CABLE SERVICE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 66, 19 March 1937, Page 12

CABLE SERVICE.

VALUE IN TIMES Qfc WAR; FORTHCOMING CONFERENCE. £" t McX , amara > Direetor-General of the Post and Telegraph Department, who is to go to England to take part m the discussions of an Empire committee on cable charges, will Jeave Auckland by the Niagara on Tuesday. During Mr. McNamara's absence the duties of director-general will devolve upon Mr. F. J. Shanks, assistant director-general. Recently the use of wirless the world over has been cutting into the cable business to such an extent, it is stated, that the cable businesses of the world are with few exceptions being conducted at a loss. This may mean, that cable rates may be affected, as such a- loss— an ever-increasing one—cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely, states the "Dominion." • Despite the growing utility of wireless telegraphy in commercial life, cable communications have to be. maintained between countries, as this is still the only method of conveying messages secretly. The British Government has realised that despite the giant strides made jn the application of wireless telegraphy, the cable is still a strategic necessity, particularly in war time. In 1928, in order .to prevent any foreign - fcbwer securing- interest in cable companies serving British countries, it was decided ths.t -all such companies should lie brought together under one company >.anted Cables and Wireless Ltd., this company to be controlled by'an advisory board,' on which all the countries interested would be represented, which •n turn would be controlled by the It/itish Government. Sew Zealand is interested in only two ca'ie lines, those between Auckland and 6»'ney, and between Auckland and Fanning Island, the former formerly- the property of the Eastern Extension Company, and the latter a section of the Jfeacific Cable Board's line.