CO129-392 - Governor Sir May - 1912 [9-10] — Page 196

stations are: England itself, in Egypt, subject to the approval of the Egyptian Government, in East Africa, and in Singapore or its neighbourhood. The Postmaster-General then goes on to say that the Indian Government will erect one near the Western coast, the South Afri- can Government in the neighbourhood of Pretoria, and the Australian Government have undertaken to erect one to connect with Singapore, He proceeds in these words, to which I desire to draw special attention: Later, it is contemplated that stations will be erected at Hongkong and possibly in West Africa." There fore, it is clear, as 1 submit, from the l'ostmaster-General's speech that with reasonable speed and celerity there is to be erected according to his programme a chain of wireless stations extending from England on the west to Australia on the east, and he tells us it is contemplated that a station will be erected at Hong. kong, but he puts in the word "later. Now, Sir, in view of the importance of this Colony as a centre for shipping, the unofficial members of this Council are unanimous in thinking that we ought to urge upon the British Government to carry out its intention to erect a wireless station in this Colony not later but at so early a date that it may be completed simultaneously with the completion of the wireless telegraphy station to be erected in, or in the neighbourhood of, Singapore, We consider that this is a matter of importance in regard to which this Colony may fairly claim from the amount of shipping which passes through it--it being, as your Excellency knows. the first port in the world with regard to tornage--we consider it advisable that this Colony should not lag behind Singa- pore in the race, but we respectfully urge that it should receive the same treatment as Singapore, and that at the same time as Singapore is linked with England this Colony should also be linked with Eng- land. That, Sir, is the object of bringing forward this

motion! before this Council. The unoffi- cial members desire that in this very im- portant matter there should be no ques- tion of postponement or delay. They consider that now we have got Mr. Her- bert Samuel's statement in the House of Commons, now that for the first time one has something definite and tangible to lay hold of in this matter, now when we see that it is contemplated by the British Government to erect apparently out of the Post Office vote these various stations throughout the Empire, ultimately coming to Hongkong, we think that now! we should press this matter on and we regard it as of the utmost importance for commercial purposes that we should be linked up with Singapore. In case it should have escaped the attention of any hon. member I would point out that the Marconi Company has entered into very important and somewhat stringent guar- antees as to the efficiency of its system, because it appears, first of all, from the statement of the Postmaster-General that the Marconi Company does not stipulate at all for anything to be paid for their stations until they have been erected and shown they were capable of maintaining the service, and later on the Postmaster

General says the Company had 'under- taken in this contract to give an efficient and continuous service capable of dealing with commercial traffic day and night at a speed duplex of 20 words a minute, at a speed simplex of 50 words per minute. And, Sir, with regard to the distance which messages are to be carried, the test, as the Postmaster-General says, is a test for 2,000 miles. Therefore, I think it is quite clear that in view of the stringent conditions which the Marconi Company have agreed to, as stated here by the Post- master-General, we may take it that for their own protection and in order that they may get the payment bargained for they will take care that a very efficient service is put up capable of complying with that test and carrying messages to a distance of 2,000 miles. I think there should be no delay in this matter. We should be put in the same position as Singapore and in that way we shall be able to communicate by wireless readily and easily with England and all these other places on the route of this chain of wireless telegraphy, We would venture to hope that your Excellency and the off- cial members of this Council are equally anxious with us that Hongkong should be included in this effective chain of wire- less telegraphy. I will only say a few words more, and that is with reference to communicating with shipping. On that point 1 have consulted with a gentle- man who has a knowledge of this subject of wireless telegraphy, and 1 understand that oven if you have a high power station you can by either tuning or slackening, Or whatever the correct technical term may be, receive messages from shipping by only working with a force of one and a half kilowats, and I am told that apparatus can be supplied which will enable you to communicate with shipping, and which apparatus is used in connection with a high power station, which, of course, will be required to send a message a distance of 2,000 miles.

The motion was in the following terms: That this Council has rend with pleasure the statement of the Postmaster-General. made in the House of Commons, on the 7th of August, 1912, to the effect that it is the intention of the British Government to erect, at its own cost, a £60,000 Wireless Telegraph Station in Hongkong and that such Station is to be used for the transmis- sion of commercial cables, but that this Council regrets to learn from the statement that the erection of such a Station is to be postponed till a later date, and that this Council begs to most respectfully urge upon the British Government the desirability of such a Station being erected in Hongkong at the same time as the Singapore Station. Hou. Mr. Ross-Sir, the motion which has just been made by my hon, and learned friend is one which commends, itself strongly to ine, and I think to all the other unofficial members. Wice- less telegraphy is now a recognised means of communication, not only between ships and ports, but also as an alternative to cables. I do not wish to decry the valu- able services which have been renderod to this Colony by the Cable Companies, for they are indisputable. But I think most of us are agreed that their cable charges are rather high, and if these High Power Stations were only erected for the purpose of reducing the cable charges they will be well worth it. (Applause.)

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