Deputation from the Empire Press Union. The VISCOUNT BURNHAM, C.H., ROBERT DONALD, LL.D. (Chairman of Council). Mr. TAYLOR DARBYSHIRE (Australian Press Association, Ltd.). Sir THOMAS BENNETT, C.I.E., M.P. (The "Times" of India). Mr. J. H. VINNICOMBE (Canadian Mr. H. E. TURNER, Secretary LORD BURNHAM'S OPENING REMARKS. Lord Burnham: Gentlemen, the Empire Press Union is a hardy biennial at these Conferences, and I have only to ask you to receive to-day a deputation consisting of Mr. Robert Donald, the Chairman of the Union; Mr. Jeans, who represents Reuter's, Sir Roderick Jones being abroad; Mr. Taylor Darbyshire, who represents the Australian Press Association; Mr. N. K. Kerney, representing the Argus" group of South African newspapers; Sir Thomas Bennett, representing the "Times" of India; and Mr. H. Vinnicombe, who represents the Canadian Press, Limited. Inadequacy of Present Cable Service. I had the pleasure of meeting one of the Prime Ministers this week-end, who implored me not to make a speech, as he said you had heard too many, so I will not worry you with a speech. Therefore, I will assume that you are all perfectly acquainted with the history of this question as it affects the newspaper press, both of this country and of the Oversea Dominions. At the last Imperial Conference Mr. Hughes said that in this country we only gave a pitiable travesty of the truth as it affected Australia and other Dominions of the Crown. It has been complained equally, of course, that on the other side a very jaundiced view has been presented of the condition of England and the state of public opinion here. I can only ask you to believe that we recognise the inadequacy of the service at both ends, and I would like to hand you this record of the resolutions passed by the second Imperial Press Conference in Canada in 1920, and by the Empire Press Union prior to the meeting of the last Imperial Conference, † resolutions which have been substantially repeated now because the circumstances have not changed and which our Secretary has with him here to-day. We have, of course, to put again to you that the only question-the main question is the cost of telegraphy. Personally, I took very much to heart what Mr. Hughes said, and if I may quote my own example, I ventured to give in our Journal a much fuller service of news from Australia. I do not think Mr. Hughes recognises that † See Appendix II. *See Appendix I. 66 that news is published almost at a dead loss, for the whole of the matter is telegraphed at 74d. a word-sometimes it may have to be "urgent" as well-and nobody can pretend that there is the public interest in this country which would justify expenditure such as we incur of thousands a year on this service at the present time. I need not say that the other papers in a greater or less degree-mostly less, I daresay-have the same difficulties to contend with. If I take Australia only as an example for a minute, I find that in May of this year the Pacific Cable Board wrote to the London Chamber of Commerce : 'The Board cannot at present reduce its charges between Britain and Australasia because the line is working to the full capacity-twenty-four hours daily. Reduced rates would naturally increase traffic, overload the line and produce serious delays." There are other statements to the same effect this year, which shut out all hope of our getting a reduction unless, of course, we are able to bring to bear the competitive force of wireless. telegraphy. I am told, Mr. Bruce will know better, that the number of newspapers and the amount they publish is largely increasing in Australia, and certainly it is not diminishing here. I venture to put the consideration before you once more that the cost of communications is prohibitive, so far as the Empire is concerned, to the great majority of papers, preventing them from giving any adequate reports of news and views from the Oversea Dominions, and especially from Australasia. On the other hand, it is useless to expect that there will be a reciprocal service from this end that, in the least, satisfies the necessity of the case to the Oversea newspapers. We are becoming very hopeless as to the wireless situation; but, as I do not want any redundancy or repetition, if you will allow me, Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame, to finish on that note, I will ask you to hear Mr. Robert Donald, the Chairman of the Empire Press Union, who has made a special study of this subject and who was heard for two days by the last Imperial Conference. MR. DONALD'S STATEMENT. Mr. Robert Donald then spoke in the sense of the following statement, which he subsequently handed in to the Committee in writing : Political Importance of efficient Empire Communications. The Empire Press Union, which represents all the leading newspapers in the British Empire, is primarily concerned with improving, quickening and cheapening the means of communication for professional reasons. But we also think of the larger question of Imperial policy. We believe that only by annihilating distance, and getting closer intercourse, can we attain greater unity and better understanding. Mr. Hughes, when he retired from his position as Prime Minister, wrote a series of articles on Imperial unity, and, after exploring the political and economic aspects of the problem, came to the conclusion that the most urgent thing to be done was to improve Empire communications, and the first line of communications is to be found in wireless telegraphy. Progress of Foreign Nations in Wireless Telegraphy. The action of the Empire Press Union is. therefore entirely in harmony with the highest ideals of Empire policy. Since the Union gave evidence before the Imperial Conference in 1921 we have had many changes in policy, but little or no progress. For the last two years our Council has been alternately congratulating the Government on making a decision which was to be followed by immediate action, and condemning them for failing to fulfil their undertakings. Great Britain has practically stood still for the last two years. Unfortunately for us, other nations have been going ahead and we are now left far behind. That statement is supported by Dr. Eccles, who, in a letter written on the 12th December, 1922, said : Taking all the Government-owned stations for comparison we find that the United States Navy Department owns and operates no fewer than ten modern high-power stations, which spread their net from Washington to Panama, to California, across the Pacific to the Philippines, and northward to Alaska. The French Government stations number eight, some of them the largest in the world, and extend from France throughout the French African possessions to the Pacific Ocean. The British Empire possesses only two high-power stations, Leafield and Cairo. Britain has left the United States, France and Japan to stand wireless guard over the Pacific Ocean. The above wireless chains are of combined strategical and commercial importance; but alongside there are commercial wireless links comprising six American stations, one French and one British station of about the same strength as the Government stations. So on both strategical and commercial counts one may agree to deplore our position." Dr. Eccles is referring chiefly to Government-owned wireless with which the Press is not intimately concerned. Although all these Government stations flood the world with propaganda, the progress in commercial long-distance wireless in the last two years has been far greater than Mr. Hughes, with all his enthusiastic optimism, ever contemplated. This development has affected every wireless organisation in the world except the British Post Office. New stations have been built during the last two years and are now in operation at St Assise in France, Long Island in New York, at Buenos Aires, at Iwaki in Japan, in Warsaw, in Peking, in Holland, for communication with Java and Coram Hill in the United States, while the high-power stations in Italy, Germany and Russia have been extended. Just imagine what the position of the British Empire would be to-day if a station like that of St Assise in France was located in England, if a station similar in power to that of Long Island was in Canada, that the Buenos Aires station was in [10995] Р Australia, the Japanese one in India, the Dutch station in South Africa, and if these main links in the Chain were connected with intermediary stations. You would have a constant flow outwards and inwards of many thousands of words daily, and the ideal which Mr. Hughes and others have had in view would have been reached. As things are, the progressive schemes of other countries are rapidly Occupying the wave lengths suitable for long-distance transmission, so that it will soon be difficult to obtain the wave lengths required for the Imperial scheme within the usual wave band of from 10,000 to 26,000 metres. To take one illustration of how we are being pushed out of the world wireless by foreign competition, particularly in regard to dissemination of propaganda and the distribution of news. The French long-distance station at St Assise has been in operation since August 1922 and sends many thousand words of commercial matter and news throughout the world-to the United States, the Argentine, the West Indies, the Far East-to all the French African and Asiatic possessions. The French Government broadcasts official news and propaganda from the Bordeaux, Lyons and Paris stations. France is in daily communication with the United States and the Argentine, and is now erecting powerful stations in its distant colonies for reciprocal services. The foreign commercial and news service from France is carried on by Radio-France, a subsidiary company to the French Wireless Telegraphic Company. From information which I have received from it and from its tariff I see that it covers the whole of the Western hemisphere, so that commercial and news messages are dispatched to all parts of Canada, Newfoundland, to the West Indies, to British Honduras, St. Vincent, British Guiana and the Falkland Islands. This service goes through New York, or Buenos Aires and cannot be transmitted any other way, as the Marconi Company has the right to handle the business for the French Company in the British Empire. It has the right, but it has not been given the opportunity, so that the wireless communications reach British possessions through foreign channels. This RadioFrance Company having completed its Western circuit, is now launching out in the Far East and the Pacific. The company announced on the 1st of this month that it is carrying on negotiations with the French Wireless Telegraphic Company, of which it is a subordinate, and the Governor-General of French Indo-China, with the object of setting up a wireless agency in the colony to be managed by a French company and to carry on a political, commercial and financial service between Europe and the Far East. This agency would cover the whole of the Pacific. Serious effect on British Interests of Foreign Wireless Services. It is unnecessary for me to point out the seriousness of the effect on British interests of wireless propaganda which is broadcasted over the world to-day and is picked up and used by hundreds of newspapers in foreign countries, which are glad to get news for nothing and are not always able to detect its subtle propagandist character. Equally serious is the service of commercial news which helps competing countries to form new connections and to create new vested interests. England has for many years been the world's centre for cable services; it has not retained its supremacy in wireless and London is no longer the clearing house for news in Europe. Leading American newspapers have transferred their headquarters to the Continent or news is sent direct from Berlin, Rome and Paris to America. News is always affected by the environment of its source. Success of the Leafield Station. Since the Leafield Station, the first link in the Empire Chain was opened and the first period of experimentation passed, it has succeeded in recovering part of the American service. It is so rarely we can say anything in favour of the British Post Office that I would like to read a letter which I have received from Mr. John S. Steele, the London correspondent of the "Chicago Tribune." He says: "We have been using the Leafield Station for our news transmission to Chicago for more than a year now, with very great success. The experiment was initiated by the Chicago Tribune,' at first with its own receiving station on the roof of our building in Chicago. We found, however, that there was too much interference with reception in a big city, so a small experimental station was established at Halifax. This worked so well that eventually a group of half a dozen American newspapers was formed, and a permanent receiving station at Halifax was erected. My own transmission produces about 3,000 words a night and I believe that already the traffic sent viâ Leafield and Northolt to our Halifax Station amounts to 10,000-12,000 words. In addition to that we are receiving from the Lyons Station in France and a station in Italy. "So far as speed and accuracy are concerned, I have never had any cable service so good as that given to us by the Post Office through Leafield. We have had some little trouble with the relay from Halifax, owing to the fact that the land wires. are sometimes down. That is now being overcome by the erection of a low-power sending station at Halifax which will transmit our material to Chicago and New York." I would like to make one or two observations on this Post Office success. First, the volume of business is small compared with what will be necessary and possible when new high-power stations are erected and inventions now in existence for speeding up are in operation. In the next place the first link in the Empire Chain was not established to serve other countries. The Post Office officials state that the official wireless sent out by Leafield reaches India, Australia, South Africa, the West Indies, but we have no evidence that it is used by the press in those countries and certainly no newspaper would entrust Leafield with messages for Australia or South Africa. I am not blaming the Post Office, as its experts [10995] P 2 |