RECENT ADVANCES IN WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. 141 



The reason for this is to be attributed to the fact that, owing 

 to the support and encouragement of the Canadian government, the 

 station at Cape Breton had been more efficiently and more expen- 

 sively equipped ; whilst as regards Poldhu. owing to the uncertainty 

 as to what would be the attitude of the British Government at that 

 time toward the working of the station, the author's company was 

 unwilling to expend large sinns of mone}^ for the purpose of increas- 

 ing its range of transmission. 



As, however, messages were sent with ease and accuracy from 

 Canada to England, the author considered it his duty to send the 

 first messages to their Majesties the Kings of England and Italy, 

 both of whom had previously given him much encouragement and 

 assistance in his work. The author was thus enabled to announce 

 that the transmission of telegraphic messages across the Atlantic 

 Ocean without the use of cable or wire was an accomplished fact. 

 Messages were also sent to His Majesty from Lord Minto, the Gov- 

 ernor-General of Canada, who had taken a considerable interest in 

 the author's early experiments in Canada. Officers delegated by the 

 Italian Government and a representative of the London Times Avere 

 present at the transmission of the messages, and over 2,000 words 

 were sent and correctly received in the presence of these Government 

 delegates. 



Further tests were then carried out at the long-distance station 

 erected at Cape Cod, in the United States of America, and a message 

 from President Roosevelt was successfully transmitted from this 

 station to His Majesty the King. 



In the spring of 1903 the transmission of news messages from 

 America to the London Times was attempted, and the first messages 

 were correctly received and published in that newspaper. A break- 

 down in the insulation of the apparatus at Cape Breton made it 

 necessary, however, to suspend the service, and, unfortunately, further 

 accidents made the transmission of messages unreliable, especially 

 during the spring and summer. In consequence of this, the author's 

 company decided not to attempt the transmission of any more public 

 messages until such time as a reliable and continuous service could be 

 maintained and guaranteed under all ordinary conditions. 



It is curious to note that the transmission of messages across the 

 Atlantic appeared to be much easier during the winter months of 

 December, January, and February than during the spring and sum- 

 mer, but no serious difficulties were encountered before April. These 

 were partly caused by the insulation of the aerial not being so good 

 during the damp spring weather, when the snow and ice are melting 

 and thawing, as at this period the insulation is much more difficult 

 to maintain in an efficient condition than during the dry and crisp 

 Canadian winter. 



