EMPIRE WIRELESS

Southland Times, Issue 18815, 7 May 1920, Page 2

EMPIRE WIRELESS

GREAT MARCONI SCHEME. SUBMITTED FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 380 STATIONS; 17,170 EMPLOYEES. Wireless telegraphy has ceased to be a nine-days’ wonder. It is now a necessity of international intercourse. The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company has developed a scheme to link up the Empire by highpower stations. Australian co-operation is an essential part of the project. The Federal Ministry has received a full description of the company’s proposals, and it has been invited to consider them in conjunction with the British Government. The scheme provides for the provision of trunk and branch routes which will enable England to obtain wireless communication with any part of the Empire, and aims at enabling any part of the Empire to communicate with any ship suitably equipped, in whatever sea she may be, roughly speaking between latitude 60 N. and 50 S. TO AND FROM AUSTRALIA. The following are the proposed routes and branches;— (1) England to India, and thence to Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, • with a branch from Singapore to Hongkong. (2) England to Egypt, and thence to East Africa and South Africa. (2a) England to Egypt, and thence to India, Singapore, etc. (3) England to West Africa, and thence to South Africa, with a branch from West Africa to South America. (4) England to West Indies. (5) England to Montreal, and thence to Vancouver. (6) Australia to Vancouver (night service only at first). STATIONS AND PERSONNEL.

The scheme as outlined would require the provision of 26 main trunk stations (five of them in England), and the directors submit tentatively, as the basis for calculating the requisite personnel, the following figures: —3O main trunk stations, 50 main and 100 local feeder stations, and 200 small local stations. It is estimated that for these stations a total staff of 17,170 would be required, including 2240 engineers of various grades, over 9000 operators, 1290 artisans, and 2500 boys. It is proposed that all persons concerned, except native servants, cooks, etc., must be British subjects, and all white men must be members of a naval or military reserve force and capable of immediate mobilisation; they should not, however, be removed from their duties when mobilised. THE COMPANY’S TERMS. The terms on which the proposal is submitted include the following:— The company offers entirely at its own cost to construct, maintain, and operate a complete and efficient network of Imperial wireless communications. After 30 years, dating from the inauguration of any wireless service comprised in the network, the stations will become, if so desired, the property of the Government or Governments concerned free of any payment. The Government or Governments concerned will have the right to take over the stations at any time by paying for them the book value at which they stand in the company’s books, plus any sum which may have been expended on the creation of the services, and by paying the company 10 per cent of the gross receipts for the remainder of a period of 30 years dating from the inauguration of the services. The Government will have the right to take over the control of the stations during any period of war or national emergency, ail arrangements for such control being settled between the fighting services and this company, and to be subject to periodical revision.

VITAL CONDITIONS. This offer is subject to the following conditions : (a) That the Government or Governments concerned shall issue all requisite licenses for a period of 30 years, shall grant every facility for the acquisition of sites (by compulsory purchase if necessary), and shall carry out, as a repayment service, the work of building, laying, and maintaining all the underground and overhead telegraph telephone lines required. (b) That the stations shall not be diverted from the duties for which they were constructed, except in a national emergency. (c) That the company shall reserve the right to extend the system to foreign countries to any extent and on any terms that may be commercially advantageous, provided that Imperial traffic shall invariably have preference over foreign traffic. (d) That the Government or Governments concerned shall secure the allocation of suitable international wave lengths to the stations comprised in the netkork, and shall see that stations belonging to other companies shall not be allowed to use unscientific apparatus or granted wave lengths which would interfere with the working of the.lmperial network. The company is also willing to construct and maintain, under similar conditions, stations for communication with ships at sea and aircraft in flight, and to link up such a system of stations with the main Imperial network should it be practicable to do so.