WIRELESS STATIONS

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 92, 16 March 1927, Page 7

WIRELESS STATIONS

AUSTRALIAN SERVICE. SERIOUS DEFECTS ALLEGED. MELBOURNE, March 15. Giving evidence before the Wireless Commission, Commander Cresswell, of the Australian Navy, said that weakness existed in the wireless coastal service provided at Melbourne for the receipt of telegrams from ships and for ensuring the safety of life jjt sea. He said the Melbourne commercial wireless station had been removed to the site of the broadcasting station. This tended to produce interference by one station with another. In the case of the ketch Helen Moore the destroyer Yarra spent two hours trying to send urgent messages to the Melbourne radio station. The delay was mainly due to interference which witness believed was caused by the proximity of the two stations.. He alsp alleged that the coastal stations were unsuitable for defence purposes. In answer to the chairman, Commander Cresswell said the Naval Board had no authority to insist upon the provision of the services which it considered necessary for the defence of Australia. Witness was of tire opinion that the naval authorities should be consulted ou any proposed changes in the stations as the question was a serious one and British ships operating in the Pacific during a time of war might be gravely prejudiced.—Press Association.