NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 266, 4 August 1921, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

Many users of electricity in tho city ere anxious to know what will be their position when power becomes available from Mangahao. In a statement yesterday the Mayor pointed out’ that the changing over will "eventually necessitate" the discarding of existing street transformers, meters, and alternating current motors, but added that it is not anticipated that there will be need for drastic alterations in the wiring of public and private premises. It is time that more detailed information than this was made available. Users of electric power should bo put in a position to estimate what capital expenditure they will have to face in the change oyer to Mangahao power. The matter is important also in connection with the replacement of old anil worn-out electric plant. If new plant put in now will have to be scrapped in a year or two, it will bo better for consumers in many cases to struggle on with tho old. From the official statements it is clear that the City Council itself will be put to considerable expense in adapting its plant for tho new power, and wo hope that private users will be informed without delay exactly what they are likely to be called upon to 'ace.

Mr. Hughes is uncompromising in his demand for direct wireloss communication between Britain and, Australia. Under the Imperial scheme there would be three relay stations between London and Darwin—Cairo, Bombay, and Singapore—with consequent loss of time and expense in the retransmission of messages. Direct communication, if practicable, is clearly to be preferred, but it Is noticeable that Mr. Hughes has been unable to oari-y the Conference with him. It is not a year since the Lafayette station at Bordeaux, built by tho United States Navy during the war and presented to France, sent the first message round the world. It is just over a year since the Imperial Wireless Committee reported in favour of a chain of stations at intervals of about 2000 miles. "No satisfactory commercial wireless service is in operation anywhere to-day over a distance of 2000 miles," reported tho committee. Its objections to attempting a TSnger ' range were based on the higher initial cost, the higher expenses of running, and the technical difficulties of the machines. Evon tho existing transAtlantic services were found to bo handicapped by delays and interruptions, low speed, end the number of repetitions required to secure correct reception of tho messages- Wireless telegraphy is progressing rapidly, and it is to be expected that any scheme installed now will soon be oat of date. Whether Mr. JTtighes's idea is too far ahead of tha

times or whether tho Imperial Wireless Committee is too conservative is ft matter tor the experts to determine. The public will incline to the view that half a loaf is better than no broad, and it -Is desirable that whatever is done shall bo put in hand with as little delay as possible.

Ocean mail services seem to have been considered on a fantastic basis at the Imperial Conference, if the cable correspondent presents the situation accurately. A fleet of nine 25-knot steamers between. Britain and Australia is talked of, the vessels to cost 113,000,000 each. As Hie maximum average speed across the Atlantic of the fastest liner is only 25$ knots, it is difficult to see any economic basis on which a service of tho same quality could be provided over a voyage four times the length, with a population one-twentieth that of the United States to support it. This impossible project is contrasted with the advantages of an airship service. Twenty-five-knot steamers, we are toid, wohld reduce the voyage by 11 days, an airship service involving oue-ninth tho capital outlay would reduce the existing time of passage by 18 days. The general manager of tho Canadian Pacific Company recently stated that the company’s new 22,000-ton liner Empress of Canada, with a speed of 18 knots, cost .£1,700,000. The projected 25-knot liners at .£3,000,000 would presumably bo about equal in size to tho big Cunarders, with gross tonnages of something over 80,000 and carrying 1500 to 2000 passengers. Such vessels would be gigantic white elephants on an Australasian service, so let us see what the airship proposition looks like. The biggest airship in the World, the 1138, was sold by Britain to the United States in June. She has a speed of 70 knots and can travel 5000 miles at that speed without taking in more petrol. Her "disposable lift”— i.e., for passengers and goods—is 50 tons. Both alternatives are up in the clouds, and it is unfortunate that more time was not devoted to undertakings of a more practical kind for the improvement of Imperial communications as they exist to-day.

When announcement was made recently that unprofitable) trains were to be cut out of the railway time-table, it was anticipated from tho recent returns that tho South Island would suffer heavily. The details of the alterations proposed nre supplied thia morning, and may be expected to produce a prolonged chorus of complaint from the south. The North Island suffers lightly in comparison, and Wellingtonians, for instance, have only to say good-bye to the two motor trains between Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt and the late train to Johnsonville. Tho real slaughter is on the unprofitable branch lines of the South Island, many of which have never at any time justified themselves as commercial undertakings. In some cases all trains are cancelled, in others daily services become tri-wcckly, and some lines will come down to one train a week. With neither the railways nbr the Post Office paying interest on the capital invested, and with each succeeding quarter revealing a further shrinkage of revenue, retrenchment was inevitable. Th® present cut is to last until November unless a material increase in traffic occurs before then. It is unfortunate that retrenchment should be necessary, but there is no escaping it unless matters are to be allowed to drift on and the chance taken of a serious crisis arising. By cutting out trains that do not pay for the running, the Government should effect a considerable saving. Travelling has shrunk to relatively small proportions compared with what it was a year back, and the State is only doing what the shipping companies have done some time ago. The present cut is probably the biggest that can be made without laying a heavy hand on salaries, but it behoves all members of the Public Service in their own interests to co-operate in effecting economies in possible directions.