IMPROVED CABLE SERVICE,

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14956, 1 April 1912, Page 7

IMPROVED CABLE SERVICE,

DIRECT LINE TO SYDNEY.

HOW AUCKLAND BENEFITS.

Towards the end of November the new cable direct from Auckland to Sydney will bo in operation. Arrangements for bringing the cables into Auckland have now been completed by Mr. John Milward, manager in the Pacific for the Pacifio Cable Board, and having spent four weeks in New Zealand attending to various matters, he will leave for Sydney to-day. to have every preparation made for the reception of the cable in Sydney. Contractors for the Cable. During the past month, the Pacific Cable Board has, Mr. Milward stated last evening, accepted a tender for the construction and tho laying of the new cable from Sydney to Muriwni (the landing-place in New Zealand), and of the section from. Doubtless Bay to Auckland, entrusting the contract to an English firm, the Indiarubber, Guttapercha, and Telegraph Manufacturing. Company. The material for the main cable and for the shorter section will be brought out by the contractors' own steamer, and the actual work of laying the. cables will be commenced in November, and should be completed by the end of that month. From Muriwai to Auckland, the cable Mill carried in an underground, conduit. This portion in an work has been undertaken by the New Zealand Telegraph Department, and will be commenced shortly.

The new cable will be ■ carried directly into the city of Sydney. The Cable Board will also maintain its staff at Southport, the present terminus of the cable from Norfolk Island, from which there ie, connection by a terrestrial line with Sydney. Upon the completion of the new cable, there will be terminating in Sydney the direct system from Norfolk Island, and the second cable through Auckland. To Sydney in Three Minutes. The practical advantage afforded by the direct cable may be measured by the fact that it will provide a three-minute service between Auckland and Sydney. That means that the time occupied by the transmission of a signal, ite passage over the cable, and its transcription at its destination will be three minutes. Arrangements are also being made, by the installation of the automatic apparatus at the Norfolk Island station, to give cablo communication between Auckland and Suva, There will be very little transmission work to be done at Norfolk Island, and the staff there will be reduced."

When these plans have been carried into effect, Auckland will have direct communication by means of the Pacific Board's cables with Sydney and with Suva. This fa*;t has more than a sentimental significance, for the elimination' of retransmissions effects an ■ appreciable saving in time, and reduce the possibility of an error appearing - in the message when it reaches its destination. Cable messages addressed to America or to the United Kingdom will be sent direct to Suva, and from that station will go forward as they do at present; at present they are sent by a ' terrestrial line to Doubtless Bay, cabled to Norfolk Island, and there retransmitted to the Fiji station. Fifteen Minutes Saved. The saving in time effected by the new arrangement will be from 10 to 15 minutes :in the case of each message. Another advantage has been gained by bringing the present cable into Auckland, for the land-borne telegraph line, by which Doubtless Bay and Auckland are connected, is always open to objection, owing to the liability of interruption. The headquarters of the Pacific Cable Board in Auckland will be in the third floor of the new chief post office. A beginning has already been made with the furnishing of the Board's offices, and when \ the post office is opened the transaction of Pacific cable business will be facilitated by pneumatic tube connections from the cable offices to the postal and the telegraph departments of the post office. Mr. Milward will visit Auckland again, probably in September, to deal with any matters that may require attention before the laying of the cable is commenced.