MR FRANCIS RONALDS.

Southland Times, Issue 1278, 12 July 1870, Page 3

MR FRANCIS RONALDS.

- The name of Mr Francis Eonalds was lately recorded as having received the honour of Knighthood. Who is Mr Francis Eonalds ? was a question more likely to be asked than answered. Mr Ronalds is neither more nor less than the originator of our telegraph system. To him does not, indeed, belong the merit of having been the first to conceive the I' idea of conveying signs to distant places by means of electricity; that was suggested by more than one person in the ■last century, but never put into a practical shape. Mr Eonalds, however, was the very first, either here or abroad, to invent an electric telegraph ao constructed as to be capable of extensive practical application, and so far back as 1823 he fully developed its principle and mode of action. Still earlier, viz., in 1816, he had constructed a working electric telegraph, and on offering it to the then Government received an answer which can never be too often cited as an illustration of ofiicial complacency: — "Telegraphs of any kind are now wholly unnecessary, and no other thari the one now in use will be adopted." Nothing daunted by this apathy, Mr Eonalds matured his invention,and in 1823 publisheda" Description of an Electric Telegraph, and of some other Electrical Apparatus," in- which, after fully describing his invention with figures and 'diagrams, he predicted in these striking words the uses to which it was capable of being applied : — " Why should not our Kings hold councils at Brighton with their Ministers in London? Why should not our Government govern at Portsmouth almost as promptly as in Downing street ? "Why should our defaulters escape by reason of our foggy climate t Let us nave electrical conversazione offices all over the kingdom if we can. Give me material enough, and I will electrify the world." Mr, Bonalda was too far ahead of his time and too purely a man of science to secure a hearing for his discovery in these early days ; and it was left to others to mature hi* idea, and to establish the system which his prophetic eye had foreseen would one day transform the world. It was not till 1837, fourteen years after Mr Eonalds' pamphlet, that Messrs Gooke and Wheatstone took out their first patent. The science and practical skill of these and other eminent electricians have brought electric communication to its present advanced state ; but the great fact remains that Mr Eonalds was the first to demonstrate practically the Erinciple which they have developed. At ist, thanks to Mr Gladstone's sympathy; with genius, the special merits of Mr Eonalds as a pioneer in this great field of action have received a public recognition. Mr Eonalds, although still an active devotee of science, is now in very advanced age. A little longer, and his honors might have come too late. Several years ago the Ball Mall Gazette called attention to his place among great inventors, and urged his claims to some public acknowledgment! ••';