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unable to say what charge, if any, is made when the message is delivered in Canton.
(2) W/T systems between Hong Kong and Canton.
At present traffic is exchanged between Hong Kong and Canton on 2800 and 1100 metres respectively. Our charge,
30 cts. per word, is necessarily high; for two reasons:-
(a) we have to use a long wave 5 K.W. set as Canton has
no short wave apparatus.
(b) It is necessary to restrict the number of messages
at present as Canton often has difficulty in coping with our
traffic when the landlines are down.
They also charge roughly 30 cents per word for
reception and delivery, making a total of 60 cents in all
which is far higher than the Chinese Telegraph Administration
charges mentioned above. On account of this the traffic
exchanged by W/T, even when the landlines are down, is
restricted.
If Canton would adopt short wave working, our
charges could be reduced to 15 cents forthwith and under
10 cents later on when the service was satisfactorily
established. Such a reduction in charges would doubtless
result in a great increase in traffic. At the present time
Canton has not got a short wave wireless system.
The W/T Station in Canton does its best to co-
operate with us towards establishing a good commercial ser-
vice but they are handicapped in three ways:-
(a) Absence of a short wave installation.
(b) The present plant is none too good.
(c) The Station is frequently too busy on Government
and Military business to exchange commercial traffic
with Hong Kong.
We have exchanged as many as 160 W/T messages daily with them
and
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