" WIRELESS" ACROSS THE TASMAN.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 498, 4 May 1909, Page 6

" WIRELESS" ACROSS THE TASMAN.

COOK STRAIT TO SYDNEY HARBOUR. "THE TRIUMPH OF ALL THE AGES." . It is not so very long ago since tele- * graphic communication, was looked on as merely a vision in the brain of a dreamer. B Peoplo scoffed at tho idea of a message-or r voice being conveyed along a thin wire, and d as for communication without a concrete and tangible medium—well, that was absolutely ridiculous. But now "deeds in the .- brains of ancient dreamers come real in 1 flesh, and live and move." A forcible demonstration of.the practical uso to which ' wireless" can. bo put was afforded\ re-cently-in the remarkable rescue by the s.s. e Baltic of the s.s. Republic after the FloridaRepublio collision. , Conoerninc this, James t Oppenheim, in a poem, "Wireless," wrote: j 6 "But now comes the triumph of all the 7 _ ages—the subject seas belong to Man— ;g They break his ship when the tempest rages, 0 they bind his keel with the ancient 13 ban,. 18 But out through the big and blinding wea--1 ther and the thick, black fog that 5 chokes and smothers, 0 Man sends his cry through the infinite 1 ether, arid calls-to him his coursing ( brothers." ■ This cry '.'through the infinite other"' has a been heard of in New Zealand, but up to the present littlo, of the marvels has Deen t seen on New Zealand shores.' The latest and greatest feat of 'the kind that has been ac- .- complished in. the waters of tho Souther;, r- Hemisphere teak place during - the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger from Sydney to Wellington. A Dominion reporter chanced on ; an officer of the cruiser, and mentioned the ;- matter to him. ' ' . ■ . ■ ■ ■ _ I believe you accomplished rather a feat ; in the wireless line during your voyage .- across? ho suggested. '..■'..■ . "Yes," was ipie' reply, "we were able to ; communicate with the flagship Powerful, - lying-in Sydney Harbonr, over 1200 miles away, right from the time of' our departure - till when wo,turned in Cook Strait at 2.26 • ° n _ Sa I tu rday morning. Only one period' of difficulty was experienced—on Wednesday night, when the high wind flapping the stays against the wires somewhat interfered 1 with tho messages. On Sunday, night we . spoke the Prometheus on her way to Nort folk Bay." , I suppose you have improved machinery— ' ?r~ more powerful dynamos, or something of . that sort? said tho reporter, endeavouring to gather his recollections of school elec- [ tncity for an expert, question. ' not more powerful dynamos, but | there is improved apparatus. For instance, i we had only two wires aloft previously, now ; we have eight. And the rigging has all . been insulated, cutting off, indirect com- . munication with the earth and doing away with what the wireless men call the- 'screening of messages. These alterations were made j while we were in Sydney, so. that these mes- , sages were really a test. Now other means of improvement have been discovered, and the system will bo made moro perfect." Official communications to the Commander-in-Chief at Sydney comprised a large part of the messages sent. News of the fever cases on board was also communicated, and news from beyond. Australia—of the two-Power standard, the American fleet, racing topics etc.—was received. ■ ■ -, _ By the way, remarked the-pressman, there is-talk about establishing stations on the New Zealand coast. ,Do you think that is practicable? ; ■ ~ : '". ' .•■, "I don't seo any reason why there should » any. difficulty in communication," • was Jie reply. "When we were in •'Wellington last time we spoke to the Cambrian at Auckland. There were two New Zealand boys down to seo our wireloss: officer while we were in Duncdin, but, of course, our regulations would not allow us to give them any information."' ■ ■ ■■'■■■