WIRELESS CHAINS

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 50, 27 August 1921, Page 5

WIRELESS CHAINS

EXISTING SERVICES

BRITISH EMPIRE LAGGING

BIG NEWS SERVICES.

-It is often said, in respect to big wire-less-telegraphy schemes such as lately occupied the attention of the Imperial Conference, that the prospect as outlined has yet to be tested as to feasibility; that long-distance wireless telegraph, services are not yet out of the experimental stage. The facts are otherwise. As many people who have travelled know wireless operators at sea can ■ regularly pick up news which is " broadcasted" from various high-power stations in Europe. A very interesting and instructive review of-the wireless position was contributed to the Londoii Daily Telegraph on the eve of the Imperial Conference by Mr. Robert Donald. Mr. Donald is one of the leading journalists of England; is managing director of the Yorkshire Observer and a number of other newspapers ; was till recently editor of the Daily Chronicle; and waa chairman of the 'Empire Press Union 1 in 1916, 1917, 1918, and 1919.

For ten years or more, writes Mr. Donald, wo have had dangled before us an Imperial wireless chain which was to knit the Empire closer together and bring. distant lands, not reached by ■cable, into touch with the Mother Country. The Imperial chain remains little more than a dream. The first- link is not yet fashioned, and it may be a deadend for .some years after it is complete. . . . Great Britain is falling -behinh in the wireless world, although^ the- development of the new science owes much to British enterprise. In other countries long-distance wireless telegraphy is well in advance, particularly as regards the distribution'of news. This is the case in France, Germany, and the United States. . England is side-tracked as a world centre for news; the GraniJ Trunk Wireless routes have their -head centres on the Continent. . American newspapers and news agencies are using • wireless as their main means of communication from France and Germany. The following few particulars will show what is now being accom-' plished. The Chicago Tribune sends an average of 1000 words a day by wireless from France and Germany direct to its own receiving _ station_ in Chicago. The Philadelphia Public Ledger sends_ quite as large a volume of news by wireless, ■■ and has also its own automatic receiver installed at' Philadelphia. The . New York World relies exclusively on wire-, less from France. The 'New York. Herald, the United Press, the^lnternational News Service, .and the" Central News of America all • get news from France I by "wireless. The New York Times/ which. • gives prominence to European news, ;' also relies on wireless for' news from France and Germany,, and receives the messages at its head office in New York. Altogether, from France alone, a service of over 10,000 words is radiated every dey to American newspapers and news agencies, .and about the same number of words from Qermany. The rate from France is 58, centimes per word.. The American correspondents are perfectly satisfied with, the service, both as regards speed and accuracy. The messages are filed between 6 and 8 o'clock at night, and are received in the United . States in about two hours', time. There is rarely delay, and the correspondents do not complain of repetition or mutilation. ■ . •■'.'■ FRENCH ENTERPRISE.. Paris working- with. the high-power station at Bordeaux, is becoming the chief clearing house for European news for America. News is now collected from Italy, Spain; -Southern Europe, and the Mediterranean for transmission from France; to Americay and one leading American journal has begun to send the messages from London W Paris for transmission to America by wireless. The inconvenience which exists now by having the' despatching station at Bordeaux will be remedied when the new . Irigh-poiwer station at Sainte Assise, near Paris, is operating. The stations which send news to America are also, of course, used for commercial purposes, but I am concerned at the moment with long-distance news distribution by wireless on the lines of the promised All-Empire scheme. Our delay in carrying out the Imperial wireless chain is best illustrated by contrasting our timidity and lack of! policy with the boldness and activity of the French Government,' which is constructing a world wireless chain, primarily for the purpose of serving France's vast colonial possessions. The French Government began to make plans for an intercolonial system of wireless telegraphy about the same time as the British Government made schemes for the Imperial wireless chain. Both programmes were interrupted by the war, but France became alive to the needs of far-distance wireless, and built the Lyons station for war purposes, particularly for liaison with Russia. The French Government also began to put its intercolonial system into - execution. .This system is on tho one-step and the two-step plan. There will be direct communication, for instance, . between Bordeaux and Saigon, a distance of 10,000 kilometres., and also to Saigon by way of Djibouti (6000 kilometres from Bordeaux), across the Indian Ocean to Pondicherry, in India" (4000 kilometres)/ from Pondieheh-y to Saighon (2900 kilometres). There is communication from Bordeaux direct to Madagascar (9000 kilometres), and alternatively by way of Bamako, West Africa, and" Brazzaville,. in the French Congo. There is communication from Bordeaux to Martinique, in the West Indies, by way of Dakar, and then across the Atlantic. Tahiti, in the Pacific, and New Caledonia, indeed all the far-distant French colonies," will be brought within the scope of the scheme. The construction pf the Saida station, in North Africa, the station at Bamako, West Africa; Brazzaville, Central Africa; Tananarive, Madagascar; and Saigon (Indo-China), were, according to "RadioElectricite," begun about a year ago. The Saigon station will be a centre fof a service to Japan, India, China, the Philippines, and to' the Pacific, including New Caledonia. SEEKING A WORLD-WIDE , SERVICE. The French Imperial Chain is lengthening fast. The scheme is conceived on a big scale. Within the Imperial system there are localised networks. The whole of French North Africa, for instance, is linked up with wireless stations. There are no fewer than sixty stations planned, covering a vapt area from Tunis to Timbuctoo, bridging the Sahara, and bring:' ing into touch with France all military outposts in North and Central Africa, and every oasis in the desert where there is a settlement. It is just sueh 1 a scheme as is necessary for Mr. Churchill's plans in.Asia Minor if he is to secure defence by aeroplanes • and armoured cars. The stations in Algeria, Tunis, and Morocco are accessible for public as well, as for official correspondence, but the majority of the other local station's are reserved for na,val, military, and official service. In three years' time the French Imperial Chain will be complete. France does not count tho cost when, national defence and, .-overseas interests are concerned. Its' -'3

inter-colonial wireless will involve a heavy annual subsidy. But France is also out to capture a world wireless ser. vice. It is carried on now partly from the Lyons station, but chiefly, as already stated, from Bordeaux. ■ The Bordeaux station is a legacy from the war. It was built by the American Expeditionary Force, but was not finished until about a year ago. It cost 60,000,000 "francs. It is the most powerful station in the world to-day, but France finds it inadequate. Our neighbours are,badly served with cables, and the insufficiency of cables facilities will be made up by the wireless stations now being erected at Sainte Assise, near Paris. This is a stupendous enterprise—a series of highpowered stations, which will send direct to the Argentine, and by retransmission cover the world. The French Government will retain the use'of the Lyons and Bordeaux stations for official purposes. All other wireless enterprise will be organised and operated by companies holding Government' concessions. THE BRITISH SCHEME. * What is the position of England? The Marconi 'Company's high-power stations at Carnarvon, Poldhu, and Clifton are not part of the Imperial chain. The first link in that chain consists of the stations at' Lea-field,. Oxfordshire, and at Cairo, promised to be opened months ago but not yet complete. Leafield .will probably_ be; finished next month (July), and Cairo, \ also * probah-ly, in. several months' time. But these stations will be in a state of obsolescence when they are finished. They were started originally in 1912 or 1913, taken over by the G.P.O. in 19H when partly s constructed, hsM up because of the war— while the French policy -was expedited j by the war—and • work was Tesumed seriously and slowly after the Armistice. The stations are getting out of date because of developments which have taken place since they were planned., They have been' fitted, into the la-test Imperial scheme, -recommended by the committee of which Sir Harry Norman was the chairman. There axe several weak links in that new 'chain. It is constructed on a step-to-step system—a distance of about 2000 miles between each step. Seeing that the German Nauen station sent massages 4000 miles before the wax, and that French stations are now carrying over that distance, and new ' stations are planned for still greater distances, it looks a timid policy to erect smaller-powered stations to serve the British Empire. \ FAULTS OF THE CAIRO STATION. There- are other objections to the first section. To make Cairo the Eastern Wireless Clapham Junction' in an Imperial scheme is a mistake from a strategic and Empire point of view. Egypt is not a'British possession. It is heading towards responsible government with sovereign powers. One wireless station in Egypt is necessary, but it should not be made an essential part of the scheme. India wants direct communication. Two years ago the Admiralty proposed a scheme of direct wireless with India. It was supported, by the War Office and by the Indian Government,' but .nothing has been done. It is true that in the .present stage of wireless progress it may ■not be possible to get anything like a tw-enty-four hour service to India, but that is ( not necessary. Our Imperial Chain will not be complete or efficient unless it includes long-distance wireless as well as shorter stages—a combination of the one-step a.nd two-step system such as France is carrying out. To every part of the Empire the completion of the Imperial Chain is urgently important, but to none more vital than to India. News from England to India is now several days late. The cables are congested, and the delay is eometimes serious,; as was the case during the war, when the first (news of European events' reached India from other sources. The completion of the Cairo station will not materially relieve the position. News \ would have to be cabled from Cairo until a receiving station which can also transmit is erect 1 ed in India-. The proposal to erect a second station in Egypt should be abandoned,'and a site selected in the Suez Canal zone or at Aden. In any case it is evident that France will be in com-. munication with her. Indian possessions and sending messages across India to her Far Eastern Station long before the Imperial Wireless Chain will reach the ■East.' ' " ' . ' ■ WILL THE POST OFFICE SUCCEED? The plans at present foreshadowed make ior delay, and should be revised. It is-proposed, for instance, !to hand over the Imperial Wireless Chain for construction and operation to the Post Office, and to\leave to private wireless enterprise the 'test of the world. It is impossible to divorce an all-Empire from an all-world system, and it would not be sound policy to do so if it were possible. We. should cultivate business with other countries, just as France, Germany, and the United States are doing. The Post Office is net, however, complying with Government high policy in tliis_. matter. To demonstrate its capacity to handle world business it has started an intermittent and unprofitable wireless service to Scandinavia, Gevmany, Czeeho-Slovakia, and other Continental countries, and is canvassing for. American news for the JLeafield station, which is apparently capable of sending messages 1 4000 miles westward, while its capacity is limited to 2000 miles eastward. Perhaps Hhe committee of business men now advising the Postmaster-Gen-eral will look into the Posy Office wireless ambitions and. its capacity to run a world undertaking on commercial lines. It is certain if the policy now proposed is not changed, we sare in for another period of litigation and delay, and the Imperial Wireless Chain will riot be completed for many years to come.