'File VII/1. Telegraphic Connection to Kuwait.' [‎264v] (558/574)

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failure, and that, to anyone who had practical experience of a telegraph office,
was a very serious matter. Another point about beam wireless was that it was not
secret, and it could not be made secret. Anybody could tap it, and it was subject
not only to atmospheric interference, but also to deliberate interference by other
beam wireless stations. But it had a place, and an undoubted place, in the future,
and with the reduction of tariffs we were arriving at a position in which the tele
graph would be used very largely to replace the ordinary letter mail ; but when
cable letters became cheap enough, he thought they would become the ordinary
means of communication, and when that extended there would be ample room for
both cables and wireless circuits throughout the world. One heard of the very
high speed obtained on wireless circuits, but in telegraphy very high speed was
often a nuisance unless it could be controlled. To get any single circuit pouring
in 2,000 letters a minute was a most harassing matter, because it could not be
dealt with ; and the importance of the new type of cable, known as the loaded
cable, was that one could get the high speed if one wanted it, but one got something
that was far more valuable, namely channels. The 2,000 words a minute was
divided into channels, each working in a separate circuit, and this got through
the traffic at a workable speed, which could be handled by four or five operators.
That was better than having the office loaded up with self-recording messages,
which would all have to be deciphered afterwards at hand speed, and could not
possibly be handled by any single operator.
Vice-Admiral H. W. Grant, C.B. (Joint Managing Director, Eastern Telegraph
Company) said it was a great honour to him to be invited to speak on Mr. Simpson’s-
lecture, and he would like to say a word or two about the Eastern Telegraph Com
pany and its associated Companies. Many people did not know what the Eastern
Company was, and he had taken the liberty of bringing a map which looked rather
like an advertisement. All the red lines shown on the map were the Eastern
Telegraph Company’s system.
He wished to congratulate his friend Mr. Maurice Simpson on his excellent
lecture. He had never been through the history of the Department before, and
was very grateful to Mr. Simpson for his historical survey. It was often a great
help in negotiations to realise what had happened in the past. He had only been
connected with the Eastern Telegraph Company for about nine years, but it was a
most absorbing business. The Company worked in close co-operation with the-
Indo-European system. Every three months there was a meeting of the Indian
Joint Purse Committee, consisting of the Eastern Telegraph Company, the Indo-
European 1 elegraph Company and the Indo-European Telegraph Department,
and the business never took more than half an hour. That showed how well a
commercial company could work in co-operation with a Government Department.
All those red lines shown on the map, going to all sorts of odd places, linked up
a great part of the world. Mr. Simpson had referred to the speed of messages,
which, at one time, was six days to India, and people were very pleased when it
came down to six hours. To Bombay at the present time the Eastern Company
was working—except for a short stretch at Suez, which was going to be altered to-
underground land lines—without anybody touching the message from London
right into Bombay. The button was pressed in London, and the message was
in Bombay in a second. That was rather wonderful, and had been brought about
by the ingenuity and splendid work of the staff of the Eastern Telegraph Company.
I he Company had a keen staff, who were always looking out for something better.
A few years ago he had been worried because they could not get the “ balances ,r