CO129-418 - Public Offices & Others - 1914 — Page 226

14156

COPY of a letter received from Mesura, Indra ~

Line, Limited, 20, Browns Buildings, Exchange,18 AR 1^

Liverpool, dated 6th April 1914.

220

RADIO-TELEGRAPHY ON BOARD SHIPS.

We beg to inform you that we have from time to time received complaints from the Masters of our steamers in Far Eastern Waters that the system of radio-telegraphy with which their vessels have bean equipped is rendered practically useless owing to the lack of facilities for the reception of such messages on land,

They refer particularly to the ports of Shpore and Hong Kong, and the China coast generally; but, with

regard to the latter, we are aware that, as China has

never joined the International Convention, steps cannot

very well be taken to insist on the maintenance of a

proper watch at their wireless stations.

and

At Singapore and Hong Kong, the case is different;

we should have thought that at important places like these

proper wireless stations would have been erected.

We

understand that all messages for Singapore have to be

transmitted through the Dutch station at Sabang, which is

the nearest wireless station to Singapore.

Whilst Shipowners do not object to incur the expense

of such wireless installations on board their vessels,

as necessitated by the regulations of the recent

International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea, they feel keenly that this expense at least to some small extent should be compensated for by commercial advantages

such