EMPIRE WIRELESS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 15, 18 July 1923, Page 16

EMPIRE WIRELESS

DELAY TO PRIVATE ENTERPRISE

.CONFERENCES PROCEEDING.

; <FROH. OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 18th May.

Over two months ago Mr. Bonar Law announced to the House of Commons a new policy with regard to Empire wireless. Private enterprise was to be free, to get ont with the work of equipping; the Empire -with a service adequate to the ■world's needs. Difficulties seem to have teen in the way ;of immediate .progress. Conferences, however,, are ,npw: .faking place between_ the :, Postmaster ; General arid representatives of the Marconi "Com,pany,Tas a. result 'of'-wHich -a' solution may soon be found of the difficulties. Soon after- the Brime'Minister -had made his announcement Sir W.. i Joyrieon-Hicks began ito confer with the Marconi Company pn the possibility of setting up a scheme in which-private and State' enter--prise could qp-operate. The .view .of .the: Post Office, is ,that it ishould be possible in "this-matter to. divide the' Empire Wireless Chain.betweerithat Department and privat"e^enterp.rise,v and; jt is hoped -that a solution on these lines will soon be arlived at.

. Mr. Godfrey Isaacs, the managing director of the .3larconi.; Company, has 'given a summary of the" contentions of his-company" on the subject. /He said that there were only three possible ways of conducting the wireless services of this country. These wore: (1) A joint control pi' the allocation of • traffics over all sta'Jions indiscriminately, whether-Govern-, ment or privately owned, with one transmitting^ centre;.' (2)' the ■. regional diTvisiori of traffics,, which meant an exclusive application to particular countries to particular-stations; ors(3).'free competition?between the different enterprises over: the "whole world. : put forward these contentions in his rceht address to the industrial group of the House of Commons. The Bpeech was private, and has not yet been published, but within a few days it. is to be issued to all members of Parliament. In the course of it he went on to examine these three courses more^fully..

QUESTION OF.CpNTROL. The first, he said, would have the advantage of using • the; capacity .of each of the stations to its fullest extent,'enabling several stations to concentrate on the traffics destined to any part'of "the world* during the peak load hours.' " Jt .would be borne in mind that each of the stations erected in the Dominions would' have four receiving stations, so that rat busy, times; of the doy an, accumulation of. traffic would, not-he created.'. 'There: would be facilities .for. every message 'tieing immediately dispatched, arriving'tlie same day and enabling.a reply to ..be received the following morning. "With re■gard to the v regional divkion-of-coun-tries, let it- be supppsed; that a'sirigle station in .this country'werV allocated' to' the traffic of India. If that traffic were heavy, as it;usually was between. 11 a.m. and 4 p.mv, and the atmospheric condi-. (tions in Irfdia were.: excellent-.'for two. hours of the-j period and unsatisfactory. .for the. remainder, all the that icould not be' transmitted during the good period would have to stand" over until conditions. improved.: Elasticity; one of the greatest advantages of wireless electricity, would be" lost from the moment this practice was adopted. In this way it would be reduced to.the disability of the cable,, which had but two ends, and therefore could communicate only, between two points.. -. '•,';.;

FREE COMPETITION,' ""; The third possibility would entail the handicap on private enterprise of free I competition between all who conducted .wireless services from this country to all ,;purts of. the world. It would entail, too, '.the handicap" 6n private enterprise' of competition'with a ' State-subsidised service .This, . although:'£ery undesirable, would, he thought, be-preferable.tb-the many disadvantages, of>: the regional-di-.vision. Until f these questions were de-* jcided, the development of. this country's .wireless telegraph services " was V"paralysed. . •' ' ' ' ".;:-. \ -They, were asking,' said' Mr.' Isaacs,to !be given- a .free., hand in..the development |of the telegraph services, thinking that lt.would make for efficiency if there-were ,one central control of the allocation of traffics. Should, this-be" unacceptable; they still asked, for a free hand to develop their own services. They did not however, ask for any exclusive right, jlhey only asked for that which- liad .been given, freely to I the " cable' comipames The . conception .in most minds ol an Empire wireless service had been . 'limited to the thought of facilities for communication - between th e ■ Mother Country and each of the Dominions The ; .Marconi Company conceived a greater [service, .and were designing: the whole ol their statwns in the Dominions to pro-"" ;vide,_ not only, a service between, the liJomimons and the Mother Country,'but ■(-between Dominion and Dominion, and i between each Dominion and other parts .of the world. ; '■ . ; ,