HC Deb 08 May 1912 vol 38 cc403-4
Mr. NORTON - GRIFFITHS

asked whether the legal advisers to the Crown have provided a Clause in the contract now being considered with the Marconi Company by which the Government shall not be precluded from taking up or controlling any other system of wireless telegraphy that might prove more efficient for long-distance transmission?

Mr. HERBERT SAMUEL

The contract with the Marconi Company will meet the contingency referred to by the hon. Member.

Mr. LYNCH

Will the right hon. Gentleman take into account that in various foreign countries, America, France, Germany, and Denmark, extensive experiments are now being made with a view to increasing the scope and accuracy of wireless telegraphy, and will he not tie down the Government without having considered the whole scope and possibilities of these inventions?

Mr. HERBERT SAMUEL

I appreciate my hon. Friend's contention, but if we are to wait until wireless telegraphy is absolutely perfected, we shall never be able to complete our Imperial wireless scheme. The Government are not tied down to any one system, and if, later on, any other system is found to be superior, it can be substituted for the earlier one.