The New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1902.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11856, 7 January 1902, Page 4

The New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1902.

Sir Sandfoiid Fleming, who may justly be called "the father of the" Pacific Cable," has come forward with-a further proposal. As a second step towards the consummation of his great and statesmanlike scheme for the establishment of a public telegraphic ■ service between all parts of the Empire he advocates a State-owned Atlantic cable between the United Kingdom and Canada and State-owned Canadian land lines or the adoption of the Marconi wireless system. In speaking 'of Canadian telegraphy we have always to remember that the great bulk of its line-mileage is owned by private companies as in the United States, and that to complete an Imperial telegraphic service which would aim at facilitating and encouraging electric communication for national rather than for commercial reasons, the Dominion would have to take over the com-pany-owned wires. As an alternative Sir Sandford Fleming proposes to take immediate advantage of the wonderful prospects opened up by the Marconi experiments and suggests that both Imperial and colonial Governments should acquire control of the* new process from its initial application to practical telegraphy. This phase of his proposal is in itself of absorbing interest, for it is possibly a prelude to the relegation of modern land-telegraphic plants to such telephonic uses as they may be adaptable for.

Sir Sandford Fleming may, of I course, be hasty in his conclusion that the Marconi system is ripe for installation as a means of transoceanic and trans-continental communication. But his record is not that of a haphazard dreamer of impracticable things. His seventy-five years have been crowded with great s achievements, and in his green old age he is still one Of' the leaders of Canadian science and Chancellor of its most • famous university. He constructed the Inter-colonial Railway which was the first great liak in the Canadian Pacific system.arid superintended, as Engineer-in-Chief, the building of that famous and difficult trans-continental line. Pie has been the great exponent and champion of the unification of time reckoning, and his theories in this have been adopted by almost all railways throughout the world. And for many years he has worked to bring about an Imperial telegraphic service, of which that first stage, the Pacific Cable, is undoubtedly due to his . perseverance and influence. This shrewd and practical ScotchCanadian evidently regards the Marconi wireless system as within the realm of possible things. Nor is it difficult to imagine that by the time the Pacific cable lands in New Zealand the messages which we flash through it to Vancouver will be tossed across the American continent. to the far-distant Atlantic coast and thence signalled across the ocean to the Old Country itself.' If there are difficulties in the way they evidently do not daunt Sir Sandford, and the public have seen- so many wonderful things accomplished that Ito them anything is possible. ' , :

" The wireless system, has demonstrated its practicability for comparatively short ranges and where it can be kept under control, but it

j appears to have encountered serious difficulties in long ranges and to be easily dislocated by accidental or intentional- interference. By .his alternative proposals we may well suppose that Sir Sand ford Fleming calculates upon the Imperial and | colonial Governments being now : able to obtain one or more Atlantic cables at a very moderate price and upon land-line companies being ready to realise at' a moderate figure. . These amounts he is willing to risk in the interest of cheap communication or to start promptly on the wireless system if Marconi overcomes the long-distance difficulties. Even if a new Atlantic cable has to be laid, at the unprecedentedly low tariff of one penny per word, it would pay for itself in about eight years, while the Imperial gain by increased communication would alone be worth the cost to rich and ocean-divided States. A believer in Marconi's system, Sir Sandford Fleming is not disposed to waste an indefinite period in waiting for him to win further electric triumphs. This is | wise. Every cable in the world may become valueless to-morrow, but it may be years before long-distance ocean wireless telegraphy is perfected, and meanwhile we must improve our Imperial telegraphy with the means at our disposal. At a distance of. from one to two hundred miles, even further, the wireless system seems to work smoothly and legibly when not interfered with. But at the America Clip race the' official wireless system broke down through becoming confused by other wireless signals. And although signals have been exchanged between Ireland and Newfoundland and are about to be attempted by Marconi himself between the Cape and South America, they were apparently not yet sufficiently clear to ,be the media for a rapid interchange of intricate words. The ocean problem is, therefore, how to develop the strength of the electric signals between distant coast stations and how to prevent their confusion by the electric vibrations set up by signalling ships. If it were merely a question of distances, repeating stations might be established on stationary vessels, but it is presumedly the more serious problem how to avoid confusion of diverse signals which has driven Marconi to carry on his delicate experiments across, the comparatively deserted waters , of the South Atlantic rather than over the ferry routes of the North. Upon land, a rigid State monopoly might avoid confusion more readily, and there may thus be less difficulty in transcontinental wireless telegraphy. But "Sir Sandford Fleming's ardent advocacy is for cheap State-owned telegraphy, whatever system may be the best. There can be no., doubt that he has chosen an opportune moment to again bring the question to the front. The Marconi discoveries, although still imperfect, cannot fail to weaken the resistance of telegraph and cable companies to State-ownership ; and they • have thoroughly opened the public mind to the possibility of instantaneous communication round the world and to a consideration of the tremendous commercial, social and national gain of making such communication open to every class. . ~ 7