OVERSEA TELEPHONY

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 74, 28 March 1930, Page 11

OVERSEA TELEPHONY

GOVERNMENT'S DECISION NATIONAL INTERESTS ■ British Official Wireless. BUGBY 26tli March. In the House of Commons, Sir Hilton Young (Conservative) drew attention to the decision of the Government to develop oversea wireless telephony through the Post Oflice station at Kugby, without the co-operation of the Communications Company. He recalled that this great public utility co-opera-tion was formed in order to co-ordinate and rationalise the cable and wireless systems of overseas communications. Professor Lees-Smith, PostmasterGeneral, replying, said that the . Government's decision had not been reached, oil the grounds of any political doctrine, but in consideration of national interests. The late Government leased the beam stations with wireless telegraphy to the Communications Company, but reserved to itself the future of wireless telephony. The late. Government and the Imperial Conference deliberately refused to give any undertaking that they would use the beam service stations for future telephony development. The position when he came into office was that there were two alternatives. The first was to use the beam' stations. Their advantages were that they had equipment, and therefore it seemed obvious that by combining telegraphy and telephony in one ■ set of apparatus, economical results could be achieved. The other al-i ternative was that at Bugby he found, a great wireless service already in exist-1 ence—the greatest commercial overseas | telephonic service in tho world. RATIONALISATION AT RUGBY, j The question was what with reductions in overhead charges, and so on, j whether rationalisation at Bugby did not give greater than communication in a single instrument at a beam station, the Postmaster-General continued. The aerial masts at the Marconi stations ran up to about 280 ft in height, whereas tho masts at Bugby j were between 120 and 150 ft high. The l'igh-mast system cost roughly £34,000, and the low-mast system only about £3500. Any loss of power, attendant on the low masts at Eugby had been made good by the development of at very powerful transmitter, so that, taking the transmitter and aerial together, I the Bugby system gavo even more j power than the Marconi. j ECONOMIC ADVANTAGE. j If they were going to give valuable i service all over the world, they must j have more than one wave-length. Three wave-lengths were necessary for a reliable service. A new wave-length meant a new aerial. With tho cheap Bugby aerial the Government got a cheap wave-length. The Bugby system gave great economic land lines. In order to operate a wireless system they must have a system of land lines from a central trunk exchange in London to the wireless station. Those land lines were very expensive, and by concentrating all their services on one site, they saved considerable money. In addition, Bugby and Baldock were a great deal nearer to London than Grimsby, Skegness, Bodinin, and Bridgwater, where the beam stations were situated, so that while the beam stations required ■1192 miles of circuit, Bugby and Baldock required only 785 miles. Comparing tho use of tho Bugby system with the best offer made by the Communications Company, there would be a saving of £20,000 to £30,000. The Postmaster-General added that the Government had recently heard from the Canadian Government^ that it preferred a direct service with this country to a service via New York, and this would be provided. The Government was willing also to open a service with the Argentine as soonasthe House gave authority, and negotiations with the Egyptian Government were making satisfactory progress.