Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WED., DEC. 8, 1926 BEAM WIRELESS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16211, 8 December 1926, Page 6

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WED., DEC. 8, 1926 BEAM WIRELESS

An event of no small importance in the history of inter-Imperial communications was signalised early last mouth, when, the high-speed wireless telegraph service between- England and Canada;,' operatcdon the Marconi short-wave beam principle, was formally opened. ' As one writer aptly puts it, it Was equivalent to the completion of a third bridge across the Atlantic. The first bridge was opened for. traffic, in 1855, : when Queen Victoria sent i message of congratulation to ' President Buchanan over Cyras Field's- new cable. The second came in use in 1907, with Lord Strnthconn's Ih'&t Wireless to Canada. Now there is' a 'third and Vastly more efficient" highway than that of 1907. The now. system of communication brings the, iiew-"world and the old ••loser together -than they have ever heen... I.t...should go . far. towards promoting better" understanding, and it is to be hoped, as Lord Bur aha m suggested, that it wißdiave the effect of increasing the amount of goodwill in the world. The new service will bo the first link in the chain of beam stations" which emerged'finally in the plnns and negotiations for a complete Empire system so long debated between 'the Homeland and the Dominions. Jfarcon.i ,'s new apparatus sends the message where it is desired the message should go. It does not wnsto energy in broadcasting. It is very rapid, nnd,',it is expected, will be able to bnndlo an enormous volume of. business. As the electric energy is

concentrated, not so ranch power is required as in tho old system. Consequently there should be v. considerable saving in cost. And through rapidity arid concentration in a singlo direction, secrecy—long the goal of wirebeen :it last attained.. The beam .system, supplanted the 'older, ibhg-waye, high-po.wer system 'ol • transmission, following experiments made by .Senator Marconi during a voyage on his famous steam yacht Elect tn in the early part of 1923." The building of stations to communicate ■with Canada, South Africa, Australia. and India was started in 1925, and, at tho cost of slight delay.in completion, valuable improvements have been 1 ■mado on the original designs as the work has progressed. The conditions prescribed by an agreement with the British Po«t Offico of 500 letters per minute each way, during a daily average of 18 hours, were recognised to be extremely stringent. Counting every hour of the seven days' test, the average speed of signalling was actually 000 letters a minute in each direction, or 1200 letters a minute for the complete circuit. During both the official and the preliminary tests, however, speeds were, achieved of 1200, letters; a minute each way, or 2500 letters per minute, over tho circuit for many hours- on end. Tho sequel to these performances was the prompt taking over of the stations by the Post Office und tho decision to open the new service. Canada is brought in instant touch i with England at a rcmai kahly chcap rate. Other links in the Imperial chain are, meanwhile, rapidly approaching' completion. The sites occupied by the beam stations at Bodmin ■ and Bridge-water will also be utilised'for tho stations to be used- for communication vWith South Africa. Transmitting stations at Tetncy, near Grimsby, and receiving stations at Winthorpe, near Skegness, are being built for communication with Australia and India. Corresponding stations at Capetown, Melbourne, and Bombay aio already well advanced, and these links should bo completed in the course of tho next few months. One result of tho wireless competition is expected to be the speeding up and cheapening of the cable services. The Pacific Cablo Board's new cable from Bamfield to Suva, and the installation of wonderful new recording apparatus, will enablo tho cables to cope with the immense volume of work offering between the Dominions and the Homer land much more expeditiously,.and the Board ,is now considering a revision of its.rates to make ocean telegraphy much moro popular than it is at present. The inauguration of beam wireless, with the acceleration of the cable services, marks a new era in ine world's progress.

INSURANCE FOR ALL At a Child Welfare Congress, held recently in South Africa, a resolution was passed advocating the early, establishment of a system of "all-in-all" insuranco under Stato control; This is a subject which has been previously referred to in these columns, and which is coming into greater prominenco in various parts of the world. Thero are, of course, a good many schemes of voluntary insurance in operation in New Zealand, as well as the very excellent National Provident Fund", so that probably. a fair percentage of those earning moderate incomes are protected against risks of sickness, invalidity and death. But there are many not so protected, and it must be obvious to all thinking people that it. would be a great gain In our social order to have such a 'measure of forethought and thrift jgehernlly employed. New Zealand has done well in making provision for old ago pensions, so that tho man or' the •woman who by reason of old age is incapable of earning a livelihood, and who has no reserves of savings or other resources to fall back upon is not left entirely destitute and uncared for. But it would add to the credit of this Dominion, and to the comfort of its people, if in addition there were some provision whereby under a system of national insurance everyone was enabled to bo insured •against a rainy day. In his little book on "Insurance for All and Everything," Sir William Beveridge butlines a comprehensive system of •Social insuranco which appears %to realise its ideal. In addition to old ago pensions, embracing persons from tho age of 70 upwards, he suggests the institution of a national scheme of insurance in two main sections—(a) a disablement section, to include industrial accidents, sickness allowance, disablement allowance aixl medical and maternity benefits; and (b) an unemployment and endowment section, embracing unemployment benefit, widows and orphans' allowances, and endowment pensions for persons between tho ages of (55 and 70 who, though not qualified for old age pensions, found their earning capacity greatly reduced through advancing years.' Sir William Beveridge admits that tho full scheme as conceived by him would involvo a large expenditure, but as against that he urges that tho risks covered are those which have to be faced in any case and paid for either by the individuals or by tho State in one way or another. The essence of the argument is that it is better to deal with the problem scientifically and to bear the cost directly, and with a full knowledge of tho facts, than indirectly and haphazardly. And thero is tho plea, which appears to us to be convincing, that a sound and all-embracing system of social insuranco is among the best possiblo safeguards against social and industrial unrest. It cannot prevent strikes and lockouts, but it does go far towards solving the important problem "of giving security against all the main risks of economic life to tho«o who depend on continuous earning." With a complete system of social insurance in , efficient working order some of tho worst evils and defects of the existing economic system, it is contended, would disappear.