The Daily News. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1921. THE ’WIRELESS LINK.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 September 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1921. THE ’WIRELESS LINK.

If the British Empire is to become a reality, the component parts must be dr.awn closer together. That was practically the key note of the speeches of the Dominions’ Premiers at the recent Conference, and no one wild has read the cabled references to this subject by these Premiers can fail to realise the serious view which is taken of the inadequate means of communication which now exist between Britain and the Dominions and between the Dominions themselves. It has been asserted that, as the result of the war, the mails take longer to reach their destination; steamship services are slower, while passenger rates and freights are higher; cables are less efficient; very little progress has been made in completing the Imperial wireless chain; air power has not only made very little contribution so far to the solution of the problem, but owing to the recent airship disaster has received a cheek, though probably only of a temporary nature. Practically the means of inter-communication are worse than they were seven years ago, yet the urgency of an effective remedy cannot he exaggerated. The hope of welding the group of autonomous nations comprising the wide-flung Empire rests on the development of cheap and efficient means of communication, and until this work is accomplished that hope cannot be realised. The chief concern hinges on the perpetuation of our peculiar oliase of civilisation, and the

promotion of trade between the Dominions and their kith and kin overseas, but the issue is big with the future destiny of the human race. It would seem that if there is failure in cultivating and consolidating Imperial public opinion on this matter, there will be small chance for the League of Nations or any other association of States. In the daily affairs of foreign policy, commercial dealings, and social intercourse, a continuous stream of intelligence must be maintained, and the facilities of travel, whether by sea or by air, must be developed. We cannot wipe out the great ocean spaces which divide the units of the Empire—nor would we if we could—but mechanical science offers the means of contracting them. As Mr. Winston Churchill remarked:

“With every knot an hour which is added to the steamships connecting the Empire, that Empire gets sii Her or less unwieldy, while retaining its old strength and richness and gaining efficiency.” Although Mr. Churchill is at the head of the committee appointed to deal with this matter, it is evident that any progress made must depend upon economic factors which are beyond the control of Ministers except as to subsidies, and it is obvious that the future of the Imperial wireless chain, together with urgentlyneeded reforms in the cable service, offer the best field for exploration and decision. Of all means of communication that of wireless promises to be the cheapest and swiftest. In commenting on this subject, the Daily Telegraph says:— “Such an Imperial link etill has no existence alter an interval of ten years. The war cannot be blamed entirely for this delay. Germany had a world-wide system before hostilities opened, and very effective it proved for propaganda purposes; France possesses a powerful chain of stations, and the United States, with characteristic enterprise, is depending more and more upon the ether rather than the cable. Our position, on the other hand, is one of humiliation. We are able ■to communicate by wireless with only one Dominion, and we owe that good fortune to the action of the Canadian Government in concluding an agreement with the Marconi Company. For the rest, the Empire is still unlinked by wireless, and, as Mr. Hughes has warned us, other countries are registering for their own use, and so monopolising, the best wave lengths for economic communication.’'

It is twenty years since Marconi’s triumph in trans-Atlantic communication was signalised, yet the utilisation of wireless for promoting the Imperial spirit, as well as trade and commerce, is still being discussed. Mr. Hughes (Australian Premier) favors each Dominion, as well as Britain, erecting and working its own stations, there being no sympathy with the matter being left in the hands of the British Post Office where it would probably remain for another ten years without the problem being solved. There has been far too much delay already, for it is ten years since a resolution was unanimously passed at a conference of Imperial and Dominion Ministers, which, it was believed, paved the way to the ideal of an Imperial wireless chain being speedily realised, yet every hope has been disappointed. The absence of an Imperial wireless chain, especially in view of the inadequacy of the present cable service and the slower steamship voyages, may prove decisive on the future destiny of the Empire. Public opinion must be brought to bear in all parts of the Empire with the object of insisting on the various Governments joining in a complete wireless girdle. It is not unreasonable to expect that if this were done the cable service would speedily be brought into line. The wireless system is not a luxury, but an urgent necessity, and until the complete chain has been established the Empire will be unlinked, and the inhabitants will remain to a certain extent isolated. To lag behind foreign nations in this matter not only lessens the prestige of the Empire, but is a slur on the enterprise of all concerned.