OCEANIC TELEPHONY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 143, 16 December 1908, Page 8

OCEANIC TELEPHONY.

REPORTED MESSAGE BETWEEN ITALY AND /AMERICA. "While Professor Majorana is toiling in Rome to solve tho problem of wireless telephony across the world's great oceans, another inventor, Cr.^tain. Anzalone, an officer in the Italian Aimy, whose earlier technical devices won tbfj patronage of the French. Government, claims to have finally overcome the obstacle to the trans-oceanic transmission of telephonic messages along submarine cables (writes tho Milan correspondent of tho London Chronicle). Tho best results in telephoning across big stretches of water have hitherto been obtained by a system of bobbins introduced by Mi-. Pupin, an American inventor, but even between Calais and Dover tho service is very erratic, and Captain Anzalone' s attention was originally directed to the special study of this subject while in Paris through having the difficulties of telephonic communication between France and England vividly set before him by tho French authorities. Oftentimes, and not in bad weather only, telephon-'o currents, whether generated • immediately by metallic vibration as in magnetic telephones, or provoked by the variation of electrical resistance on a microphone, either fail to overcome the resistance of tho lino itself and tho various disturbances encountered in the course of travel, or else reach the receiving station in such an extreme state of weakness as to be incomprehensible, however excellent the receiver. Captain Anzalone's principle differs from those recently resorted to, which aim at combatting existing defects by increasing tho thickness of the cables, improving the .conductive force or exercising greater care over tho isolating of tho wires. Ho will not, however, at this juncture reveal more of his secret than in illustrating it by analogy. "Empty a glass of water into the River Po at Turin," says he, "and you may bo certain that, a goodly portion of it, after allowing for evaporation and the like, will find its way to the Adriatic Sea. Similarly telephonio transmission across vast oceans on my own system consists in confiding mierophonio currents which in themselves are- so exceedingly weak, to the caro of massive electric- waves, which gafher them up and speed them along for indefinite distances." This promising new Italian discovery after successful tests across the Straits of Messina is now being on tho great Transatlantic marine cables between Italy and tho United States, and South America. It is rumoured that Genoa has just performed the feat of calling up Bueno3 Ayres on the Anzalone telephone.

Hanmer Springs is in for a busy time this Christmas, it appears, as all the boardingfaouses are booked full, and people are refused accommodation everyday (writes a Press correspondent). Of course with the closing of the Spa there is one boardmghouse less, and what will be done as regards extra room is a matter for conjecture. Mr. C. Bannister, who made the ascent of Mount Holdsworth last week, related some of his experiences to a Wairarapa Daily Times reporter. He said that though it was quite calm and clear on the mountain, the southerly gale could be seen raging with all its fury over Masterton. The view he obtained of the West Coast was the best he had ever had, the sea being particularly distinct. The growth of ranunculus on the mountain, he continued, was not so good as in previous years, this being attributed to last year's drought. For the same reason the small lak2 at the top of the mountain is no v dry. The climber found no signs of the ranunculus lyelli planted about 18 months ago, but tnere was a great profusion of other spring flowers. These will die off very shortly, and those leaving the ascent of the mountain until after the New Year will miss them. The koekoeha, or long-tail migratory cuckoo, abounded in large numbers on the mountain, but they are exceedingly wary. Their voices are frequently heard by the traveller, but they take care never to come within his line of vision. Mr. Bannister reports that the mountain-house is in good order and repair, the last party to use )t having left it in a very clean state. The story of a guest, a gamekeeper, and a "tip," is told in a letter signed "An Owner of Shooting," published in The Times. A gentleman, says the correspondent, was invited to a sh,oot in Scotland at two places 'close together, but immediately after he arrived at the first house he received' a- telegram calling him back to London. He, however, had one day's shooting, and before leaving for London that night he gave the head keeper £1, and asked him to send his gun, etc., to ths other house. On arriving " at the second house the gentleman found' that his gun had not arrived, "whereupon," continues the correspondent, "he wrote to the keeper asking him to forward it at once, and he received a reply stating that when he, the keeper, had received the other £4 to which he was 'entitled,' the gun would be forwarded ; meantime it was detained till payment was made." A letter to the keeper's master brought the reply that "he never interfered between' his guests and his servants in the n.atter of tips," and the gentleman ascertained that the master "paid the keeper no wages, but left him to get what he could) out of the guests,"

Pessimists who foresee an American monarchy will find added justification for their behalf in an article in the Book News Monthly, which, in thfispace of less than, two pages, manages to give an exhibition of ilunkeyism that (says the New York Post) any of 'Thackeray's middle-class English snobs would be ashamed of. The article is entitled "Theodore Roosevelt— the Reader," and begins by saying that if the President had determined to make a I living by tho pen, "it goes without ! raying" that he would have earned mora than he does now. "Roosevelt as a critic would have made a name for himself in Che worM of letters." Furthermore, we bam that ' his judgment, not only of history and biography, but, of belles-lettres in prose, and even poetry, is such that it would be the last word desired by the average publisher in. pronouncing the sentence of a manuscript' ; that "the big name in literature has no bias with the President" ; that "he has no taste for frothy . tales or problem stories, but i» fond of i the chapter which truly depicts human, life and emotion, and does not mind if it is a strong, even intense, portrayal, provided it does not become imaginary. He believes in decency in literature as in life. And that he always\ reads when he travels. Thus:— " More than ! once when called to greet the ! citizens of some town by the wayside, he appears on tho platform, book ! in hand, while ho speaks his words of ! greeting, returning to, his seat to take up the very sentence where he stopped — not a mmute wasted in hunting for the place, and not a phrase read over. Such is his ability to concentrate the mind tha-t though the interruption may be a few minutes or a half hour, it apparently is merely a break in the train of thought, which he resumes as readily as if he had not been disturbed in his perusal " The drip of the treacle ! can be heard all the way to the White House. I

I/ord Curzon's health continues to give a considerable amount of anxiety to his friends. Never a physically robust man, the climate* of India did little to help him in the building up of a constitution, and the death of Lady Curzon and other grave worries have had their effect upon him. His recent motor accident, too, proved more seriouß than afc first thought, and it will bo weeks perhaps months, before he is equal to the strain of public appearance. The Wellington Engineer Volunteers will hold a parade at Mount Cook to-mor-i row evening.