Grupp—Control of Public and other Clocks. AZ 
In working out the scheme above referred to, it seemed to me 
a pity, if such a perfect installation should be erected in a public 
building in the midst of a large city, that advantage could not be 
taken of it by those living or having their houses of business in 
the vicinity, and I therefore naturally looked about to see if I 
could find any system that would be free from the disadvantages 
of that which was tried and abandoned in Dublin and other 
cities. 
Having taken an active interest in the work of the Committee 
appointed by this Society to carry out the scheme of clock control 
in Dublin, I was fully aware that this scheme was only abandoned 
after most careful and searching investigation of all the various 
systems then available; I refer to a period about fifteen years ago. 
It then occurred to me that possibly the system of Wireless Tele- 
graphy, which has lately been raised from the sphere of a laboratory 
experiment to that of a practical achievement by the invention of 
Signor Marconi, might be utilized, and a little investigation has 
convinced me that his system is particularly well adapted for this 
purpose, and is free from all the disadvantages which caused the 
abandonment of the other systems. 
Looking back at the various failures we had in the old system, 
I find they may all be said to be due to one or other of three 
causes :— 
(1) Induced currents in the clock wires, mainly produced by 
currents in adjacent telegraph or telephone wires. 
(2) False currents, or failure of currents produced by short 
circuiting of the clock system, generally caused by 
telegraph line-men erecting or repairing adjacent 
wires, and drawing one wire over others, &c. 
(3) Failure of current owing to improper action of some of the 
users of the system. It not infrequently occurred that 
on failure of the current, it was found that some user 
had entirely disconnected his wires for the purpose of 
repairing his clock, thus disarranging the whole system. 
Now let us consider what effect these would have when using 
the “Marconi” system. 
(1) The nature of the high-frequeucy currents is such that 
they are not in any way affected by currents in adjacent wires. 
