PENNY-A-WORD MESSAGES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 305, 18 September 1908, Page 7

PENNY-A-WORD MESSAGES.

RATES, PAST AND PROSPECTIVE. The continual pressure of obambers of commerce to secure tlie reduction of cable rates has accomplished much. 1 For instance, tho charge from Britain to India'in 1894 was _45., to-day it is 2s. Tho British Post Office points out that tho rato to Cape Colony has fallen 'from Bs. lid. to 2s. Gd/; to Australia, from 9s. id. to 35.; to Columbia, from 275. to 2s. 9d. But the recent International Telegraph Conference at Lisbon did not reduce rates very much. "The only good results of the conference (says the " Daily Mail") were a few reductions in the charges for telegrams between Great Britain and some of the more distant countries of Europe.- For largo countries the terminal rato per word is to be reduced from ten to nine centimes (one centime being one-tenth of onepenny) and the transit rates from eight to seven centimes. For small countries the corresponding reductions will be from six and a half to six and from four to three and a half centimes respectively." > ARGUMENTS PRO AND CON. Mr. Henniker Heaton, of penny postage fame, is now advocating tho penny-a-word cablegram. Various spheres of operation, moro or less ambitious, are suggested for the penny-a-word cablegram—Europe, the Empire, the world. Tho British Post Office says that penny-a-word cablegrams in Europe would bo ' impossible," throughout the world "simply nonsense." "The cable companies are not charitable institutions, and will strenuously oppose any such suggestion unless they are subsidised at least to the extent of their several incomes."

To these objections the reply is sometimes heard State ownership of cables." It is argued that a few years ago the British and some Continental"» Governments bought tho cables from England to Germany, France, Holland, and Belgium, and there was an immediate reduction.from 2Jd. to 2d. per word. The result was that 300,000 more words were sent in the year following the reduction and the increase of the revenue to the Post Office on this branch of tho service was nearly 50 per cent. . Mr. Hcnniker Heaton is confident of seeing a "penny tolegram service" to rJI of the Empire before very long. Ho summarises tho advantages of cheap'cabling as follows:— It annihilates distance. Abolishes delay, commercial and other. Fosters trado. Nourishes individual and racial sympathies. AUSTRALIAN VIEWS: CABLING SPEEDS. "I admire tho enthusiasm of Mr. Honniker Heaton," said the Australian PostmasterGeneral (Mr. Mauger), with reference to the news from London reporting the promise of cablegrams throughout the world at . a penny a word. . "We would be drawn closer to the heart of the Empire if wo could dispatoh messages at a penny a word, instead of three shillings. Our great handicap at present is distance, and anything that would annihilate dis-. tance would bo of incalculable advantago to us." The chief electrical engineer of the Commonwealth (Mr. Hesketh) looks upon the scheme as far away in the distance. "In the present state of our knowledge," ho said, "a higher speed on long-distance cables than we obtain at present does not appear possible. The Pollak Verlag system has been mentioned, but it is only suitable for short lines. Its very essence renders it impossible in the present stato of our knowledge-for long-distanco work. " When the Pacific cable was being laid it was said it would be impossible to securo the speed which we are at present working at—that, is 120 letters, equal to 2-t words, a minute. It is tho highest rato at which long-distanco cabling can bo done at present. It would need an enormous acceleration of speed to bring tho rato within the possibilities of a penny a word. It must be remembered, however, that telegrams without wires wero also looked upon as a dream."