The Daily News THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1927. WIRELESS AND CABLE COMPETITION.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 December 1927, Page 8

The Daily News THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1927. WIRELESS AND CABLE COMPETITION.

Ever since it became evident that beam wireless would be able to become a commercial system there have been those who considered that it was inevitable for a serious competition to arise between that means of long distance communication and the services of the cable companies. It is only natural that as the success of wireless transmission has developed, more and more attention should be directed to the possibilities of wireless, not as a factor in eliminating the cable services, but as a potent influence in. reducing the present cable charges. The actual point at which competition for business between these two services may be regarded as an accomplished fact hag not yet arrived, but when it does materialise there can be no question that there will be a cutting of rates, unless the resources of the two systems are pooled, an event which appears unlikely to happen. According to last year’s working of the Pacific Cable Board’s system the business showed a record, though the full rate messages dropped by one hundred thousand words, this being attributed “to the attraction of cheaper services.” This significant admission has a pointed bearing on the question of rates, the indication being that there exists a desire, as well as a determination on the part of the public to obtain the cheapest rates offering for long distance communications. The only element about which confidence has to be engendered in regard to wireless is its reliability, not only that a message will reach its proper destination unmutilated, hut that its clarity will be such as to satisfy the recipient. In time the present defects will be overcome, but until then wireless cannot take the place of cables as a commercial service- It is worthy of note that the advent of wireless messages has evidently brought about a speeding-up of cabled messages by means of the new loaded system. Attention, however, will probably be more concentrated upon the profits made by the Pacific Cable Board during last year, than upon the increased speed of the service. The receipts of the board totalled £467,063, which amount, after the payment of working expenses, left a sum of £178,384 as profit on the year’s transactions. While such a result must be gratifying to the Cable Board, it indicates that the charges are higher than they should be, thus paving the way for rate cutting by wireless. At the same time, in the light of the statement made by Mr. H. L. Samuel in the House of Commons

recently, it is difficult to understand how the “Pacific. Cable Board had undoubtedly suffered during the past year as a result of the competition of beam wireless at lower charges.” That there was a falling off in full-rate messages is admitted, but, ou the other hand, the deferred Government and Press messages “more than counterbalance the decreases.” There can be no ques tion that the various Governments interested in the Pacific Cable undertaking are becoming increasingly sensible of the effect which wireless messages will have on the cable business. Already th it effect is appreciable, but it would be unwise not to recognise the probable extent of the competition when the beam service has been practically perfected. It is, of course, recognised that wireless in wartime cannot be relied upon, but against that fact is the equally important drawback that cables can be cut and thereby rendered useless. Every commonsense view points to the advisability of having both services in operation, only the probability is that competition in rates cannot be avoided. Canada foresaw this competition and opposed the duplication of the Pacific cable, but a policy of that kind does not meet the needs of the situation. It would seem desirable for some efforts to be made to bring both services into the highest state of efficiency possible, and to fix the rates for messages at a scale which will attract business to the most efficient and reliable system. Only on commercial lines can these enterprises be successfully worked. The old principle that there is no sentiment in business still applies.