WIRELESS WILL NOT KILL CABLES

Hokitika Guardian, 30 August 1928, Page 4

WIRELESS WILL NOT KILL CABLES

(By Sir Robert Donald, C/linirman of the Imperial Wireless Telegraphy Committee).

It is assumed by many people that the submarine ca'blo will be put out of business by the conquering radio. Nothing of the sort. Cables are as indispensable to the Empire as railways are to England, and they wiil improve. The recent introduction of the system known as the loaded or permalloy cable, by which the carrying capacity is increased from 30 to 240 words per minute, is itself a revolution and strengthens the position of the cable. The fundamental error of the cable companies was that they did not recognise years ago that wireless was a potential competitor. The powerful Eastern Telegraph group ignored the existence of wireless until two years ago, when it had a scramble with the Marconi Company for a concession from G recce.

The Western Union Telegraph Company was more watchful, although this company, which owns five-sixths of the telegraph offices in the United States, has oly a minor (financial) interest in cables. The next greatest American company, the Commercial Union, has entered the wireless business, as it considers co-ordination is not only a safeguard but. is essential for the progress of both means of communication. Great Britain holds the supreme position in submarine telegraphy, both on its engineering side and in operating organisations - . Out of 265,000 miles of long-distance caldera 115,000 miles are in British hands. The greatest cable organisation in the world is tlmt controlled by the Eastern Telegraph group, which owns over 136.000 nautical miles.

The success of this group induced over-confidence. It did not make provision for the future, except by the accumulation of big reserves. It ig-

nored the struggling junior competitor until that infant suddenly sprang v,p and administered a staggering ldow to the giant, who was not prepared for shock. . The senior business, with its vast reserves to draw upon, could have survived the unexpected attack, but after a war of rates the public as usual would have paid. Cab'es and wireless are complementary to each other. Each system has its strong points. The cable is move accurate, and is preferable for code messages used so. largely in business, as cole by wireless lias usually to be repeated. The cable, when the terminal

facilities are in its own hands, is quicker than wireless. A merchant in Chicago sends a telephone message from his desk to the Western Union Office, and his correrpondeut in London receives it at his telephone desk well with in four minutes. The cable is also .secret. Anyone who takes the trouble can tap wireless messages or block them. No part of the vast, sparsely populated or undeveloped continents in the British Empire are beyond the ningo of radio either for the reception of signals or of speech. After the main wireless routes are fixed sub-stations will follow, and as facilities for despatch and reception improve local wireless r-. Tries will :he cqn.ij r>cd. Wireless solves the problem ,-f run mu ideation over vast territories which could never he united by wire telegraphs. At the same time more c ables under the merger may lie < mv-trueied. To l ogin with, n loaded rnb’c should he ln-bl between Engl aml and Newfoundland. and the same system introduced gradually in all other cable ion tes. Tlio capital expenditure will be many millions, as the loaded cable is not a displacement; it is a new cable; existing rallies remain in use. With a parallel development in wireless the facilities for distant communication wiil ho increased ten fold. The loaded cable consists of several channels which can be operated independently. Each channel will carry GG words nor minute and deliver them printed. Messages can .’•> diverted

when the first destination is reached. Thus one channel of the 'Western Union’s new cab’o connects with the •ce'd" between Italy and the Azores via Spain, and then on to New York. Two channels work in co-operation with the new German Atlantic loaded cable linking Einclen and the. Azores with America.