THE NIGHT SONG.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1058, 22 February 1911, Page 5

THE NIGHT SONG.

■. _; ■ OVER THE OCEAN SPACES. In bis little box, high up under the . Post Office chimes, with every crack stuffed with green'baize to deaden all ex- ' terior sounds, the chief electrician (Mr. T. Buckley) sat last evening listening to th« night songs of the wireless. On opening the padded door softly, Mr. Buckley motioning for silenco .6iid—"Listen! and at the same time handed the re- •* ceiver to a' representative of Thb Domik--1 lojf. There seemed to be nothing doing ■ for the'first few seconds, then one could ■ faintly, detect what sounded like the , distant, song of a mosquito—»■ baby mosquito. "YOS, I hear it s what is it I" said , the • pressman. "That's the • Challenger. .■-tI4M.: miles away—she's talking to the 'Cambrian in code—here's Bomo of it,but Its Greek to me!" • "It was amazing— ■ just to imagine that a small.two kilo- , Watt plant'could gather in ethergrams ~ over a distance of at least 1400, and prob,'ably nearer 1500 miles. ..There, was no .; possibility of a mistake as for the next .. hour—between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.—the ■" Cambrian could be heard spelling out tho •latest press cablegrams to the officers of , the Challenger, now speeding on her way . to', South America. Now and; again ' one could detect the high singing note of the telefunken voice of tho Ulimaroa ' coming out of the night, but owing to the warshfps' continual chatter nothing clear or. definite could be obtained . for. some . time from the ITuddart-Parker steamer , due here from Sydney tc-day. At 10.40 p.m., however, tho ether assumed a bet* ter humour, and clear communication was ~ obtained. She reported that her position was then 39.44 S., and 170.30 E., and that »U was '.we 11.7 It was anticipated that ehe .would reach Wellington at 1 p.m. tertlay. H.M.S. Challenger's position at ' 8 'o'clock last evening was 25.29 S., and ,17p,15 .W* r-'-' - ' ' ■' - '