February' 1 19. 1903 



NA TURE 



0/ 



lying about for twelve hours. I think it would have been 

 much more discourteous to the King to have kept his 

 message waiting for a day than it was to send it by cable." 



It seems, therefore, that the King, having- sent his 

 reply to the London office of the Wireless Telegraph 

 Company, the company could not send it on to Poldhu 

 for transmission to America on account of the fact that 

 it was impossible at night to wire from London to 

 Poldhu : thev were compelled, in consequence, to send 

 the message* by cable, the cable companies possessing 

 the advantage of a direct connection between the Post 

 Office lines and the shore ends of their cables. It is a 

 similar connection for which the Marconi Company 

 asks and offers to pay, but which the Post Office de- 

 clines to grant. 



In these circumstances it is not surprising that Mr. 

 Marconi's feelings towards the Post Office are rather 

 bitter, and that he proposes to make no further addi- 

 tions to the Poldhu Station until the authorities have 

 decided what they intend to do. He now proposes to 

 go to Italy and build a huge station there, 

 probablv at Rome, partly, no doubt, because, as he 

 says, " Abroad I can get everything- I want. Here 

 in England I can get nothing." This is a little sweep- 

 ing, for all England has not been so backward in sup- 

 porting Mr. Marconi's enterprise as the officials of the 

 Post Office. The attitude of the Post Office, however, 

 certainly seems inexcusable, and we do not see by what 

 reasonable arguments it can be supported. It has been 

 urged that, until Mr. Marconi has been able to convince 

 a jury of Government officials and independent experts 

 that his system is capable of satisfying stringent tests 

 of trustworthiness for a definite period under definite 

 conditions, the Post Office is full}' justified in withhold- 

 ing its recognition and support. This argument seems 

 to us unsound. If the Post Office is not satisfied that 

 Transatlantic wireless telegraphy is trustworthy, let 

 it, by all means, send its own messages by cable ; 

 but is this any reason why the man in the street — or the 

 King — who wishes to benefit by any advantages in 

 tariff or otherwise, which the Marconi Company may 

 offer, and who is willing to run the risk of his message 

 getting lost on the way, or read by Mr. Maskelyne at 

 Porthcurnow, should be denied the necessary facilities? 

 Or is it any reason why the more enlightened Govern- 

 ments of Canada and the United States should be 

 penalised by having their messages delayed, as we sup- 

 pose must now occur if they arrive by night? 



It seems to us that the correct thing for the Post 

 Office to do is to grant the Wireless Telegraph Co. 

 the facilities for which it asks without delay, lest the 

 Post Office be accused, with some justice, of blocking 

 the progress of an enterprise of great promise. Whether 

 Transatlantic wireless telegraphy will prove of commer- 

 cial value or not time will show; the shareholders may 

 be relied upon to put an end to it soon enough if it 

 neither pays nor gives prospect of paying. Should it, 

 as some sanguine people think, prove better than the 

 submarine cable, and ultimately supplant it, the cable 

 companies will have to suffer that the world at large 

 may gain ; it will not be the first time in history that 

 the old order has given place to the new. But none of 

 these questions, commercial or technical, seems to us 

 to be the concern of the Post Office, which should only 

 desire to facilitate a new means of communication in 

 which, rightly or wrongly, a large portion of the 

 general public have considerable confidence. 



In the meantime, the development of wireless tele- 

 graphy progresses rapidly in other directions, and 

 especially in the direction in which we have always 

 maintained it would be most serviceable, namely, in 

 increasing the safety and relieving the monotony of 

 travelling by sea. Reports are continually appearing 

 in the papers of ships communicating with one another, 



NO. 1738, VOL. 67] 



or with the shore, for some time prior to their arrival. 

 Reuter's Agency has been experimenting in trans- 

 mitting news to ships, and last week the Minneapolis, 

 thirty-six hours before its arrival, was put in possession 

 of all the latest news,, much to the satisfaction of the 

 passengers. Reuter's Agency, it is said, looks forward 

 to the time when it will be able to maintain a daily 

 news service right across the Atlantic. The day. is 

 possibly not far distant when it will be possible for all 

 ships to keep in constant communication with land, 

 and if this result is attained, wireless telegraphy will 

 have scored a great and lasting success; but. to derive 

 the greatest benefit from such an achievement in this, 

 as in the Transatlantic service, the Post Office must 

 cooperate and not oppose progress. We trust someone 

 will ask Mr. Balfour if it is the intention of the Govern- 

 ment to bar all scientific progress. 



Maurice Solomon. 



THE CONSTITUTION OF THE NEW 



EDUCATION COMMITTEES. 



\ 7ARIOUS applications have been made to the 



* Board of Education for suggestions with respect 

 to the constitution of education committees under the 

 new Education Act, and the framing of schemes for 

 the purpose. With a view to assist councils who have 

 not as yet framed schemes for themselves and desire 

 assistance, the Board of Education issued on February 

 12 a memorandum making suggestions as to the main 

 matters which should be provided for by the scheme. 

 The Act itself lays it down that every scheme shall 

 provide for the appointment by the council of at least 

 a majority of the committee, and the persons so 

 appointed shall be persons who are members of the 

 council, unless, in the case of a county, the council 

 shall otherwise determine; for the appointment by the 

 council, on the nomination or recommendation, where 

 it appears desirable, of other bodies (including associ- 

 ations of voluntary schools), or persons of experience 

 in education, and of persons acquainted with the needs 

 of the various kinds of schools in the area for which 

 the council acts ; for the inclusion of women, as well 

 as men, among the members of the committee; and 

 for the appointment, if desirable, of members of school 

 boards existing at the time of the passing of the Edu- 

 cation Act as members of the first committee. 



The memorandum referred to contains a model 

 scheme, which goes a long way towards elucidating 

 what, in the opinion of the Board of Education, is to 

 be understood exactly by the words " nomination or 

 recommendation " in'the Act. This part of the model 

 scheme reads as follows : — 



Nominated members, one nominated by each of the follow- 

 ing bodies, e.g. : — 



The council of the University of ; 



Recommended members, one recommended by each of the 

 following bodies, e.g. : — 



The Chamber of Commerce of ; 



The Agricultural Society of ; 



The Association of ; 



The Governing Body of the ; 



An electing body consisting of 



Members appointed after consultation with : — 



The 



It is of great importance that the Board of Educa- 

 tion appears to contemplate that the right of nomin- 

 ation will belong to universities alone, while other 

 associations and institutions can merely recommend 

 persons for appointment by the council. Moreover, the 

 memorandum refers to the representation of the in- 

 terests of University education, and as we believe this 

 is the first time in which the work of Universities has 

 been mentioned as coming within the sphere of the Act, 

 it is important to direct particular attention to this point. 



