WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY: MARCONI v. TELEFUNKEN.
THE AUSTRALIAN STATIONS.
Launceston Examiner 16 November 1910.
MELBOURNE, Tuesday. In the Representatives to-day, Mr. Hedges (W.A.) moved the adjournment of the House to consider the question of wireless telegraphy for the Commonwealth. He complained of the ridiculous answers given to the questions and to the lack of energy shown in establishing the necessary stations. Nothing had really been done.
He called attention two years ago that Lloyd's had offered to install a wireless telegraph at Fremantle but the Government declined the offer. The House was entitled to an explanation as to the delay in establishing the stations while all the great ships trading to Australia were equipped with wireless telegraphy apparatus. Money had been voted over and over again for the work but nothing had been done. They had sufficiently been humbugged from start to finish. The statement made in the House that 40 per cent of the stations and ships of the world had been fitted with the Telefunken system, as adopted by the Commonwealth Government, was absolutely incorrect and evidently only intended to mislead members. Not 10 per cent were so fitted. All the great shipping lines and stations were fitted with the Marconi system. Even the German shipping companies and the Marconi operators were not allowed to connect with any other systems.
He quoted extracts to show the constitution of the Australian Wireless Company, which presumed to sell the Commonwealth the rights of the Telefunken system when it had no such rights which really belonged to the Commonwealth Government. The only two principals in the company were connected with the British Australian Tobacco Co. and the Sydney "Bulletin". He dared the Government to accept the Telefunken system, which could not communicate with a British man-of-war in a time of trouble. It was disgraceful that such a system should be accepted and that the company should be provided another £2,000 to carry out the contract which had never been signed and should have been cancelled under its own conditions within 14 days of the acceptance of the tender. The whole business was due to some backdoor influence due to the Sydney Bulletin and the syndicate formed to exploit the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth Government alone had absolute control over wireless telegraphy and it should install the only system which could communicate with British vessels. Even the Australian destroyers coming here had been fitted with the Marconi system and they could not communicate with the stations proposed to be fitted in the Commonwealth with the Telefunken system. The whole thing was a scandal.
The Postmaster-General said he did not raise the slightest objection to the adjournment. He said he was in no way responsible for the contract specifications which were drawn up in 1909 by the Postal Department officers. They submitted them to the British Admiralty and only two alterations were made. Those alterations were only of a slight character. He thought, therefore, his predecessor was justified in accepting the conditions and especially as they had also been approved by the Admiral on the Australian station.
Mr. Kelly: But he did not approve of the system.
The Postmaster-General said his predecessor was justified in calling for tenders under the circumstances. Before he accepted them, a conference was held between representatives of the Admiralty, the defence force and the Postal Department and they recommended the acceptance of the tender of the Australian Wireless Co. The Marconi Co. asked £19,000 for each station where the Australian wanted only £4,100 for each station. No Postmaster-General would have dared to establish stations in preference to those of the Australian Wireless Co. in view of the difference in the price.
Mr. Hedges: The German company would probably have done it for nothing.
The Postmaster-General said had he been in the same position as Sir John Quick, he would have done exactly as he did in the matter. When he became Postmaster-General, he was informed by the Admiralty and the defence authorities that the Sydney site was unsuitable though, from the Postal Department point of view, it was satisfactory. However, they could not compel the company to erect a station outside the area first selected and consequently had to allot them £2,000 extra.
REFERENCE IN THE SENATE.
In the Senate to-day, Senator Findley stated that the contracts for the wireless telegraph stations had not been signed. The guarantors are H. P. Dennison and H. P. Reid. The Admiralty had advised the Commonwealth that it could adopt what system it pleased. The Telefunken system was not essentially a short-range system. The Postmaster-General was informed that it was in use at at least nine stations. He was aware that there were wireless systems the invention of Australians, but at the present time he was not in a position to say whether they were inferior to any other. He was told that the Telefunken system was interchangeable with the Marconi system.
Sir John Quick said the explanation of the Postmaster-General was correct as to what had been done. The Government he belonged to had declined to ally itself with any particular system. The tenderers had to show that their systems were efficient and capable of communicating with all ships, mercantile or belonging to the navy. Efficiency and inter-communicability were the two points insisted upon. The British Government, when asked, said they had no objection to the Telefunken system, as the Admiralty requirements were met, and the Admiralty representative had recommended the acceptance of the tender. He could not understand why the Admiralty had changed its mind as regards the system and site.
The motion for adjournment was negatived.
WIRELESS -TELEGRAPH STATION.
The West Australian
24 July 1911
To the Editor.
Sir: It was refreshing to learn in the columns of the West Australian recently that the Postal Department had awakened from sleep and that a wireless telegraph station is now in course of construction near Applecross and that the work is being carried on by the West Australian Public Works Department. The public may therefore rest assured that by-and-bye there may be a receiving and transmitting station in operation on at least one side of the Commonwealth. More recently, telegrams from Melbourne show that the authorities are evincing some interest in the matter, for which the people should be deeply grateful to the gentlemen having the installing of the system under their supervision.
To show how up-to-date and business-like the Postal Department officials are in pushing ahead such important questions, it is only necessary to look back through the pages of the Federal Hansard. There we find that during the session of 1906 the sum of £10,000 was placed upon the Estimates for the purpose of erecting stations at Sydney and Fremantle. There the matter rested until the next session, when the amount was again appropriated. This sum was re-appropriated every session until 1910. At that session, the amount appropriated was increased to £15,000. Meanwhile, so far as the public were aware, no action had been taken by the energetic officials. But in October 1909, tenders were called for the construction of the two long-hoped-for stations. Only five proposals were received - at prices ranging from £4,150 to £19,000. The lowest offer was accepted on April 4, 1910. The contract was secured by the Australian Wireless, Ltd., of Sydney. This company was incorporated in the latter part of 1909, with a capital of 5,000 £1 shares, which were subsequently increased to 12,000 shares. Amongst the shareholders we find the names of a well known member of the Tobacco Trust and also the name of one of the proprietors of the Sydney Bulletin.
After the award, the average man of the world would naturally expect that the work would be almost immediately commenced, but it was not until 15 November, 1910 (see above) when the member for Fremantle, Mr. W. N. Hedges, informed the House of Representatives of the true state of affairs, that the country knew the real facts of the matter. We learned that the contract had, up to that time, never been signed by the Australian Wireless, Ltd., that the only thing done up to that date had been conferences, talk and yet more talk between the contracting parties; that, the Postmaster-General had agreed to pay the A.W.T. Co. an advance of £2,000 above the contract price for consenting to build the Sydney station at a place some miles distant from Sydney. It was evident that the Postal Department considered they were entirely in the power of the contracting company, although the man in the street knows that the authorities would have been perfectly justified in declaring the contract null and void and, taking the matter in their own hands, without reference to either the "Bulletin" man or the member of the Tobacco Trust.
The thanks of the entire community are due to Mr. Hedges for his vigorous speech and, to show how he looked upon the matter, I cannot do better than quote his concluding words, which prove conclusively the opinion he entertained towards all mixed up in the affair:
"The people of Australia will be interested to learn how this syndicate worked their scheme and how, in the first place, they secured any consideration whatever for their tender in view of the fact that, at the time, they had no Australian rights in connection with the system. The syndicate was formed to purchase the rights, and my information is that it is designed to exploit the Commonwealth. It has been formed really to exploit a power which is vested only in the Postmaster-General. Under the Commonwealth Act, the Postmaster-General has the sole right to establish wireless telegraphy in Australia and yet these people are to install a system which will not enable us to communicate with the British vessels. The German Government are about to establish the Telefunken system in Samoa, and a number of the German warships have also installed the same system. On the other hand, the Marconi system has been adopted by the steamship companies to which I have referred, many of which may be called upon at any time to supply transports for the British Government. In the circumstances, it must be recognised that they would adopt only such a system as would work in harmony with that adopted by the British Admiralty".
It is unfair for us to ask the British Admiralty to co-operate with us if we are going to install the Telefunken system. If the authorities here consider that system the best, why was the Marconi system installed on the Parramatta and the Yarra? Apparently anything that is done abroad can be done well but anything left to local authorities is muddled. Yet the honourable members opposite profess to be able to manage all the affairs of Australia! To-day 90 per cent of the business of the world is done by the Marconi system. An American system tried to get a footing but did not succeed. Some time ago some information leaked out, and the authorities know that the operator on one particular steamer must be responsible for the leakage. Inquiries were made as to who he was and he was instantly removed from his position. We hope that trouble with other nations will never happen but, should it arise, we should not like to have our wireless communications carried on by a foreign system in the charge of foreigners. The Marconi system is the universal system. I ask the House to treat the matter seriously. I have not brought it forward as a party move. I regard it as of great importance to the interests of Australia. The present condition of affairs is scandalous and, I trust, will soon be altered."
Mr. Thomas, Postmaster-General, in reply to Mr. Hedges, made a statement showing the position of affairs when the Labour Government came into power and made it clear that he had only followed the system inaugurated by his predecessor, Sir John Quick, but Mr. Thomas did not tell the House why the contract had not been signed, nor did he answer the interjection of Mr. Fowler regarding the £2,000 promised to the Australian Wireless, Ltd.. Indeed, the House was left in doubt as to whether the money had been paid or not, and from the remarks of the Postmaster-General it might almost have been taken for granted that he held a brief for, and was an apologist for, the "Bulletin" and the "Tobacco Trust."
It is due to the people of the Commonwealth that a full explanation should be given by the Postal authorities as to how the matter stands between the Department and the contracting company. Whatever the position is now, Mr. Thomas has taken on the whole responsibility and is answerable to the people for the present confusion.
A telegram appeared in the "West Australian" only yesterday from Melbourne and it is evident that serious complications have developed between the Marconi and the other wireless companies. It seems that the Marconi Company have claimed that the others are infringing upon their patents; but Mr. Hughes says it will not cause any trouble or delay in the completion of the stations at Sydney and Fremantle under the Telefunken system. Therefore, the question might be pertinent - what interest, if any, has the Australian Wireless, Ltd. in the matter or are they out of it entirely?
Altogether it looks as if there may still he a great muddle over the matter which may lead to endless complications in the future in which the lawyers may be the only ones who will come out of it well satisfied and well paid for their work. If more than 90 percent of all the vessels fitted with the wireless system are using the Marconi, then why should the Commonwealth adopt the Telefunken? Even our own naval ships are fitted with the Marconi and the same system is installed on the vessels belonging to the P and O as well as the Orient ships. Then again, taking into account the complications which may arise in the near future, would it not have been cheaper in the end to adopt the system in almost general use?
There must be wireless stations established shortly all round the coastline of Australia and I trust that no more hideous blunders will be made by the Postmaster-General and the permanent head of that Department. Will Mr. Thomas please rise and explain.
Yours, etc., J. H. WILBUR.
Perth; July 14.