LINKING UP THE ISLANDS

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16749, 16 March 1926, Page 8

LINKING UP THE ISLANDS

LAYING 400-TON CABLE. WONDERFUL BOON TO SOUTH. 'i'tie new telephone cable whieli arrived in Weliinglon tiv t.hr Tonpariro from England last week is fraught, with considerable commercial importance, especially to the South Island, for wtien it is available Ihe. present restricted night service over the, telegraph cable will lie a thing of ihe past. It will not. however, he available in a month, and probably some weeks inter Ilian that, for the laying of lue cable, now that it has arrived, is not the only work that is involved. The cable-laying and repair ship Iris, whieli lias frequently been used to effect repairs in Cook Strait, is at present, in Auckland, and on this occasion the Government, steamer Tutanckai has been made available by the Marine Department. This vessel is undergoing overhaul not yet complete, hut (his will not prevent tier being drawn alongside the Tongariro at Pipitea wharf for the purpose of transferring the cable from the. holds of tlie bigger vessel to Ihe Tulanekai. The, weight of cable to he, transferred is over 400 tons, anil its cost has run considerably into five figures, and wnen the costs of laying, instruments, appliances, buildings, laying shore ends and land cables have been added inroads will have been made into six figures—a sum which will require large earnings if (lie undertaking is to pay interest on capital—a principle which operates in Hie Post and Telegraph Department. If it were just a mailer of laying the. sea cable it would be ready in a few days, for if weather conditions are good only a couple of days will suffice to lay the wires from coast to coast. The shore ends will take longer, as these, are. more stoutly built to meet the wear and tear and abrasion by tide, and rocks, tn addition (here arc five miles of land cable Ic he erected between Lyall Bay and the Wellington head office, and about six miles on the other side up to Peddon, for Hie marine cable enters the sea at Lyall Bay on this side and ends at Blind River for Peddon in the South Island. This portion is about 40 miles long, and with the land cable will exceed fifty miles. Peddon will he the switching cenlro for the South Island, and a small building has yet to be erected there to house the repealing and amplifying apparatus which is necessary to make up ttic loss of strength experienced in a submarine cable and to amplify the speech and carry it on at its initial strength. There will he amplifiers similar to those used in connection with the amplification of low frequency currents in wireless reception. Six Communications. Tlie shore-end cables run about It tons weight per knot, the intermediate cable about 8 tons per knot, and tlie land cable about 10 tons. ’There arc two pairs of circuits along which can he carried on three telephone conversations and three Morse communications simultaneously without mutual interference. A vital part of the cable is tlie insulation, which prevents the leakage of electric current to Hie sea. Pome of tiie wire armour is likely to open up and allow boring insects to attack tlie, cable. These insects will easily bore through tlie jute, and other worming, but come to a stop at the brass casing in which tlie essential wires are enclosed. If from any cause there is a leakage or breakage there arc delicate instruments by which tlie telegraph engineers can tell tlie exact spot where the damage exists, and it is llien a matter of sending out Ihe cable ship to haul up tiie great artery arid effect (he necessary repair, hut these arc necessarily expensive jobs.

It will he two or three weeks before the sea cable, is laid, after which the shore ends will lie put down and Hie joins made. It then remains to connect up with the land stations. Apparatus on the Way.

The apparatus for working the new cable lias not yet arrived, but. is on ttie way; and Hie building at Seddon 1 as to lie constructed before It can he installed, for which reasons alone it will he several weeks before the new cable is ready for service. When dial day arrives if will he a red leller one for the, South Island, as it will gradually lie I lie means of opening up direct, telephone communication between nil parts of ttie two islands. The value of this io the commercial community is inestimable, for it will speed up market reports, prices, contracts, and forwarding and delivery. The northern part of ttie South Island will naturally benefit early by the new installation, which will lie available at all Hours, and the. distance rates will probably lie on tlie existing scale, in course of time the lienefiL of the new cable will extend further south to Christchurch, Dunedin and Muff, and Ihe day is not far distant, when it will he possible to have direct conversation between the extreme north and the extreme south.