Zealand now reaching completion are opened, they will serve as an additional link to bind together the Commonwealth and this Dominion. "ISLINGTON."