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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 43, 11 July 1914, Page 4

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LINKING-UP BY WUUiLESS. iVhen Marconi first demonstrated the >ossibility of sending wireless messages through the air few people ever conceived the idea iihat the marvellous aii'ention would ever develop into a commercial concern that would not only insure for England unbroken communi;;ition with her over-sea domini»na at all times, hut would ultimately supply to those dominions that cheap and easy means of communication with tho older countries that is indispensiblo for rapid commercial and national development. Certainly up till a comparatively recent time there was no idea that the. wireless system would outrival the submarine cables., both in efficiency and economy, but it Quia done all this and more, f»r it lias broken up tho cable aionop»ly and paved the way for the realisation of Sir John I'lcnnikcr Ileaton's ideal of a penny a vord messages. All this development has taken time, skill, and as iniinitude of experimental work that in evitably attaches to the process of over, coming scientific difficulties. When wireless messages were first sent, tho speed of transmission was limited to tw»nt) or thirty words a minute, but bas nous attained to one hundred words, and under tho new automatic system may b< [increased to three hundred word* a minute. Mere speed, howevor, wouli not have enabled wireless messages t< successfully compete with the cable sr/s tern, it being essential to combine upeet and economy. Having no expensive suo marine and land cables to provide, i stands to reason that wireless had ! great advantage over the older system which involved enormous outlay, so tha' it can readily be understood that thi rates for wireless messages are alreadj thirty per cent, below the cable rata wherever tho two systems are in ooni petition, and tho time may not be it,: distant when the long-expected penny-a word rate will be in vogue. Such a pros peet of cheap, rapid and direct com munication between all parts of tin world, and especially between the d« minions and tho Motherland, seemi almost too good to be true, but in thi light of past developments there ii n< good reason for doubting that it wil eventuate. In these days we are aceus tomed te utilising tho marvels of scienct : for business an I other purposes, and th. great object in view seems to be that o: accelerating the speed of everything connected with the affairs of life. Xoi does the craze stop there, for even tlw dead are whirled to their last resting place in motor 'buses. On the earth, i' the. air, on the water, and under fcUv sea are to be seen the products ol modern science, all doing tho will o: man, while through the air, unseen fc) mortal eyes, electric waves, controlleil by human agencies, rush through sp:',/s with messages of great import, or convey trifling communications from odo end of tlhe world to the other, girdling the earth, and uniting kindred in all parts of the globe. Men like Marconi and Edison deserve to be honored by th> human race, for they have devoted thcii lives and brilliant, gifts to the service of their fellows, and utilised the forces of Nature to Hie benefit of mankind.