THE CABLE LINES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 41, 12 November 1919, Page 7

THE CABLE LINES

SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENT.

■In response to an invitation from Lord Milner's Committee, appointed to deal with the subject of improved cable facilities, the Empire Press Union recently selected a small sub-committee to offer suggestions. The commercial classes and the Press have suffered together during the past fe-iir years,of cable chaos. Thero is hardly a business house or a. newspaper that has not experienced the deficiencies or untrustworthiue-rs of cables and wire- ■ less. The prodigal use of the wires by British Government.Departments, it was pointed out, far more than oven tho needs of war justified, blocked both the , Press and tho public messages.' On tho Eastern sorvice the Government wordage roso from a pre-war average of '3000 words a day to over 50,000, and it is said to still'go on'. . An extension of the wireless system has many advocates- But it is not yet so perfect and trustworthy a medium of communication as tho electric cable, and it may be many years before transmission of wordage by can ' approach, on the certainty that is now attained on cables. But unfortunalelj tlie cables are at tho present moment suffering from wear and tear as never before. They'have to make up great; leeway. The Eastern Company hoped'to finish a new cable from England to Gibraltar before the end of September? It has a project on hand for an additional . cable from Malta, down tho Red Sea to Singapore; and it is hoped that in two or three years this work will have been completed. - •' During the war the Pacific: cable ivas able to carry, not only the messages of the-Australian' Government, heavily delayed no doubt, but it provod of great assistance to our home authorities for tho purposes of tho war when the Eastern cables were overcrowded or broken down. It ia. a marvel that the Pacifio cable, just one single 6trand of copper wire, five miles down in tho ocean, Jia» lasted 17 years without a fracture in its deepest part. If it breaks 'in its lowest depths, no one can tell how- many months it will be out of use. 'When that happens, all its Australian work will bo thrown upon the Eastern lines. Unfortunately, the Pacific cable has one long: unbroken stretch of 3980'nu'les,through which, the signals work with reduced strength, and this section constitutes the bottle-neck of the- whole serrice. In order to make sure of that routa being, maintained a new cable should be laid throughout—from Bamfield to Norfolk Island, and certainly, in the first instance, from Bamfield to .Fanning- Island. ' ■ , . , A proposal, has been made whereby the worlds news Would be pooled in London, so that each paper, according to its age and size, Would be able to' dra,w from the pool what it fancied, .presumably mi payment. The committee is satisfied that such a scheme is quite unworkable. This opinion is shared by every practical journalist, both r.t Home and overseas. The committee, therefore, thinks it unnecessary to stale its reasons in detail, -Such pooling as is possible is jilready' done by the news agencies, which would be prepared to extend their services, if the means of communication were quicker and cheaper. If ilie pooling pronosal were ever seriously considered ■ the Press would require an opportunity to explain in detail why it regards it as unworkable and impracticable. To sum up, this committee of the Em-' pire Press Union suggests— (1) That immediate steps be taken to improve the existing cable services by reducing the wordage of Governnipjt messages, and otherwise relieving the present congestion on the wires. . (2) That every possible assistance should be given by the Government to the cable companies to enable them expeditiously' to repair their lines. (3) That an adequate system of wireless should be established as soon as possible 1 . " '' (4) That a second cable should be laid without delay, as a part of the All-Red soTiemo, from Bamfield to Norfolk Island, jind certainly, in the first instance,'from Bamfield to Fanning Island. - (s):Thafi better.use should be mnde,of the .ex-Gel'nian Atlantic cable.-' (61 That subventions should be granted with a view, to -reducing cable and wireless rates, in order to encourage intercommunication between all parts of the Empire. .' 1 (7) That the deferred Press tariff should be resumed and extended as soon as possible to South Africa and to India. ' (8) That investigation should be made respecting the use of cables by some of the Government Departments, for the transmission.of speeches and other news matter, on many occasions at most inordinate length, thereby causing nr,?dless expense and congestion of the wires.