LINKING THE PACIFIC.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1191, 28 July 1911, Page 2

LINKING THE PACIFIC.

WIRELESS IN THE ISLANDS. i WHAT IS BEING DONE. With (ho practical adoption of wirelo*s (elepxnpliy by Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji, a very good start has boon made i with the important work of linking up tlio Pacific with (ho "bonds of air." Mr. Cumming, of tho iiead office staff of the Telegraph Department, was recently lent by tlio New Zealand Government to Fiji in the capacity of a wireless expert to overhaul and pass the -Marconi punt at Vatawaga (near SuvaJ, bslore it was taken over by tlio i'jjuui Liuvurunient. Mr. Cumming, wJio was in tlio i:iji group tor about a inoiitn, returned 10 Uciiingtuii recently, ami resumed ins duties 111 me lop lloor of Aatliaii's iSuiiJmgo. Air. t'umnimg examines tno very line plant which iias been erected at Suva, ti6leit its working capacity thoroughly,' and placed tlio wnole Hung on a business looting, lor tno Island Government. . Though tno plant has a daylight range ot 3iH) miles omy, tho aerial is 150 feet high. So lar tney oniy liavo the 0110 station in the group, but the Government is about to etvet another low-power station at Levuka, and later 011 one nt Labassa, which will connect up tho three 111 am islands of tho group. This would be a great, boon to the planters, and was just tho thing for Fiji, which could hardly ever hope to have cable connection between the Is.ands. The only station to communicate with ships wiil be Vatawaga (Suva)—the other stations will hnvo to send their messages for the sea through that oflice. This would effect an economy, as it would not mean that Levuka would have to "listen" all night—Suva will bo tho oniy allnight "listener." Mr. Cumming said ho did not think it would 1m long before Samoa was connect- ■ ed up by wireless. The placo was a Gcr--1 man colony, and the Germans wcro pretty ; well educated in wireless telegraphy. At Tonga (which group Mr. Cumming also visited) they seem to know little about ■ wireless. If these groups were provided with stations it wouid mean a good deal I to the Pacific. Tho great thing about wireless w-as that tho cost was comparatively small after tho station was once erected and fitted. ' There was no outsido gear, apart from thu aerial, and the sending and. receiving instruments would practically last for over. Tho motors were subject to wear, but they had a long life. As showing how easy it is to receive messages over immenso distances, Mv. Cumming (who is one of Hip Department's most valued experimentalists) has erected a 45ft. aerial at his residence at Ngaio, and, with tho aid of a little receiver, ho sits comfortably in an easy chair, and hears the world talk—or a good big section of it. On Saturday night last, when the wind blew, and tho rain pattered, ho was sitting at his ease when ho heard a faint buzzing "A.A.L.," and again "A.A.L." Then ho listened more attentively, adjusted tho detector a little, and then listened to tho A.U.S.N: Co.'s steamer Levuka, tlien of? Dimi, Fiji (1300 mile? from Wellington), talking to Suva and Sydney. When; with a small, home-mado gear, a man sitting under a polo at Ngaio can hear a vessel speaking tho full width of the Tasman Sea, 0110 asks what is tho limit? Mr. Cumming could not say. At the Wellington station in tb* G.P.O. they have picked up a message sent by the Uliinaroa when in Bass Strait, and it was so clear that it was estimated that the messago could havo been hoaid hundreds Df miles further to tho cast.. Wellington can hear Sydney talking plainly, but cannot talk back—in this ease it is much easier to receivo than to give.