To the Editor of the "Nortu-Cuina Datty News,"
Sir,—As each New Year comes alcag it brings with it many opinions and suggestions for better conditions, and I venture to say much time and money is spent and few results appear to have been gained. Now that a new era, 1923, has dawned, perhaps the general public may devote a little attention to the all important question of wireless telegraphy as a means of saving life at sea. Many ships on the China coast sai] from our ports daily with passengers and cargo and large numbers of coolies. Some of these ate very old ships, and some, quite modern ves+ sels. Yet these ships, with a very few exceptions, are without wireless. We have only to look back on the Hong Moh disaster to make ug think, and we need not' go so far as that. Take the Sui-An piracy, right in the midst of civilization; wireless would, without a doubt, have effected a great deal in both these cases.
For a very little extra expense to the shipowner, a most adequate set Of wireless is obtainable, and most certainly quite a number of efficient operators.
Tam quite aware of the fact that the Act of Parliament relative to wireless protection in Great Britain, both in the matter of equipment and personnel, provides that. only Class I vessels shall have full complement of capable, efficient, and fully qualified wireless operators on board, that only chips of 1,600 tons.and over may be equipped with wireless at all; while ships under that tonnage may roam the seas to the danger of all other vessels,.and lacking the means of communication, which renders them practically useless as aids to distant vessels in distress, to say nothing of the plight in which they may find themselves should a mishap befall them, What applies in China? There is no law to compel vessels to carry wireless, hence, disregard of human life and property. When will the public begin to realize that they have a say in the all important question of wireless?
The question of the efficiency of maritime wireless and the safety of life at sea, is essentially an. international one: which can.only be effectively dealt with by an_ international tribunal. © Will _international capitalism dea] with it effectively? No, it will not.
Nevertheless the great general public of China can, so far as concerns China, and I earnestly trust you will take the matter up. He that hesitates, whether a nation or an individual, is lost: now is the time, there are in our midst influential men, Europeans and Chinese, daily interested in shipping cargo and passengers, ete., in these ships: Let them speak before we learn more by bitter experience.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.