EMPIRE PRESS MESSAGES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26177, 13 June 1946, Page 5

EMPIRE PRESS MESSAGES

RATE TO BE PERMANENT (Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON. June 11. The rate of a penny a word for press telegrams within the Commonwealth, which Cable and Wireless introduced in 1941 for the duration of the war, would be continued, stated the Post-master-general, the Earl of Listowel. addressing the Imperial Press Conference. “We propose to go a step further toward a rate reduction and offer lower rates for press messages exchanged with non-European countries other than the United States, provided those countries are prepared to accept a corresponding sacrifice in their revenue. The hours of working radio-telephony and the number of simultaneous channels would be increased to meet the public demand Cable and Wireless, with 155,000 nautical miles of submarine cable, owned a fleet of five cable ships and recently placed an order for a sixth vessel. The British Government fully appreciated the important part communications would have to play in keeping the world free from poverty and want and the great contribution they could make to a mutual understanding among peoples, which was the only solid guarantee of stable and lasting peace. Lord Listowel concluded by stating that Britain during the war became the focal point of the world's news system, and with the return to peace she had continued to be the clearing house for the world’s news. There were to-day at times as many as 17 transmitters being used simultaneously. Within a short period after the war almost all the pre-war radio telephone services were reopened, and already the hours being worked were considerably increased to meet the demand, which is three times that of 1939. It would be possible, with the provision of the necessary equipment at distant ends, to operate two telephone channels and one teleprinter on each o: the Empire routes. The Times, in a leading article, says: “ Lord Listowel’s announcement that the penny-a-word Empire press rate is to be permanent is of fundamental importance to all newspapers. Security is in this manner obtained for the dominant material factor of limiting the heavy cost of telegraphing news over great distances, which has troubled the press ever since the first cables were laid.”