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سلسا

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

6

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

3 December 1896.]

Chairman-continued.

Mr. LAMB.

le 107, the practical working is 482; each of these words is eight letters; will you kindly again tell us how do you get from 107 to +82? I have already said that it is not an exact calculation, and that no man could make an exact calculation. He must either take practical experience, or he must make general estimates of the probable influence of certain conditions.

3085. Yes, I quite understand that; but still it is absolutely necesary for our guidance that I should know how that is arrived at, on the general understanding that you lay down. -Well, as I have already explained, it has been arrived at by making allowances for official preambles --

3086. Official Preambles ?—Yes, time lost in correcting errors, time lost in repeating words and in giving certain indications of route.

3087. Apart from the official preambles ?— Apart from the ordinary official prefixes which give the office of origin and the time of day.

3088. What you call the indication of route is something independent of au individual mes- sage?-Yes.

3089. Indication of Route --And time lost in sending service messages.

are

mee-

3090. Service Messages ?-Those Bages which relate to the traffic.

3091. Yes; does that exhaust the list ?-No; I take into consideration the fact that the words are going to be longer in the future.

3092-3. Beyond these there is the fact that the words are going to be longer, and there is the fact that the press messages and the Govern- ment messages are not of the same value as the ordinary messages. The general causes that you consider will operate to reduce the theo- retical speed of 107 to a practical speed of 482 are: Official Preninble; II.-Time Lost in Corrections; III.-Time Lost in Repeating; IV. The Indication of Route; V.--Service Messages; and beyond that the fact that the maximum per word in plain language is to be raised on the 1st of July to 15 letters from 10, and that code will come more and more into there further, that use ?-There is this, are intervals both between the words and between the messages, and there are losses of time owing to the fact that men cannot be kept going always, that they become tired; and then, in addition to all that, I have had fur- nished to me the actual fact, it is given to me as a fact, and I have no reason to doubt it, that on a cable with a theoretical speed of 10

Chairman continued.

[Continued.

words a minute all that can be got out of it is 431.

3094. On this question of the official preamble, what is that on an ordinary message to the East; what does that consist of ?-The nature of the telegram has to be explained by a code letter, or by two code letters.

3095. The nature of the telegram ?—That is, whether it is a Government telegram or a service telegram, or an urgent telegram, &c. Then the office of origin must be sent, and on a miscel- laneous service this cannot be sent by one code letter, as Mr. Carson said it could be sent on In some cases this involves the Atlantic cables. the sending of the full name, followed by the territorial subdivision, in order to distinguish it from another office of the same name.

Mr. Jones.

3096. What are you quoting from, Mr, the International Lamb, please?-These are Regulations. Then the number of words charge- able, and in a case where the chargeable words differ from the actual, another number to Then, in messages signify the difference. which are mixed, that is to say, messages which are composed partly of plain language and partly of code, the two parts must be distinguished, and if there are figures or letters, they also must be distinguished and numbered separately. Then the route to be followed has to be stated, as far as it is necessary. Then, if the telegram is a faire suivre telegram, that has to be stated; and if the message is a semaphoric message, that has to be stated too. I think I have now given you everything that is two or three others obligatory. There are which are not obligatory.

all

Chairman. 3097. How many letters would all these neces- sary indications which you summarise as official preamble, how many letters would those amount to on the average, on an average message? -I have not got a calculation with me; cannot tell you.

I

3098. Will you put that into your answer?—

Yes.

3099. Now, as regards the time lost in correc- tions, time lost in repeating the indication of route and service messages, what percentage of the whole traffic should you say that those would come to in the aggregate? I must give you that with the other particulars, if you wish me to give the calculation.*

The Witness withdrew.

• Note. The whole calculation is as follows:-

The theoretical speed of a Cable of 800 lbs. copper and 550 lbs. gutta-percha per knot, for 3,628 knots, is 10-7, words a minute.

זי

(1.) Official preambles are estimated to be -

20 per cent. of the whole.

3

(2) Service messages -

H

2

(3.) Administrative messages

14

17

(5.) 4.82 words a minuto (ie. paid words transmitted) are actually

(4.) Pauses and unrecorded losses of time and repetitions and corrections -

30

11

T

45

I

100

It is impossible to speak with certainty as to the loss under heading No. 4, as it must depend on the system of working, and on the question whether the flow of traffic is even and continuous. For a working day of as much as 15 hours it can hardly be expected that the flow will be either even or continuous,

J. C. L.

3 December 1896.

Mr. NATHANIEL CORK, Managing Director of the Commercial Bank of Sydney, called in; and Examined,

Chairman. 3100. I THINK you are the managing director in London of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney -Yes.

3101. You are aware, generally speaking, of the proposed Pacific cable that this Committee has been appointed to consider?-Yes.

3102. Can you give any opinion as to the likelihood of the requirements of Australia in the future, for fresh telegraphic communication !— Well, I think it has become a necessity, or will very speedily become a necessity, to have addi- tional telegraphic communication with Australia. 3103. Do you mean by that, that the present routes do not furnish all the facilities that com- merce now requires?—Yes, I think that is so, or shortly will be the case, I have taken out from the messages the number of hours occupied in 1892, and the number of houts row occupied, in the tranmission of messages. I have taken the last 20 messages we have received, and 20 messages taken from the period in 1892; they are both normal periods; there is no extra strain upon the company whatever, and I have taken the times from the messages themselves. In 1892 the actual time of transmission was frequently only one and a half hours, that is, reckoning the difference of 10 hours of time between London and Sydney; the average time taken in 1892 iu transmission was 2 hours 17 minutes. The average time now is five hours. I think that proves beyond question that the line is very nuch occupied, and that we cannot get our messages through so rapidly as formerly. More than double the time is now occupied in trans- mission than was occupied four years ago.

3104. About what time of day, reckoning our time, do you telegraph to Australia-Four o'clock in the afternoon.

course,

3105. Not before four o'clock ?—No, it is no use telegraphing before four o'clock, because we want the message there at nine o'clock the next morning, and if we send several messages in the course of the day we should pay three or four times over for the address, which, of would be a Inse, and the message would arrive there at early hours, too early for business.

3106. Then do I understand you to say that most commercial men wishing to communicate with Australia will want to hand in their messages, say, between four and six in the evening of our time?—Yes.

3107. Hoping that they will reach Australia at nine o'clock in the Australian morning?— Yes.

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3108. And what does nine o'clock in the Australian morning compare with our time P- p.m. the night before. Four o'clock com- pares with two o'clock. When we send message at four o'clock in the afternoon it is two o'clock there.

our

3109. In the early morning?-So we allow seven hours for the transmission.

3110. Therefore a telegraph office doing busi- ness with Australia has practically the whole

Chairman-continued.

latter afternoon and night up to midnight in which to send its messages through to Australiu ? -Yes.

3111. Now the business the other way. What time in the Australian day does an Australian send his messages off?-At the close of business,

four o'clock in the afternoon.

3112. At the same time?—Yes; but that, of course, is 10 hours earlier than our time; four o'clock in the afternoon there is six o'clock in the morning here.

3113. And when would you wish to get those telegrams? At the opening of business; 10 o'clock in the morning in London.

3114. So that the office at the Australian end would have greater pressure in sending off its messages than the office at this end?—I do not know why there should be any greater pressure there than here. The merchants naturally send their messages off at the close of business. If they take aine hours in transmission, of course we get messages the same afternoon. But in- conveniently late for business.

3115. Yes. Well, you see, if you go down to your office between 10 and 11 the telegraph office in Australia has not got as much time to work off its messages as the corresponding office in England has? That is so.

3116. Does what you said amount to this, or do you not mean to go so far as this; do you con sider that a new line to Australia is wanted *--- Yes.

3117. You do? Yes.

3118. And what prospects of business do you think there are for it? Messages now sent by the Eastern might go by that line if the Eastern at any time were choked with business; if it were found that messages were very slow in passing over the Eastern line; for instance, if they were taking nine hours in transmission, as they have been doing lately, we should use the

other line.

3119. Yes; but do you mean that the new line would only receive what we may call the leavings of the Eastern line, or do you think there is business enough, or there is going shortly to be business enough, for two lines, to make it worth while starting a new line?-If the tariff is the same the line which would be most relied upon for sending the messages would be the most employed.

3120. I suppose we may take it for granted that whatever the tariff for one would be the same for the other?-I suppose that would be 60.

3121. Therefore the public would patronise that line which served them best?—Yes.

.3122. Supposing that one line gave a better service than another, if that line got blocked, while the block continued messages would be taken to the other line 2-Yes.

3123. Do you consider that the volume of telegraphic business to and from Australia is

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