1908] on Transatlantic Wireless Telegraphy. 129 



Moreover, long experience has served to bring their land-line con- 

 nections to a high state of perfection. Nevertheless, I am convinced 

 that if there were only one cable and the present wireless service, 

 interruptions would be more frequent and much more serious in the 

 case of the cable than in that of wireless. 



We have only to look towards those parts of the Globe, such as 

 India, South Africa, and so forth, where trans-oceanic communication 

 is dependent upon ouly one or two cables, and the force of my remarks 

 will be more readily appreciated. The cases of delay in regard, not 

 only to commercial messages, but also to Government despatches, are 

 only too frequent, as no doubt you have observed from time to time 

 in the daily press. 



Among many people there seems to be a rooted conviction that 

 wireless telegraphy is not suitable for the handling of code or cipher 

 messages. Whatever gave rise to this idea I do not know, but I wish 

 to emphasise that it is purely fictitious. Code messages can be sent 

 just as well by wireless as by ordinary methods of telegraphy. 



I need hardly say that most of the wireless messages passing 

 between war ships are now expressed in code, as are likewise the 

 majority of the commercial messages handled by the Clifden and 

 Cape Breton stations. 



I do not wish to claim that wireless telegraphy is infallible, and 

 although errors do sometimes occur, it is absolutely certain that, having 

 regard to the London and Montreal service, most of the mistakes 

 can be traced to the land-line telegraph transmission between London 

 and Clifden, and between Glace Bay and Montreal. 



I find, hoAvever, that probably the greatest ignorance prevails in 

 regard to what is termed " tapping," or intercepting wireless messages. 



No telegraph system is secret. The contents of every telegram 

 are known to every operator who handles it. 



It is incorrect to suppose that anyone can at will pick up wireless 

 messages. On the other hand, it is easy for anyone knowing the 

 Morse Code to step into many telegraph offices and read off the mes- 

 sages by the click of the instruments. 



Further, it is practicable, but illegal in this country, to make 

 arrangements so that messages which pass over a telegraph line can 

 be read by persons who are not operating the line at all. 



It is also expensive to erect a tall pole or tower and fix up all the 

 instruments which are necessary before wireless messages can be taken 

 in, and, moreover, such proceeding is contrary to the law of the land. 



It should be remembered, too, that any ordinary telegraph or 

 telephone wire can be tapped, and the conversation going through it 

 overheard, or its operation interfered with. Results published by Sir 

 William Preece show that it is possible to pick up at a distance, on 

 another circuit, the conversation which may be passing through a 

 telephone or telegraph wire. 



At Poldhu, on a telephone connected to a long horizontal wire, 



Vol. XIX. (No. 102) K 



