A NEW ZEALANDER'S INVENTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12991, 4 June 1904, Page 4

A NEW ZEALANDER'S INVENTION.

(Fitojt Oun Own Correspondent.) LONDON, April 23. Mr Donnid Murray, son of Mr. Jolm Murray, formerly' of Auckland;'has spent some months on the Cmtinent in connection with j;is printing .to'egraph. sysi'-'in, which, ho teVld ■mo, , - cccitinucs to make headway in Kttropc. Progress liilhorta lias bee:i impelled by the competition of otter systems, but (his plia'ro it now nearly over, I am glad to hear,'and. Mr Murray cays ho expects much more rapid developments in tho future. A number of other printing telegraph systems, Eome' of them of a remarkable character, and , -all of them Uie products of years of labour hittl great ingenuity, have lxen tried by tho British.and .Gorman telegraph atliniiii'Sti-attoii3 dut'oig tho past/ two years, 'and rejected. The Murray system seems to have better fulfilled. official requirements. It • is still on probation, .but tho British Post Office' has had it in steady commercial uso for seven hours a .day for tho. past 15 months' hctvrecii' '.London and Edinburgh, ami the -German (iovornmeni has teen giving It ad) exhaustive practical (rial on traffic between 'Berlin and the German onblo statioV at. Hmdcii, the ultimate object being to u«e it ,for hand telegrams between Berlin and London. The result of the trials in Germany appears to have- been satisfactory,'• as the 'Gwmnn Gov-emmE'iit is now ordering two complete seta of the apparatus, at -a cost of about £1400, to give it a. final trial in its improved shape. 'One of tho German Government telegraph, officials, - Tolograplieu-ingenicur Kraatz, a!-(/recently r-Kula- paper on. the Murray system before tho EMclro-teclinucho Voreiti in Berlin/ JTfc js expected that I ho "British l'ost' Office' will' nJj'o take action shortly to try the improved system. Under the stress of competition- Mr Murray has been obliged to make very great improvements in hiasyskni, It can- now triiinsmit ;uid automatically print mc=3aijes in page form at-tho rale of 120 words per minuto .siinultancomly iii hoth'directions (240 words ii minute,in all) over , a. single'telegraph wire 1000 iiiiles long, .and, .piore remarkable itill,. tli-o rocoivtd. "m'ossago win'!»'automatically retransmitted to any distance— anotlier tbousajul lriilcs if weessary— at' iho same high spcfd." Mi'■ Murray ( toils' ma that coie great difficulty willi'.pagc-pi'inti-ng telegraphs has been that corrections nf errors show up badly in the page-printed messages. Such corrections,-, casting doubt' on I bo accuracy of the telegrams, are disliked by business men. Mr Murray has. recently succeeded in ovw'eonuiig this difliculty, ami in the improved Murray system, if an operator strikes a. wrong. letter or miflalte.')' a word, all ho-has to do is to strike a'conoctiiig k'Ver once for eai!h wrpng'letter, and'the error is instantly obliterated, ?o that no trace of the correction appears in the ])rinte<l inessag<! at the receiving station at the other end of t|ia liii?. T lean; from Mi' M'urray that these high-, spSed printing telegraphs aro very expensive* (ilifl complete sot of tho Murray system (•osts bptweon £700 and £800. 'It is natural, therefore, when this expenditure is compared ■with 'the £10 required to equip p.telegraph JiiVo' with a'Mone key aoid sounder outfit that triegraph administrat-iniii? are taking several years before coining to a'decision, an the adoption of such a system, will involve a considerable investment-of capital by the Governments concerned. Mr' Murray has himself snout moro than £3000 on his i-ystaii, and he says it is now iiiltniiiatioiial, as it has lieon. developed partly in Sydney, partly in Now York, partly in London, and naitly in Berlin.' Alt things- considered, it is not likely that a, modern high-speed printing telegraph will be ssen in New Jiealsnid or A<!stralia../or tome- years to come,'but tho Indian , Telegraph Department is now making inquiries about tho Murray system, and seems disposed to give it a trial. More interest appears to bo

i token in tho subject; in Germany than in ! England, and long articles frequently appear in the- German newspapers describing tho various systems. For instance, the Kolnisclia Zcitimg of the 3rd April last has.a twocohimn article on new teleg-raph systems, including- t' le Murray system. After do;eril>ing tho Mercadior system, whioh can , send 21 messages simultaneously on one telegraph wire; the Pollak-A 7 irag, which,can write messages in legible Reman script at tho rate of 1000 words a minute; and other systems which have becm tried by tho Orman telegraph administration, the article .says:—"There only remains now upon the battle ground, as evenly-matched opponents, the high-speed system of.Murray and tho recently-perfected high-speed telegraph of Siemens ami Halske. . . . The -practical trials of the Murray telegraph between Berlin and Emdon have evolved completely . satisfactory results." The article concludes by sayioig: "Whether this system (Siemens, and Holfke) is the tost practical solution can only lie decided by' prolonged comparison with the Murray system in practical >vork." Tho Siemens end Halske Company is one of the iargcet electrical engineering concerns in tho world, hut Mr Murray MMMKIS confident I hat his system will ultimately come out victorious , .