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Board of Trade and the Halifax Board of Trade explaining the

position in detail and that copies of the letters should be

sent to Mr. Ferguson, the High Commissioner of Canada, for his

information and for transmission to the Department of Marine

at Ottawa,

5. Deepening of Colombo Harbour, (vide paragraph 11 of the

Minutes of the 169th Meeting).

The terms of the draft letter (Doc. Colombo (1931) No. 9) proposed to be sent to the Colonial Office on this subject were

approved by the Committee.

6. Broadcasting of Weather Maps, (vide paragraph 13 of the

Minutes of the 169th Meeting).

Mr. Barton, in amplification of the Memoranda prepared by the Air Ministry on this matter (Broadcasting of Weather Maps Documents Nos. 1 and 2), stated that there was no

technical difficulty in the way of the transmission of weather maps to ships or aircraft, and that the General Post

Office who had been consulted on the question were willing to

co-operate in the scheme, having the necessary transmission

apparatus already installed. It now remained to create sufficient interest among the prospective receivers to result

in the purchase of a number of the special receiving sets

required. The cost of these receiving sets would probably

be between £25 and 230 if a total demand of about 100 sets

were foreseen, The cost of the transmitter was about 2300.

Bither the British Broadcasting Corporation or the General

Post Office might undertake the transmission, the point

having not yet been decided. The range of transmission

would depend on the power used but the maximum range would

probably be about 1,000 miles.

Mr. Barton added that the Admiralty were very interested

in the scheme as were also the Air Ministry, both as regards

its value to civil aviation and also to the Royal Air Force,

and he thought any scheme adopted should be of national

application.

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