THE PACIFIC CABLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19469, 27 October 1926, Page 14

THE PACIFIC CABLE.

PROGRESS OF DUPLICATION. COMPLETION IN NOVEMBER. IMPROVEMENT TO SERVICE. The laying of the duplicate Pacific cable between Auckland and Vancouver, bringing vast improvements to New Zealand's cable service, is now almost in sight. It is expected the work will be completed in the middle of next month, and then, after a few days' testing, the first message will bo flashed over tho new line. The Auckland office of the Pacific Cable Board has received advice that the cable steamer Dominia is now at Bamfield, the Vancouver Island terminus of the cable. Yesterday she was surveying the route for tho shore end. She has the cable for the Bamfield-Fanning Island section on board and when the survey is completed she will commence laying this over a distance of approximately 3460 miles. This is the longest section in the world. The Farraday arrived at Honolulu on Saturday and is at present replenishing her oil supplies. She is expected to leave to-day to lay tho southern section of the cable, and is scheduled to commence the work from Fanning Island to Suva next Monday. The Suva-Auckland section was completed in 1923, and when these two cables are laid and spliced the duplication of the system will bo complete throughout. The cost of the two sections will be £2,379,000. Apart from the fact that tho presence of a duplicate cable will greatly minimise the tear of any interruption, its true value will lie in the additional service that will 'jo providedi At present tho company has more traffic than it can comfortably handle, but with the duplicate line there will be no delays. The new cable is an innovation which enables messages to be despatched at a much higher speed than formerly, and this will also have its effect in eliminating delays. In it tho conductor is surrounded with a winding of a special alloy of high permeability, producing what is known as artificial loading. This results in the attenuation of signalling impulses being considerably reduced and, in consequence, signals can be sent at a much higher speed, Bemarkable results followed the laying of the first cable of this typo across the Atlantic. Tho speed guaranteed for tho Pacific cable is 600 letters a minute in one-way communication, and it is expected that this speed will be exceeded in practice. It is hoped to work tho cable in two-way communication at a speed more than twice that of the old one.