NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 1930. VOICES ACROSS THE SEA

Northern Advocate, 7 May 1930, Page 4

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 1930. VOICES ACROSS THE SEA

Registered for Transmission through the Post as a Newspaper.

Paradoxical though it may he, the whole world is being bound together by wireless bonds. Man may go to the uttermost parte of the earth, he may fly in the ethereal heights and he may submerge himself in the depths of the sea. But, no matter where he

may go, he can remain, in communication with those he has left behind: provided with a wireless set he may listen to their voices and speak to them. A remarkable development in wireless telephony has taken place during recent years. Its coming was sensed by men of vision many years ago. Such men appreciated the value of world-wide carriage of speech, especially to the people of the British Empire, scattered, as they are, over the face of the globe. They realised that the feeling of loneliness which comes to the exile from home was a great deterrent to the growth of Empire, and they hoped that some day the people of the Homeland and those who had gone out ' over the Seven Seas would be able to converse, and, in a Way, bccotne reunited families. That day has dawned, and the sun is rapidly climbing. Soon it will be shining in all its glory. This fact must have been brought homo to. everybody who reflected upon the wonderful demonstration of wireless telephony made a few days ago, when the Prime Minister of Great Britain and the Prime- Minister of Australia, engaged in conversa-

tion, It is not quite twelve years since the first wireless telegraph message was despatched from England to Australia. It Yvas then confidently prophesied that the day was not far distant when regular telephone communication across the world would be open to Australian subscribers. That day arrived on March 31. At about 5 o’clock on the afternoon of that dayand 8 o’clock -on a fine spring morning in London —postal officials in Sydney, Canberra, and London wore talking do each other as distinctly as j though they were in the same room, | while they were cheeking times and j circuits preparatory to the formal opening .conversation between the Prime Ministers of Groat Britain and Australia. Those privileged to "listen in” to them were as much intrigued by these preliminary exchanges, so easy and natural were they, as by the formal speeches made to each other, and broadcasted over both countries, by the Prime Ministers. The official at Canberra was most anxious that the slight noise of a moving-picture appar-[ atiis in the room where Air Seullin would speak should not cause interference, and one could almost hear the) London official breathing as lie tried todetect an experimental turning of camera handles in Canberra. One heard him oven mutter an aside to a colleague not to distract him with, activity. Then the British Postmaster-1 General spoke do the Australian: officials, and told them that on the trans-Atlantic telephone service they j were now putting through about 60 j

(•alls a. dav on three short-wave fir'

cults and one long-wage. After these

introductory colloquies Mr Ramsay MacDonald and Mr Scullin were formally introduced to the vast audiences tuned in through broadcasting stations, and they then spoke to each other in the easiest and clearest voices. Their speeches, while formal, out of respect to the occasion, developed into the most natural exchanges between two friends who - had not mot since 24 years ago, when Mr MacDonald, was in Australia, and appeared on Mr Scullin’s election platform in Ballarat. A thrilling incident it truly was. From now on telephone subscribers in Sydney or Melbourne may apeak direct from their own offices or homes to' persons in the London circuit. As additional facilities become available Canberra and other capital cities and provincial towns in Australia, will be connected in due course- with London ■through the General Post Office exchange in Sydney. Before long the Australian telephone system should be regularly linked up with the circuits of all Europe and North America, and It is hoped that New Zealand will soon enjoy the same boon. Its coming will be greeted with gratitude and -delight by thousands, wdio will then -feel that they are no longer cut off from their Homeland by thousands of miles of sea. It is in this manner that the great British family will be gathered together at a common fireside.