WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 84, 6 October 1909, Page 10

WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY.

THE PACHfIC SCHEME. Various suggestions havo been made from time to limo for the establishment of a system of wireless telegraphy among the islands of the Pacific. The aid of the Commonwealth, as well a& that of other Governments, has been soucht in each case. The latest proposal, which is on an ambitious and comprehensive scale, is (says the Melbourne Argus) likely to shave the fate of its predecefsors iv failing to obtain financial support from the nations interested. Germany, France, and the British Empire all have possessions within the area which it is proposed to serve, and which infringes upon the north-eastern coast of Australia. When the Secretary for External AJEairs (Mr. Atloo Hunt) was iv Fiji he ha-d a consultation with the British Commissioner for the, Western Pacific (Sir Everard Im Thurm) on the matter. The British Commissioner was not disposed to look favourably upon control by subsidised private enterprise of a system whose uses would be so largely national, but rather inclined to recommend the British Government to take up the proposals as a State concern. After going fully into the matter Mr. Hunt concurred in the view, which is now understood to be shared by Commonwealth Ministers. Suggestions for an international control have been considered, their chief recommendation being that a system, including the possessions of other nations in the Pacific, wa^ financially a better proposal than a purely British series of wireless stations. These proposals, however, have com© to nothing, as it is considered desirI able to keep the control of any system in the! hands of Great Britain and her dominions. A system which has now been -worked out has rendored it possible to establish communication botween the various islands under British and British colonial control without assistance from stations on foreign soil. The stations under this proposal would be at Southport (Queensland), Port Moresby (Papua), the" Solomon Islands, Ocean Island, Ton'gaJ Rairatjo.niga, and Doubtless Bay (Now Zealand), each station being within communicable distance of at least one other. Schemes which have been previously put forward have been rejected becauso this necessary condition was not fulfilled. It is now fairly certain that the inevitable system of wireless telegraphy in the Western Pacific will be under Briti?h control, joint action by Great Britain, Australia, and New being part of the scheme. Australian action for tho immediate future, however, is likely to be restricted to tire establishment of "wireless" stations on our own coasts. lhe sum of £20,000, which has been provided on lhe EtUmatci for this purpose, will be wholly absorbed by the two station^ which it is proposed to erect — one at Fremantlc and one at Sydney. There is still a good deal of controversy as to the merits of different types of ''wiruless" apparatus, and the Federal Government desires to inform itself morn fully on this point before launching any extonsive projects. When it is armed with the knowledge which will be born of prac- , tiPil •speriegcg the Commonjjealtli will ,

take steps to inaugurate the wigler system linking up Australia with thos'o portions of tho Pacific in which she has a great and growing interest.