MR. E. A. SHRIMPTON

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 130, 3 June 1937, Page 11

MR. E. A. SHRIMPTON

EXPERT IN TELEGRAPHY

The death of Mr. Edward Alan Shrimpton occurred, at a private hospital early this morning,. after a short illness. He was formerly Chief Tele-" graph Engineer, and was a distinguished pioneer in the field of amateur short-wave radio telegraphy.

Mr. Shrimpton joined the Post and Telegraph Departmer' in ■ 1882 at Timaru. In 1892 he was transferred to Blenheim as telegraphist, and some years later went ■to Christchurch, where he entered the engineering branch of the Department, for which work he had shown a particular aptitude. 'The-technical side of the. service had always appealed to him, and he was later offered the position of acting mechanician' at Wellington. Transferred back to Christchurch for some five years, he installed at Timaru the first central battery telephone system. • '•• / In 1908 Mr. Shrimpton was transferred to Auckland, where he quickly rose to be assistant district engineer. It was during his term (in 1910) there that he was; lent by, the Department to the Fijian Government to superintend the installation of telephone and other'electrical services, for which he received a special -letter of, thanks from the Governor of Fiji. On his return he was appointed district engineer at Wellington (in 191 D, and in 1918 succeeded Mr. J. Orchiston _as Chief Telegraph Engineer of the Dominion. This position he held until his retirement in March, 1926. DEVELOPING SERVICES. Paying a tribute to Mr. Shrimpton on the occasion of his official farewell, Mr A. T. Markman, then secretary of the Department, said that there were few countries which! could claim to have more telephones in proportion to population than' New Zealand, and much of that development was due to Mr. Shrimpton. It was as the result of - his trip- abroad, which was without question of great use to the Government and people of New Zealand, that important improvements were made in the Department, including the introduction of the multiplex, system between the principal telegraph offices. Amongst matters on1 which he was congratulated .by Mr. Markman were also his enthusiasm for wireless, and the results in it achieved by personal investigations, and the satisfactory steps taken by him in, dealing with the complications brought about by the effect of high-tension wires on the Department's services. Mr.* Shrimpton had seen the Department grow from 400 telegraph and telephone officers to 2500, from 10,900 miles of wire to 300,000 miles, from 11 telephone exchanges with 1800 subscribers to 350 exchanges with 100,000 subscribers,- Much, of that development, .. said Mr. ■ Markman, was undoubtedly due to the activity and interest taken in his work1 by Mr. Shrimpton. -.-.■•-■. NEW EQUIPMENT ADOPTED. Shortly after ' his appointment .as Chief Telegraph Engineer in 1920, Mr. Shrimpton took a trip abroad, arriving in Europe at the, time when telegraphprinting ■ was ■ gradually superseding Morse. As the result of that trip, during which he made the most extensive investigations of everything pertaining to the mechanical and technicalside of his Department,.-.: Mr. Shrimpton recomme.nded the adoption of'the telegraph printing machine (the Mjirray. Multiplex),','twenty of; which were sent out and x installed in New .Zealand. He saw "carrier"--'services'* in use, but was ■ not satisfied that' they we're.sufficiently advanced for immediate "recommendation for adoption here. It was a time when many • technical electrical improvements were under experiment, and he devoted' a great deal of time, enthusiastic as he was, irr digging into the question of communications across Cook Strait by cable or wireless. Just then important developments' were: taking place in the manufacture of and he recommended the purchase' of a* four-core telephone cable for use across Cook Strait.'.'"This was ' laid in 1926, and for some years carried the whole of the traffic between the islands. The satisfactory decision he made ; in the face of sb^Tnariy conflicting: opportunities at the time was always a matter of great satisfaction to Mr. Shrimpton, more especially as _he was able to cancel an already placed order for a less suitable cable at a price higher than the one he chose.. \ When this four-core became congested three years, ago, two of the telegraph cables Were harnessed for telephone purposes, and this will be supplemented in the next few months by the bringing into use of a new cable which the\ Recorder will probably; commence laying next week. This new cable was -actually under discussion when he was in America in 1920, and in his reports of the time it is referred to as the "mystery cable," as the greatest secrecy was observed about the . investigations being made for its suitability for. a Cuban connection. . . -...-■' . . ■■. -It is safe ;to say that Mr. Shrimpton's rare personality made him .a general favourite with his staff. Intensely practical,. .£nd a thoroughly competent mechanician, he spared no pains to encourage all those who, like himself, were happiest when their time was fully occupied; in the* bringing to completion'of; some .new. task. He was" essentially a man of the outdoors, and when out of the office, as all his friends know, was one of the breeziest and least departmental of men,. but those under him soon learned that the way to his good opinion was to emulate his own whole-hearted energy arid application to the problems of the moment. He entirely disregarded weather 'and discomforts when there was any purpose.to be gained by facing them. -.'. ■'. ~.,:. .!..,,. ..: Upon his retirement from the Gov-j ernment service, Mr. ShrJmpton be : came consulting engineer for Standard Telephones. and. Cables,. Australasia, Ltd., which position he held for some years..,.. '. ■\■■ ■ . ■"'.'..'. ■ '■'■ ■' ':■ SHORT-\VAVE RESEARCH. ; Always, keenly interested in. amateur short-wave .' radio, Mr. Shrimpton framed the1 first set of radio regulations issued in New Zealand immediately prior to the1 prohibitions after the war. At that, time the American amateurs had almost full freedom while the English ■ regulation's so 'completely; hampered amateurs that they could hardly, work at all. Mr. Shrimpton framed the regulations in such" a. way that every encouragement was given to amateur transmitters. The broadcast regulations were incorporated by. him in these regulations. Since then they have been widely developed. . ' , Starting with \ a home set of ex : tremeiy. small, power, he wound up with, a very'complete plant worth about'£2oo. with which he had established two-way communication with over forty countries. From the results of this experimenting, he succeeded in displacing the 35 k.w. spark transmitters at Awanui and Awamoa with transmitters consuming little more power than, an ordinary electric light globe which gave several times better results than'the old .spark transmitter, did. thus saving a very heavy.running expense. Later on the whole communication was centred in Wellington. In all his later work he co-operated with his son. Mr. Geoffrey Shrimpton. They were not the first to use short-

wave transmitters in New Zealand, but were amongst the first, others being Messrs. Bell (Palmerston South), Orbell (Christchurch), and O'Meara (Gisborne). Mr. Shrimpton and his son frequently sat up all night in their investigations, which were, chiefly concerned with the technical side of radio, but it is owing to the efforts of the pioneers mentioned that amateurs today have nothing to do but sit and listen. .

Mr. Shrimpton, was a member of the Masonic craft, of a Christchurch lodge, and a member, of the Wellesley Club. Never a participator in field eames,-he was a keen deer-stalker, a fine shot, and something of an authority on all forms of the sporting rifle. • There were few parts of New Zealand he had not visited in search of sport, and his visits and company were eagerly looked forward to by Messrs. R. L. Wigley (Ohau), F. W. Furkert, Dr. Porritt, and other friends with whom he spent the stalking season every year. He was the life and soul of camps, always ready to do more than his share, of the work, and his loss will grieve outdoor sportsmen in all parts of the country. In his earlier days in th* sourse of his inspections he covered! a tremendous amount of country, and he used to say that there was not a road, or anything approaching a road, which he had not traversed by motor-car, motor-cycle, horse, or buggy. > He had also done a lot of cross-country work in connection with the laying of lines. For the past two years he was debarred from outdoor sport, on account of heart trouble, and his chief. relaxation lay in the visits of friends and being the cheery playmate of his only grandson. He leaves a widow and one son, Mr. Geoffrey Shrimpton, civil engineer of the railways,.of Wellington.