§ 15. Captain BERKELEYasked the Postmaster-General whether his Department is pursuing investigations into the. commercial possibilities of wireless telephony; and, if so, with what result?
§ Mr. HARTSHORNThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. A technical Committee, consisting of representatives from various European Administrations, has considered the question of European telephony, both by wire and wireless, and was of the opinion that the use of wireless telephony in the organisation of the European International system should not be resorted to except in cases when connection by wire was impracticable. This opinion was no doubt based not only upon the limited number of wave hands at present available to meet other demands for wireless communication, but also on the fact that wireless telephony at present compares unfavourably with line telephony in the matter of reliability, secrecy and cost. A Committee, presided over by Admiral Sir Henry Jackson, was appointed by my predecessor last year to consider the possibility of trans-Atlantic wireless telephony for commercial uses, and that Committee is now engaged in making the necessary investigations.
§ Captain BERKELEYIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that investigations are being pursued by Signor Marconi with what is called beam transmission? Will the Department take care that any dis- 720 coveries in that direction are made available as early as possible for commercial use in this country?
§ Mr. HARTSHORNI will inquire into that.