WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2707, 31 January 1906, Page 27

WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY.

THE GOVERNMENT' INTENTIONS. STATEMENT BY SIR J. G. WARD. Captain Walker, representative of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, describes as entirely unauthorised a statement Telegraphed from Christchuroh that he and Mr Dow.'ett, iho company's engineer, had concluded that Sumiier would be a very suitable piaco for the South Island station. Sir Joseph Ward stated in the cour e e of an interview that "the question of establishing wiielots t-o'-pgraphy between point and point in Now Zealand lias not been pono into. That is not what we are aiming at. Cur object, as indicated by the vote provided by Parliament last session, is to cstabh-h it between New Zealand and Australia, for the colony is already well served) with ordinary telegraphic communication , from point to point along: our coast=. As ! a matter of fact we ha*e had an offer from ! Shoemaker and Company to establish the sv*tom at four stations for something under £20,000, but nothing had been done, because in anything we did we require the co-opera-tion of tho Commonwealth Government. Only half a system, lonfining the op&ra- | tion* to tl>e New _ Zealand ioa=ls acne, , would be of no vue. With wireless telegraphy established between New Zealand and Australia (taking in Tasmania) the "system would be of equal benefit to both. Mj own idea in to have stations at points where tho system would be of value to shipping coining To our shore*. c ay at tho Am-klmul Islands or Puysegur Point on the j route from Melbourne and England, and I connecting with stations on the Australian (oa^t. We don't, however, want to establish stations purely from the sentimental reason that there «hou'd be one at Wellington or Simmer or anywhere' cUp. The ! points chosen must be chosen for tlioir roal ■value to .'hipping and their suitability for the purpose. What we want to do is to have- a =531 torn in operation that will give us connection by tins moans with tho coa-ts of Australia, and that will enable shipping to take advantage of it. In addition I recognise that wiieIps telegraphy has come to stay. It is past its experimental stage. We want, of course, as a progressive country to be up to date in that respect. So far we have not yet, however, pledged ourselves to any system but what we will do after we ha\e gone into the matter will be to endeavour to get tho Commonwealth Government to work with us in the matter of gotting the best system. It would no doubt bo very interesting to have a tiial station, but we are not going to the ex-pcu-e of erocting a station, say, for instance, at the Chatham Islands, merely for the "novelty of the thing. In regard to the Chathams I had inquiries made about 18 months ago, and from information I obtained thon the establishment of a wirelo's telegraphy station there did not appear to be warranted. Of course it would be a veiy useful thing to have there if the population were increasing, but our purpose is to go in for a more comprehensive and useful scheme, and in doing that I think we aro right, especially if by this m^ans we can prevent loss of life at *-oa, and al-o to have tho advantage of the system for steamoi> trading b-twoon Australia and Now Zealand. Tn such a 'clx-mo tlicie should be no sin h .thing as provinc-ial v-alou-y. We are liOt yot, howevor. committed to any definite roiito It is not a co.«tly undertaking. As I J*a,vi! said, Me are favouiable to the

system. The matter lias been considered by the Government and will be again considered fully before any definite aeiion is taken, as we aro anxious to have the system established. As to putting in the system as an attraction in connection with the Chris tchurch Exhibition, that would no ■doubt bo a very nice thing to do, by having a trial of it over a short distance to make people acquainted with it, but there is a certain amount of sentiment about that, especially as wireless telegraphy has got beyond^ its experimental stages and is now a worlcahle system. However, personally I should be wry glad to see something of that kind done, but what we want is to get down to the practical side of it." Captain Walker, on behalf of the llarcom Co., intends to instal a wireless te'e^-rapli station at the Christchurch Exhibitior probably connecting with Sunnier or some other short distance from Christchurch. The s>ite, however, has not yet been fixed until Captain Walker con arrange matters with the Exhibition authorities. The entire expense of the installation will be borne bj the ilarconi Co.