PRINTING TELEGRAPH SYSTEM.

.. .— «». ■ ■—: MR. DONALD MURRAY'S INVENTION. .-..'; [FBOSf OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] *' London, April 23 ; Me. Donald Mttbbay, formerly of Auckland, has spent . some 'months on the Continent- in connection with; his ; printing, telegraph system, which, he tells me, continues to make headway in Europe. Progress hitherto has been impeded by the competition of other systems, but this phase is now nearly over, and Mr, Murray says he expects much more rapid developments in the future. A number of other printing telegraph systems, some of them of a remarkable character, and allot them the product of years of labour • and great ingenuity, have been tried by the British and German telegraph administrations during the past two years, and rejected." The Murray system seems to have better fulfilled official requirements.; It is still on probation, but the British Post Office has had it in steady commercial use.for seven hours a day for . the past 15 months "between London and Edinburgh, and the German Government has been giving it an exhaustive practical trial on traffic between Berlin' and the German cable station.atEmden, the ultimate object being to use it • for telegrams between Berlin and London. The result of the trials in Germany appears to, have; been satisfactory, as the German Government is now ordering two complete sets of the apparatus at a cost of about £1400, to give it a final trial in its improved shape. • One of,,the German Government telegraph officials, Telegraphen-In-genieur Kraatz, also recently read a paper on the Murray system before the Elektrotechnische Vereih in Berlin. It is expected that the British Post Office will also take action shortly to try the improved system. Under the stress oi competition Mr. Murray; has been obliged to make very great improvements m his system. . ;It can now „transmit and automatically print messages' in page form at the irate Of 120, words per minute simultaneously in .both directions (240 words a minute in all) over a single telegraph wire a thousand miles long, and, more remarkable still, the received message can be automatically retransmitted to , any ; distance, another | thousand miles if necessary, at the same high speed. Mr. Murray tells me that one great difficulty with page-printing telegraphs has been that corrections of errors show up badly in the page-printed messages. Such correc-! tions, ' casting doubt on ! the accuracy of c the telegrams, are disliked!; by business, men. ; Mr. Murray has recently succeeded in overcoming" this .difficulty, and in the improved Murray system, if an operator strikes a wrong lettei or mistakes a word; all the has to do is to strike a correcting lever once foi each wrong letter, and the error is instantly obliterated, so that no trace of the correction appears in the printed message at the receiving station at the other end of the line. I learn from Mr. Murray that these hew high-speed printing telegraphs are very, expensive. One complete set of the Murray system costs between £700 and £800. -.'■-. It is natural, therefore, when this expenditure is compared with the" £10 required to equip a telegraph line with a Morse key and sounder outfit, that telegraph administrations are taking several years before coming to a decision, us the adoption of such a system will involve a considerable investment of capital by the Governments concerned. Mr. Murray has himself spent more than £3000 on his system, and he,says it is now international, as it has been developed partly in Sydney, partly' in New York, partly in London, and partly in Berlin. All things considered, it is- not likely that a modern highspeed printing telegraph will be seen in New Zealand or Australia for some years to come, but the Indian Telegraph Department is now making; inquiries about the Murray system, and seems disposed to give it a trial. More interest appears to.be taken in the subject in Germar.y than in England, and long articles frequently .appear ,in the German newspapers describing the various systems. For instance,' the Kolnisohe Zeitung of April 3 last has a. two-column article on,new telegraph systems, including the Murray systemAfter describing the Mereadier system, which can.send 24 ; messages simultaneously on one telegraph wire, the Pollak-Virag, . which 'can write messages in legible Roman script at the rate of 1000 wqrds a minute, and other systems which have been tried by the German telegraph administration, the 4 article says: "There only remain now upon the battle ground, ■,' as evenly-matched opponents, ' the high-speed system of Murray and the recently perfected- high-speed telegraph of Siemens and Halske. ■ "» ,■> 4 The practical trials of the Murray. telegraph between - Berlin ' and Emden have evolved completely satisfactory results." „ The article concludes by saying: "Whether this system ; (Siemens and Halske) is the best practical solution can only be decided by prolonged comparison with the Murray system in practical work." The Siemens and Halske Company > is one of the largest electrical engineering concerns in the world, but Mr. Murray seems confident that his system mil ultimately come out victorious. •:-.-.'.'■"- ' ' :i " ; :';