PENNY-A-WORD CABLES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2404, 20 January 1909, Page 6

PENNY-A-WORD CABLES.

A REPLY TO THE ADVOCATES

“Mr Hennikor Heaton’s demonstration in favor of a penny-a-word cable rate within the Empire,” writes a Home correspondent, “has come and gone without bringing- that consummation appreciably nearer. Air Henri ike r Heaton filled six columns of “The Times” with letters from celebrities all yearning for penny-a-word cables, and organised a meeting of the Royal Colonial Institute, to which he came primed with a paper on the .usefulness of the penny rate in cementing the Empire together, and backed up by the wonderful'.Poll ak-Virag transmitter which, it is said, can send 40,000 words iu an hour from London to Purls. _ ... “Lord. Jersey presided,' and -was supported by Lord Strathcona, Sir (Somerset French, the Hon. Rodo-Lphe Lemieux, Postmaster-General of Canada, Mr 'Marconi, .and ot.hemantho.rities. Mr Heaton read his papci alguing that cables are kept idle by monopolist companies, that then carrying capacity is equal to twelve times their actual .performance .under present conditions, and that they should be .bought out by the Governments of the world at their market value. He asked Air Marconi whether he would -be willing to undertake a wireless service across the Atlantic at fa penny a word. The famous inventor expressed bland approval of the scheme, and said he would be quite willing if the Government would defray the cost of erecting and working the transmission stations, and -pay him a .subsidy against doss. “Then Air Ne-ilson, the cable expert, Tose, paper in hand, and, with relentless logic, proceeded to put back the advent of tne penny-a-word cable to the Greek Kalends, The capacity of the -cables is liot twelve times what is- obtained from them. Business men'do not lay down costly plant for nothing. Take the case of the Antipodes. There are four . cables between England and Australia, Assume, to please Air Heaton, that two

could do the-present work of the four. The present rate is 'three shillings a word. It is manifest that, in order to obtain the existing revenue, 72 cables would ,be needed for a penny rate to the Island Continent. Deducting the existing four cables, the additional capital required for 68 new lines would be over 170 millions sterling, and there would only be the present gross revenue to provide interest on capital, working expenses, repairs and depreciation. . “Similarly, in the case of Canada, 31 new cables would be required to carry the increased traffic, with only the present gross revenue to meet all charges. The Imperial and Colonial Governments now lose £60,000 a year on the new Pacific (‘till red”) came. At the penny per word rate. 36 Pacific cables .-approximately would be wanted, and tiho annual loss would be about £2,000,000 to be borne by the taxpayers, and that would represent only a small -part of the Australasian traffic. A similar loss would result in the ' case of all long-distance cables. There is no salvation in jVhik-Virag or any other transmitter. In the case of the long-distance cubic (the difficulties are not in the instruments used but in the cable itself. The speed of a cable varies inversely as the square of its length. Jt is the long neck of the bottle, and the quantity of work that can be put through in" a given time is severely limited, no matter liow fast the tians.mitter will work- Long distance wireless telegraphy on the penny basis is not within sight- by a genenitlG“These views are echoed by -all experts. The facts put forward seem unanswerable —at, any rate, they brave not been answered —and -Mr Henniker Heaton must own that lie had not counted the cost of his generous scheme, which was supported in the columns of ‘The Time©’ -byair Joseph Chamberlain, Colonel Scoiy, Sir Gilbert Parker, Air -Harry Atosenthal, several ox-Colonia'l Governors, and a host of other notabilities.”