August 5, 1922] 



NA TURE 



197 



requires more money than the International Union 

 can provide, and a finance committee was appointed 

 to allocate such funds as are available to those com- 

 missions the needs of which seem to justify the 

 expenditure the most. It will be a case of the sur- 

 vival of the fittest, and the members of the finance 

 committee, Messrs. Fraser (U.S.A.), Bertrand 

 (France), Pomilio (Italy), and Miall (England) are 

 not likely to be very popular with the. members of the 

 various commissions. 



M. Kestner presided over the commission on inter- 

 national patents, a difficult problem which admits 

 of no speed}- solution. He has a plan for dealing 

 with some of the defects of the existing system but 

 proposes no universal panacea for all the inventors' 

 troubles. Those who are interested ill this thorny 

 question might well communicate with him or the 

 Societe de Chimie Industrielle in Paris. 



Interesting papers on purely scientific subjects 

 were read by Profs. Perrin and Vignon. 



Owing to the inability of some of the members to 

 visit Lyons at this time the important Committee 

 on the Elements which replaces the old International 

 Committee on Atomic Weights did not meet. It is 

 now meeting or has just met in Paris, and an 

 authoritative list of atomic weights, isotopes, and 



other such data should be issued at a suitable interval 

 after that meeting. 



The Union elected as president for the ensuing three 

 years Sir William Pope, and as vice-presidents for the 

 same period Profs. Bancroft, Paterno, Billmann, and 

 Votocek. It is probable that two additional vice- 

 presidents will in due course be elected also, a proposal 

 which is necessitated by the growing number of the 

 countries concerned in the Union. 



The next meeting will be held in Cambridge in the 

 latter part of next June, and a considerable effort 

 will be made to render this meeting one of real 

 chemical importance. The French, who have been 

 very prominent in the early stages of the Union, 

 have done such good work in very difficult circum- 

 stances that it is felt that the English must, to 

 maintain the tradition now that things are becom- 

 ing a little easier, play their part in a manner which 

 will be worthy of the ancient University which offers 

 its hospitality and of the new president who will 

 direct the proceedings of the meeting. 



It is quite likely that the Society of Chemical 

 Industry will hold its annual meeting next year in 

 Cambridge immediately after the meeting of the 

 International Union and a considerable migration 

 of British and foreign chemists may be expected. 



Radio Broadcasting in Great Britain. 



"P)ISAPPOINTMENT has been expressed at the 

 *-J delay in introducing radio broadcasting, 

 arrangements for the establishment of which have 

 been under discussion for some time past by the 

 Postmaster-General and manufacturers of radio 

 apparatus. The necessity, however, for the most 

 careful and thorough examination of all aspects of 

 the question is best illustrated by considering the 

 present position of broadcasting in the United States. 

 Radio broadcasting was commenced by the Westing- 

 house Electric and Manufacturing Co., for the informa- 

 tion and entertainment of the public. Their success, 

 however, produced a host of imitators, and broad- 

 casting stations were established indiscriminately, 

 some privately and some publicly owned. Oniy 

 during the last few weeks has the United States 

 Government taken action to co-ordinate and control 

 indiscriminate transmission from radio - telephonic 

 stations. When two broadcasting stations send out 

 messages at approximately the same wave-length 

 the electrical waves interfere with each other and the 

 listener hears the conversation of two people speaking 

 at the same time. It is not surprising to learn that 

 the absence of a co-ordinating authority in the 

 United States has resulted in a service which is un- 

 satisfactory to the public owing to the lack of general 

 agreement as to hours of operation, wave-lengths 

 employed, and the character of broadcasted matter. 



The British Government has wisely and properly 

 decided that broadcasting licences will not be issued 

 until those interested in carrying out this work are 

 agreed on a scheme which will ensure, in the first 

 place, efficiency and continuity of broadcasting, and, 

 in the second place, agreement respecting hours of 

 working, wave-lengths, number and location of 

 stations, etc. Only in this way can confusion be 

 prevented. Furthermore, the Government desires 

 to prevent the broadcasting of advertising matter, 

 in addition to having to safeguard the interests of 

 newspapers and news agencies, Army, Navy, and Air 

 Force work, commercial radio-telegraphy, etc. 



We understand that about twenty manufacturers 

 applied to the Postmaster-General for leave to 

 broadcast, and during the preliminary discussions it 

 became evident that the erection, equipment, main- 



tenance, and operation of a proper broadcasting 

 station costs approximately 20,000/. per annum. A 

 number of manufacturers therefore intimated their 

 desire to abandon the idea of broadcasting, while 

 about six of the strongest electrical concerns in the 

 country interested in radio developments are prepared 

 to continue. The manufacturers appointed a sub- 

 committee to draft a scheme, and this committee 

 reached agreement on all the main features of a 

 broadcasting system for Great Britain. They were, 

 however, unable to put forward an agreed scheme 

 for one company to undertake broadcasting. It is 

 now understood that the manufacturers have divided 

 themselves into two groups, each of which is proceed- 

 ing to form a broadcasting company, with one or 

 other of which all manufacturers of radio apparatus 

 would be associated. At the same time the Post- 

 master-General has intimated his willingness to give 

 a licence to each of these companies to operate stations. 

 The two groups between them undertake to establish 

 a sufficient number of stations to serve the whole 

 country. There will probably be one station belong- 

 ing to each group in London and seven other stations 

 distributed throughout Great Britain, divided between 

 the two groups by mutual arrangement or, if agree- 

 ment is not reached, by allocation of the Postmaster- 

 General. 



There is little doubt that details of working arrange- 

 ments between these two groups will shortly be settled, 

 and that broadcasting will be established on a basis 

 which will give efficient and continuous service to 

 the public without the hopeless confusion and lack 

 of adequate control evident in the United States. 



If each of the above nine stations is to have an 

 annual cost of about 20,000/. per annum, the two 

 broadcasting groups have to contemplate an outlay 

 of 180,000/. per annum. In order to assist the groups 

 in securing an adequate return for this enormous 

 outlay, it has been suggested to the Postmaster-General 

 that a portion of the licence fees paid by users of 

 receiving sets should be returned to the broadcasting 

 groups. The groups represent between them the 

 whole of the manufacturers of radio apparatus in 

 this country, and their constitution is such that a 

 genuine manufacturer must be admitted if he so 



NO. 2753, VOL. I io] 



