THE WIRELESS SITUATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18533, 18 October 1923, Page 8

THE WIRELESS SITUATION.

Statements made at the meeting of the Empire Press Union confirm less positive but equally ominous indications that the paralysis which has for thirteen years deprived the Empire of wireless communications, has overtaken the last and most hopeful project. It has been said that had tho Government of the day accepted the proposals advanced by I the Marconi Company in 1910, the Empire, to-day would be equipped with a complete system of wireless telegraphy, and possibly of wireless telephony, linking all parts of the Empire with each other and with the rest of the world. Then the Government insisted that control must be iti its hands, and none of its successors has yet discovered a means either of developing wireless services wholly under State control, or of amicable co-operation with private enterprise. The result is that from the leadership in wireless activities in 1910, Britain has fallen so far behind other nations that her position is almost contemptible. The removal of all the obstacles to progress seemed to .be promised by the declaration' of policy ma do by Mr. Bonar Law on March 5. This announced the admission of private enterprise, to which licenses were to be issued " for the erection of wireless stations in Britain for communications with the Dominions, Colonies and foreign countries, subject to the conditions necessary to secure British control and suitable arrangements for the working of the traffic." The Government also de cided to erect a station, owned and operated by the State, capable of communicating with tho Dominions. The satisfaction created by. these* decisions has' been disillusioned. Australia, Canada, and South Africa have made arrangements with the Marconi Company for the erection of stations in their own .territory and the promise of licenses seemed to clear the way for the erection of the necessary reciprocal stations in England. None of those licenses has yet been issued, the only explanation of the delay being that now given by Lord Burnham, that the British Post Office still insists upon control of all services. The appeal to the Imperial Conference may hasten the solution of this amazing situation. At the Conference two years ago, Mr. Hughes led the revolt against the British Government's scheme of relay stations, demanding a system that would permit direct communication between Britain and the Dominions. His contentions have been justified in -the present policy of the British Government which is based on the principle of world-wide transmission. A greater task than Mr. Hughes' awaits the present Conference, for it has to persuade the British authorities to advance from the waste of schemes and resolutions into a programme of practical action.