The Empire far behind Foreign Countries.

From the point of view of Empire communications, from the point of view of development of the Empire (about which we have said so much at this Conference), and from the point of view of our position as one of the great commercial nations of the world, the problem appears to me to be one that cannot brook any further delay. It is very lamentable that we find ourselves in this position. Prior to the war we were far ahead of any of the other nations. It appeared that these developments were going to lie to a great extent in our hands, and that our position with regard to wireless in the future would be an almost unchallengable one. But the result has been very different. At the present moment we are very far behind other countries. We have very full information as to what our present position is, and I do not want to detain the Conference long by going into it. We know what other countries have done, and the number of stations that they have established.

Summary of the International Position.

There is, however, a summary of the position which is very short, and which will be quite sufficient for my purpose. It is from an article by Sir Harry Brittain in the "Observer" of the 29th July, 1923. I am not vouching for the number of stations he gives; but even if they are not absolutely correct they are so nearly so that it does not make any difference.

The statement is as follows :—

Summarising shortly the information in a recent return, it showed that the United States of America possesses sixteen. high-power stations, France four, and Germany and this country two each. But this summary does not accurately represent the position. The two stations possessed by Germany are far and away more efficient than either of the two possessed by this country. The Nauen station has an overall power of 800 k.w., and the Hanover station, 400 k.w. Great Britain only possesses a Post Office station at Leafield, an arc station of 250 k.w. and admittedly out of date, and the Carnarvon station. with an overall power of 340 k.w.

"The comparative position of the four Powers may, I think, be roughly summarised as follows, making allowance for efficiency:-

I do not want to give any further details. I have a complete statement here showing what every country is doing, and a close examination of it shows that we are far behind the other countries of the world, and that the pre-eminent position which looked assured to us before the war has altogether disappeared.

Wave Length: A Serious Factor.

There is another very serious factor in the case, and it is that every day it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to obtain the position we ought to hold. Long-distance wireless is dependent upon wave length. There is now an arrangement by which wave length can be taken up for certain stations. The present position is that fifty-three wave lengths between 10,000 and 26,000 metres are already occupied or reserved. Almost every month new stations are erected and new wave lengths will be reserved, and if things are allowed to drift indefinitely, we shall probably find ourselves in serious difficulties, even on the question of wave length. However viewed, the wireless position does not look hopeful at the present

moment.

All I have said is merely a very short summary of the invaluable work that wireless can do in regard to both Empire communication and international communication, and an attempt to indicate that the present position is very unsatisfactory from the point of view of the British Empire, which probably depends more than any other country in the world upon really efficient and cheap communication. But the subject is so important that anybody who is taking a serious interest in it ought to consider it in much more detail than I am able to do to-day; and a close study of the statement made by Dr. Donald on behalf of the Press Union the other day will give a great deal of very valuable information.

The 1921 Scheme: An Imperial Wireless Chain.

Everybody remembers that at the Conference two years ago the Norman Report was considered, and the Conference adopted the proposal for 2,000-mile step stations to form an Imperial chain. Australia dissented from that scheme, and expressed the view that the question should be dealt with on the basis of direct communication over long distances. At that time long-distance wireless, on the basis of communication, for example, between Australia and Britain, was completely ruled out, and was considered outside the realm of practical politics.

Present Australian Scheme held up owing to absence of Reciprocal Station in Great Britain.

Only two years have gone, but to-day the position is completely changed, and the Post Office in Britain, and opinion generally, is convinced that direct long-distance wireless is possible, and is the system that should be adopted. Unfortunately the fact that two years ago the opposite view was taken has placed Australia in a most embarrassing position. We went forward believing in what we had stated at the Conference, and we have made arrangements to erect a station which will be capable of communicating direct with Great Britain. That station will be the largest in the world. It will have twenty towers of 800 feet each. We are committed to this great undertaking, but, owing to differences of opinion with which I have no concern at all, we are faced with the very serious 04

[10995]

possibility that we shall not have a reciprocal station in Great Britain that will satisfy our requirements. Naturally, therefore, we have to press very very seriously that some settlement of the difficulty must be arrived at, to prevent our arrangements with regard to wireless being rendered inoperative, and the whole scheme of Empire wireless development being held up indefinitely.

The Route viâ Canada.

In our

There is also another factor which I must refer to. scheme it was proposed, not only to put a reciprocal station in Great Britain, but also to have an alternate route through North America by means of a station in Canada, which would serve for direct communication between Canada and Great Britain, but which also would be employed as a connecting link for communication by the alternate route between Australia and Great Britain. So that Australia, at all events, is very interested in the situation with regard to Canada as well as the situation in Great Britain.

The Three Possible Methods of Dividing the Traffic.

The Postmaster-General's memorandum embodies three proposals, which he says are the three methods by which the situation can be dealt with. The first is "unrestricted competition under which both the Company's stations and the Government station would communicate indiscriminately with each of the Dominion stations"; the second is "a form of pooling arrangements whereby the traffic would be operated from one central control, and routed viâ the Government station or the Company's stations as the day to day requirements indicate, the revenue being pooled in proportion to the number of stations contributed by each party." The third is "a regional distribution under which the services with certain Dominions would be conducted viâ the Government station, and with others by the Company's stations."

The Scheme of Regional Distribution.

The first two are at the present moment not under consideration. Apparently a parting of the ways has arrived with regard to both of them. The first one, of unrestricted competition, would not I think at first sight recommend itself to anybody, but I am expressing no views on the first two at the present moment. The pooling arrangement has apparently broken down, owing to the differences between the Marconi Company and the British Government, with which I have not the slightest concern. I have no interest in the Marconi Company or in the British Government. I have an interest in Australia and in the whole Imperial idea of a wireless system. We are therefore brought back to the fact that the third policy of regional distribution is the one that appears now to be under consideration.

The Dangers of Such an Arrangement.

Personally I see the gravest dangers with regard to any such arrangement, and my apprehensions arise from the position in which wireless in the world has arrived at the present moment. We have in Canada a private company which operates wireless there under licence from the Government. That private company is contemplating the erection of new high power stations at Montreal and at Vancouver. It is a private company, and as such it is entitled I presume to hold any views it chooses. It is taking exception to being dependent solely upon a Government station. In what I am going to say now, I am not expressing my own opinions or views. I am merely trying to indicate what will quite possibly happen in the position in which we shall find ourselves. That Canadian company has views which may be summarised by saying it is not prepared to be dependent upon a station controlled by a Government for its reciprocal traffic from Great Britain; and, holding that view, it is saying that the whole position is at the moment quite different from what was contemplated when it talked of erecting the Montreal and Vancouver stations.

The Post Office proposal to allocate the Canadian traffic, under a regional arrangement, to the Government station here, does not in any way affect the Canadian company, provided that there is the same efficiency in the Government station as there would be in a privately controlled one, because the Canadian company is in the fortunate position that all messages that go from Britain to Canada would have to be received by the company, and all messages sent from Canada to Britain would have to be sent by the company. They will get their share of the receipts or revenue, and they will handle all the traffic, whoever may be sending the messages to them. So that if they have a complaint, the only ground upon which they can base it is the assumption that under Government control the business will not be handled with the same efficiency, and that there will not be the same number of messages going through.

They can take up that attitude, and it is then open to them to say that they are not going to proceed with the erection of the stations at Montreal and at Vancouver. That I think would be a very lamentable thing from the point of view of Canada. It would certainly be a most lamentable thing from the point of view of Australia, because we want our reciprocal station in Canada at Vancouver for the service we are establishing. That I think is the position that we have to face. It is perfectly true that if that attitude were taken up by the Canadian Company it would be open to the Canadian Government to come in if they wished, and to say: We are going to erect both stations; we are going to take over the whole of the control of wireless. There is nothing at all to prevent Canada doing that. But I view with apprehension the interminable delay that would take place if anything of the sort had to be done. As to whether or not, in the event of the Canadian Company acting as I have suggested, it might be said

that the Canadian Company were acting in conjunction with the Marconi Company, or holding somebody to ransom, I express no opinion. I do not know what their motives are. What I do say is that there will be a very serious situation unless you can find some way out of the present trouble.

South Africa is in a somewhat similar position. South Africa has handed over wireless under a licence to a company, which is now erecting a station there. That company may take the same view. Both Canada and South Africa may take the view that one British station operating with them will not fulfil their requirements. They may say, and I think it would be a very natural thing to say, that they must have an alternate route. Wireless, like cables, breaks down at times, and they might be left without any means of communication, and they are quite entitled to object to that.

There is also another consideration. It seems to me that Canada and South Africa might say: But whose messages are going to get precedence over this route? The reason why we objected to the 2,000-mile step station was that we knew inevitably our messages through to Britain would come in behind the messages from all the places along the route.

It seems to me that if only one station is provided for serving Canada and South Africa-it not being a matter for arrangement between Governments but for independent consideration by private companies, which are entitled to hold any opinion they like-we may find a most embarrassing situation arising, even to the point of the Canadian company winding itself up on the ground that the position is impossible, and the Government having to step in and erect its own stations, with the long delay that will occur and the intolerable difficulties that will inevitably arise with regard to patents.

An Alarming Position.

That being the view that I take, I think the present position: is a most alarming one, and it is one for which we have to find some solution. Otherwise the whole of the wireless position of the Empire is going to remain in its present unfortunate state, which is handicapping us as against all the other countries of the world. I hope it will be understood that I am stressing this question from a very real appreciation of the necessity of getting wireless communication throughout the Empire of the most efficient character, and also because Australia has been led into the present position by the actions of other people.

We went forward with our scheme of direct wireless communications, having been told that, as we could not agree to the proposed indirect method, we could find our own method of getting Empire communication. If, after we have gone ahead and involved ourselves in very serious liabilities, we are to be faced with the situation that all we have done has been perfectly useless, I think we have very legitimate grounds of complaint, and we cannot be accused of interference if we press our case strongly.