LUNCH CHAT OVER 5000 MILES

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 88, 13 April 1935, Page 29

LUNCH CHAT OVER 5000 MILES

Members of the Overseas League sat at luncheon in a room at the Hyde Park Hotel in London recently. South African statesmen and delegates.to the Imperial Press Conference sat in A room at Cape Town. The two groups were 5000 . miles apart, but they talked together as if they were at the same table. Sir Kingsley Wood,- Postmaster-Gen-eral, and Mr. J. H. Thomas, Dominions Secretary, were among " those who spoke in London, and they were replied to by Mr. Hertzog, the South African Prime Minister, and the Hon. C. P. Clarkson, Minister of Posts and Telegraphs. The' occasion was the visit of the Imperial Press Conference to the Klipheuval Wireless Station, near Cape Town. The interchange of speeches was made possible by the British Post Office in co-operation with the Overseas Communications Company and the Post Office of the Union of South Africa. ■-". '■•'> - The only indication to the guests at the London luncheon of this complicated organisation was a glimpse of G.P.O. engineers, with headphones, sitting at a switchboard, and the row of microphones labelled "G.P.O. to Gape Town." There was a murmured "0.X." frpm the engineers, and Sir Kingsley

Wo,pd'mado/hls';speech. An expectant hush fell'.pn "the - "gathering when he sa;t down,- and all .eyes were turned to the loud-speakers^ Almost at once the ;V6ice of Mr^'Clarkson rang out, as Clearly as if it were being relayed from the next room ( ,-/. '' .

• Afterwards,'.says a writer in the "Daily: T.elegraeh,'* I put a radio-tele-phone callJjd^for IV^r. Stanley Turner, chief engineer of. the Overseas Communications Company. I was speaking to him Within three minutes—less than it of ten'takes to get a trunk call in England—and .his voice was as' clear as if he were speaking from a.London exchange. / , ,

He told., me that the reception of the speeches in South Africa had been "absolutely perfect." Even the clatter of dishes and occasional clink of glasses had been distinctly heard.

Sir Kingsley Wood said: "If in future years this ceremony comes to be^repeated it may well be_ that images, as well -as ■ voices,. will' bridge the seas between us. In London we can well imagine how we shall enjoy a televised view of summer in Cape Province."

Mr. Cecil Harmsworth talked to Major the Hon. J. J. Astor (the president of the Imperial Press Conference), who, in reply, said the cigars in 'London smelt'excellent!