History of wireless telegraphy and broadcasting in Australia/Topical/Biographies/John Hesketh/Notes

John Hesketh - Transcriptions and notes.
Key article copies.
More detailed advice of Hesketh appointment with brief biography and duty statement
COLONIAL INTERESTS. (By Cable Message.) QUEENSLAND ELECTRICAL ENGINEER. LONDON, April 15. Mr. Hesketh, the electrical engineer to the Borough of Blackpool, has been appointed electrical engineer, to the Queensland Government. He sails for Queensland by the R.M.S. Jumna. On inquiry from the Postmaster-General, we learn that Mr. John Hesketh was selected from amongst seventy-five applications received from various parts of the United Kingdom, America, and the Continent. The applications were dealt with by the Agent-General, under the advice of Sir Thomas McIlwraith and that of Mr. W. H. Preece, Englneer-in-Chief and Electrician to the Government Department, London. Mr. Hesketh, be-sides being electrical engineer to the Borough of Blackpool, Lancashire, is a member of the newly-formed Municipal Electrical Association, and one of the Executive Committee for the first annual convention to be held in London under the auspices of the association on 10th June next. Queensland has now something like 10,000 miles of electrical line, and nearly 18,000 miles of wire, with 365 telegraph stations In operation, besides several telephone exchanges and a number of short cable systems. It has been felt by the Postmaster-General for some time past that the services of a thoroughly trained electrical engineer were necessary, to advise the Government on a number of points, and to supervise the valuable plant belonging to the colony, and accordingly the sum of £300 was placed on the current year's Estimates as six months' salary for an electrical engineer, at £600 per annum. Applications were invited, as above stated, and it is believed that the Government have secured a first-class officer. His duties, as described in the advertisement, are:— To advise the department upon all matters connected with the telegraph, telephone, and cable systems, the purchase and testing of all material, the introduction of new and improved methods or instruments, the training of officers, and generally on the economical working of the service. He will also be required to advise the Government upon all questions relating to electric lighting and motive power, whether the installation be by the Government, or by municipal authorities, or by private companies.
Biography and future plan of action for Hesketh from "Queensland Electric Telegraph Gazette,"
SKETCHER. The Government Electrical Engineer. The recent arrival of Mr. John Hesketh, A.M.I.C.E., M.I.I.E., marks an important stage of the development of the electric telegraph system in Queensland. The pressing need for the adoption of the most advanced and economical methods of working in order to reduce the cost of maintaining telegraphic communication through the immense area under their control, as well as the prospect of wider use of electricity as a lighting and motive power, induced the Government to seek the assistance of an electrical engineer of undoubted ability and experience in the headquarters of electrical science, with the result that Mr. John Hesketh was chosen for the position out of seventy applicants by Mr. W. H. Preece, an electrician whose world-wide fame makes his opinion the most valuable that could be obtained, and his recommendation at once decided the Government to offer to Mr. Hesketh the post of Government Electrical Engineer in Queensland. From the last issue of the "Queensland Electric Telegraph Gazette," to which we are also indebted for the loan of the portrait block here published, we take the subjoined particulars of Mr. Hesketh's professional career:— Mr. John Hesketh joined the postal telegraph service in the year 1880, and was stationed at Lancashire. He was transferred to Newcastle three years later. It was due to the progress he had made that he was here transferred to the testing branch. In this city he had the advantage of the science training at the Science School and the Durham College of Science. He was still in the testing branch when the first trials were made in high speed working; and, as test clerk, frequently had the adjusting and working of instru-ments when a speed of 600 words per minute was attained. The trial of copper wire for telegraphic purposes was also made between Newcastle and London while he was test clerk at the former place. Desiring other fields to conquer, the subject of our sketch joined the Engineering Department under Mr. Heaviside. Having now greater scope for his abilities, he organised and taught technological classes in telegraphy, telephony, and submarine mining. The telephone system was, about this time, in course of alteration, and Mr. Hesketh was fortunate enough to see all the transition work from the old system to the new multiple system. He appears to have had an insatiable desire to keep abreast of modern improvements and inventions in his profession, and took part in the first trials of the Synchronous Multiplex. He left the engineering branch of the Telegraph Department to join the Electrical Supply Company, still under Mr. Heaviside as consulting engineer. He remained with this company from the commencement of their works in 1889 until August, 1892, when he was appointed electrical engineer to the Blackpool Corporation. Whilst occupying this position, he organised and carried out the whole of the admirable electric lighting system of this borough, with extensions, and for a time had the working of the electrical tramways under his control. Mr. Hesketh joined the Institute of Electrical Engineers in the year 1890; and that of the Civil Engineers in 1895, having the honour of being proposed for the latter society by Lord Kelvin, the jubilee of whose professorship was recently celebrated by the University of Glasgow. On the formation of the Northern Society of Electrical Engineers, in which Mr. Hesketh assisted, he became a member of its council, and read the first paper. He was also elected a member of the council of the Municipal Electrical Association, for the first annual convention of which society, recently held, he also wrote a paper. The Electrical Engineer commenced the duties of his new position by issuing the first few of a series of technical instructions. His attention has also been engaged with the Electric Lighting Bill now before Parliament. He has Initiated a fresh system of testing, which came into operation last month, and is carried out daily on all lines terminating in Brisbane. Needless to say, many rumours are current concerning alterations alleged to have been recommended by the Eleotrical Engineer. This we do know: He abhors the sight of an ink-writer and considers no operator expert unless he is better at sound than sight reading. Therefore, we may hope before long to take our proper place in the ranks of the telegraph world by dispensing with those aids to inaccuracy and inefficiency. (Photo Caption Start) Mr. John Hesketh, A.M.I.C.E., M.I.E.E., Electrical Engineer to the Queensland Government. (Photo Caption End)
1890s.
1895.
1895 07.
Provision made by Queensland Government for salary of an electrical engineer for 6 months
ESTIMATES FOB 1895-6. PROBABLE WAYS AND MEANS. . . . POSTMASTER-GENERAL. The estimate under the head of Postmaster-General has been reduced from £307,059 for 1894-5 to £295,235 for 1895-6, or a total reduction of £11,824. There has been an increase under the head of salaries of £14,606. The office of an electrical engineer for six months at a yearly salary of £600 has been provided for, and the increase also includes £5446, items hitherto paid out of contingencies, by the Savings Bank for country branches, and out of the vote for country post offices. The balance of the increase is made up by increased salaries and salaries to extra officials, who total seven more than those of the previous year. The item conveyance of mails is reduced by £20,600. Of that sum £19,800 is accounted for by the disappearance of the vote for mail service, via Torres Straits, which now figures in the Treasury estimates. The cost of conveyance of mails via Adelaide and San Francisco has been reduced from £12,500 to £11,600, while the gratuities to masters of vessels conveying mails has been increased by £100. There has been a reduction under the head of miscellaneous services of £5800. Tha following are the reductions:— Country post offices and receiving offices, £2500; mail bags, instruments, horse feed, uniforms, overtime, &amp;c., £2000; fuel, light, and water, £300; stores and stationery, £1000. In the meteorological branch there has been a reduction of £30.
Explaining the need for engagement of an expert electrical engineer
Budget Speech. By Colonial Treasurer. Legislative Assembly. Yesterday Afternoon. In the Legislative Assembly yesterday afternoon, the Colonial Treasurer delivered the annual financial statement. Mr. Nelson, who was cheered on rising, said:— Mr. Annear,— Hon. members will no doubt have accepted the fact of the financial statement being made this year in Committee of Suppiy as a notice that no change is contemplated in our ways and means or otherwise in respect to our mode of raising revenue, whether by Customs or Excise. We have had a fairly prosperous year, and there are unmistakable indications of a satisfactory expansion in our general trade and commerce; but I think it would be premature to jump at any precipitate conclusion that we are therefore in a position to justify us in making any radical changes in our present fiscal system. (Mr. Glassey: "Hear, hear; quite right.") We are not yet so far out of the wood that we can begin to halloo, and it seems to me that the polioy we have pursued for the last three years, and which, I may say, has been almost forced upon us by the exigencies of the times — namely, that of strict and careful supervision of our finances, is one that is still imperatively required. I consider that it is sound finance in the existing circumstances of the colony to disturb as little as possible the fiscal arrangements which, so far, have enabled us at any rate to square our revenue and expenditure. Theoretically taxes are imposed for one year only, but it has been discovered that to revise and make changes in our Customs revenue every year would be so disastrous to the trade of the country that that theory has long been out of practice. The interests of the commercial community are considered of greater importance than the mere carrying out of a theory; accordingly it has become the established practice to allow taxation to remain undisturbed until the interests of the colony absolutely require some alteration. I trust, therefore, that the committee will agree with me that for the present our best course is to let well alone. Many suggestions have been laid before me as to how the Customs tariff might be improved, and I am free to admit that it contains some anomalies. I have carefully noted all the amendments that have been laid before me, and when the time arrives for a thorough revision of our fiscal policy they will be duly presented to the committee. Another reason weighs forcibly with me in regard to this matter — that is, the uncertainty of the action that may be taken in the mother colony, where an almost complete reversal of the existing Customs tariff is at this moment hanging in the balance — (Mr. Reid: "It is settled now.") — and it occurs to me that it may be as well to patiently wait until our next Parliament meets before we take any steps in the way of important changes. It may, on the one hand, be necessary for us in our own interests to protect our own trade, or, on the other hand, if a liberal policy is pursued in New South Wales, to do our best to reciprocate with our neighbour. (Labour members: "Hear, hear.") REVENUE ESTIMATES FOR 1894-5 AND RESULTS. Leaving that subject for the present, I shall now, in pursuance of the course which is usually adopted, take a short review of our transactions during the year which closed at the end of last month. Let us first, therefore, compare the revenue which was estimated for that year with the receipts that were actually realised. I need not trouble the committee with minute details upon this subject, as they will find it set forth in the first of the Treasury tables, but it may be as well to refer to one or two of the most prominent features connected with this view of the case, in order that we may see in what particulars the forecast of last year has or has not been realised. The total amount estimated for the year 1894-5 as available revenue was £3,350,086. The actual receipts amounted to £3,413,172, showing that our anticipations were not only fulfilled but were exceeded by the sum of £63,086; the principal increases being in the following items, namely:— Customs, which shows a surplus over the estimate of £44,662, and over the receipts of the previous year of £59,023. Railways were estimated to give us £936,680; they actually produced £977,289, showing a surplus over the estimate of £40,639, and over last year's actual receipts of £46,236. There appears also in the matter of excise an increase over the estimate of £16,015, but as the excise upon tobacco was imposed by the House subsequent to the framing of the estimates, and as the rough estimate of revenue to be derived from that additional impost was stated at £15,000, you will observe that the estimate and the actual receipts come very near to each other. Taking the receipts in the gross you will find that the amount actually paid into the Treasury exceeds the receipts of the previous year by £180,565. On the other hand, one or two of our sources of revenue did not come up to the actual receipts of the previous year, notably our territorial revenue, which fell short by the sum of £20,249; the miscellaneous receipts also show a decrease of £40,794, the gross decreases from all sources of revenue being £110,461. . . . Electrical Engineer. There are now in use in Queensland over 10,000 miles of telegraph line, with about 18,000 miles of wire, besides several short submarine cables, and six telephone exchanges. While it is undoubtedly desirable that every facility which the country can afford should be given for telegraphic communication over our large territory, successive Governments have felt embarrassed in their desire for its extension by the want of elasticity in telegraph returns. The rates upon messages are low, considering the great distance for which they may be transmitted; but it is not from any scheme of increased rates that improvement is to be looked for. It is rather from a wider extension of our telegraph system, with more economical methods of management and the introduction of apparatus and material of the most approved quality, that we can anticipate much improvement in that branch of revenue. It is in the hope that, by a thorough examination of our present system by a competent electrical engineer, and by the introduction of some less expensive but equally efficient method of working, the colony may without undue strain upon the revenue, be enabled to extend the existing lines to a larger number of settlements, that the Government now propose to secure the services of a suitable officer for the purpose, and provision has been made on the estimates accordingly
Hesketh neither recruited nor landed, but already being lined up for tasks
COMMUNICATION WITH CAPE MORETON. Mr. Nelson stated with regard to telegraphic communication with Cape Moreton that it had been decided to adopt the route recommended by the department, which is as follows:— From Cleveland a new submarine cable of the best type, with a core specially protected from the attacks, of the toredo and other destructive marine insects by a brass taping, which has been ordered from England, will be laid direct to Dunwich. This, in addition to the existing cable from Cleveland to Dunwich, via Peel Island, will provide duplicate cables from the mainland to Dunwich. Thence there will be the existing land line to Amity Point, which has already been put in good order. From Amity Point to Moreton Island there are duplicate cables, both in good working order. On Moreton Island the line now on the beach, which has caused from its exposed position so much trouble during heavy weather, and has been the cause of the frequent interruptions that have been complained of, will be removed further inland, a suitable route having been found through sheltered country. The line on Moreton Island will be built with iron poles to resist the bush fires that so frequently prevail during the summer, and a suitable copper wire will be used, possessing greater conductivity, and not subject to deterioration from exposure to saline influences. It has been estimated that the cost of those improvements will not exceed £3500. (If, as stated by the Treasurer in a subsequent portion of his speech, the Government propose to appoint an electrical engineer, it might be desirable, in view of the very conflicting opinions regarding this line, to get a report from that officer before proceeding with the work.— Ed.)
1896.
1896 04.
Apparent first announcement of appointment of John Hesketh as Qld Electrical Engineer
A Queensland Appointment. LONDON, April 15.— Mr. Hesketh, the electrical engineer of the borough of Blackpool, Lancashire, has been appointed engineer to the Queensland Government, and will sail for Brisbane in the Royal Mail steamer Jumna.
More detailed advice of Hesketh appointment with brief biography and duty statement
COLONIAL INTERESTS. (By Cable Message.) QUEENSLAND ELECTRICAL ENGINEER. LONDON, April 15. Mr. Hesketh, the electrical engineer to the Borough of Blackpool, has been appointed electrical engineer, to the Queensland Government. He sails for Queensland by the R.M.S. Jumna. On inquiry from the Postmaster-General, we learn that Mr. John Hesketh was selected from amongst seventy-five applications received from various parts of the United Kingdom, America, and the Continent. The applications were dealt with by the Agent-General, under the advice of Sir Thomas McIlwraith and that of Mr. W. H. Preece, Englneer-in-Chief and Electrician to the Government Department, London. Mr. Hesketh, be-sides being electrical engineer to the Borough of Blackpool, Lancashire, is a member of the newly-formed Municipal Electrical Association, and one of the Executive Committee for the first annual convention to be held in London under the auspices of the association on 10th June next. Queensland has now something like 10,000 miles of electrical line, and nearly 18,000 miles of wire, with 365 telegraph stations In operation, besides several telephone exchanges and a number of short cable systems. It has been felt by the Postmaster-General for some time past that the services of a thoroughly trained electrical engineer were necessary, to advise the Government on a number of points, and to supervise the valuable plant belonging to the colony, and accordingly the sum of £300 was placed on the current year's Estimates as six months' salary for an electrical engineer, at £600 per annum. Applications were invited, as above stated, and it is believed that the Government have secured a first-class officer. His duties, as described in the advertisement, are:— To advise the department upon all matters connected with the telegraph, telephone, and cable systems, the purchase and testing of all material, the introduction of new and improved methods or instruments, the training of officers, and generally on the economical working of the service. He will also be required to advise the Government upon all questions relating to electric lighting and motive power, whether the installation be by the Government, or by municipal authorities, or by private companies.
As previous, a few further details
Electrical Engineer. Hesketh for Queensland. London, April 16. Mr. Hesketh, electrical engineer for the borough of Blackpool, has been appointed electrical engineer to the Queensland Government. He sails for Brisbane by the B.I.S.N. Company's steamer Jumna on May 21. Provision was made in the estimates last year for the appointment, with a salary of £600 a year, and applications were invited for the position. There were 70 applications, and the Agent-General was instructed to act. The Government have received a cable confirming our message.
1896 05.
Hesketh departs England, further details of background and duties
Electrical Engineer. Passenger by the Jumna. Duties of the New Officer. Projected New Telegraph Lines. Mr. John Hesketh, who has just been appointed electrical engineer of the Post and Telegraph Department, an office for which provision was made in the estimates last session, left London by the Jumna on May 20, and will arrive in Brisbane towards the end of June or the beginning of July. Mr. Hesketh, who has for some time held the post of borough engineer at Blackpool, the noted Lancashire watering place, where a very efficient electric lighting system is in operation, was chosen for the Queensland Government by Mr. Preece, of the London office, in conjunction with the acting Agent-General, and the appointment was notified by cable some few days ago. It is the intention of the Government to proceed next session with the bill promised some time ago to place control of electric lighting and power in the hands of the department. The duties of the electrical engineer, who will be an officer of the Post and Telegraph Department, will be chiefly to advise the department upon all matters connected with the telegraph, telephone, and cable systems, the purchase and testing of materials, the introduction of new or improved methods or instruments, the training of officers, and generally in the economical working of the service. Mr. Hesketh will also be required to advise the Government upon all questions relating to electric lighting and motive power, whether the installation be by the Government, or by municipal authorities, or by private companies or persons. He will not be at liberty to practise as an engineer privately except with the consent of the Postmaster-General. A clause in the Civil Service Act provides against outside practice absolutely, in the event of a second consulting engineer establishing in the city. From the report of a discussion by the Institute of Northern Engineers, which we have seen, Mr. Hesketh appears to enjoy a high reputation amongst his confreres.
As previous, further detail
The Courier's London correspondent writes as follows:— I hand you some particulars of the career of Mr. John Hesketh, borough electrical engineer, Blackpool, who has been appointed to the Queensland Government. Mr. Hesketh's qualifications are exceptionally high. Blackpool was the first town to adopt electrical trams in England and public arc-lighting, and has now the largest provincial installation of arc-lightning and private supply in the kingdom. Mr. Hesketh has been there four years, having complete charge of the whole system during that time. He has had fifteen years' experience in the practical application of electricity in the Telegraph and Telephone Department at Newcastle, with submarine mining in the Tyne division of the Royal Engineers. Mr. Hesketh is 29 years of age, and is A.M.I.C.E., M.I.E.E., and member of council of the Northern Society of Electrical Engineers, and member of the council of Municipal Electrical Engineers. Your Government electrical engineer has just been married, and proceeds to Queensland by the Jumna, sailing in May. His salary is to be £600 a year for three years, with travelling expenses, and right of private practice, with the permission of the Postmaster-General.
Mostly duplicates previous but with some omitted details
The London correspondent of the Brisbane Courier writes as follows:— "I hand you some particulars of the career of Mr. John Hesketh, borough electrical engineer, Blackpool, who has been appointed electrical engineer to the Queensland Government. Mr. Hesketh's qualifications are exceptionally high. Blackpool was the first town to adopt electrical trams in England and public arc-lighting, and has now the largest provincial installation of arc-lighting and private supply in the kingdom. Mr. Hesketh has been there four years, having complete charge of the whole system during that time. He has had fifteen years' experience in the practical application of electricity in the Telegraph and Telephone Department at Newcastle, with submarine mining in the Tyne division of the Royal Engineers. Mr. Hesketh is twenty-nine years of age, and is A.M.I.C.E. M.I.EE., and member of council of the Northern Society of Electrical Engineers, and member of the council of Municipal Electrical Engineers. Your Government electrical engineer has just been married, and proceeds to Queensland by the Jumna, sailing in May. His salary is to be £600 a year for three years with travelling expenses, and right of private practice, with the permission of the Postmaster-General." The British Australasian says there were upwards of seventy-five applications for the position and describes Mr. Hesketh as "a gentleman of considerable attainments and wide experience in his profession."
1896 07.
Hesketh presentation by the Electric Lighting Committee of the Blackpool Corporation
QUEENSLAND ELECTRICAL ENGINEER. Mr. J. Hesketh, A.M.I.C.E., M.I.E.E., who left London by the steamer Jumna to take up his new appointment as electrical engineer to the Queensland Government, was, prior to his departure, presented with a handsome album by the Electric Lighting Committee of the Blackpool Corporation. The address to Mr. Hesketh is as follows:— "Dear sir, the members of the Electric Lighting Committee of the Corporation of Blackpool offer you their united congratulations upon your appointment as electrical engineer to the Government of Queensland, and at the same time express their sincere regret at your consquent resignation of the position of resident electrical engineer for the Borough of Blackpool, to which you were appointed in the month of July, 1892. During your tenure of office the electricity works of the corporation have been both commenced and enlarged, and the installation of the electric light for public and private purposes in the borough has been inaugurated and very greatly increased. The members of the committee, on the termination of your engagement with the corporation, desire to express their appreciation of your efforts and labour in their service, and of your general courtesy towards themselves personally. They also hope you may have a successful career in Queensland, and that Mrs. Hesketh and yourself may long enjoy health and happiness."
Captain Saunders provides report of the progress of the RMS Jumna from London to Brisbane
Q.R.M.S. Jumna. Arrival in Brisbane. Captain Saunders reports that "the Q.R.M.S. Jumna left the Royal Albert Docks, London, at 5 p.m. on May 20. Discharged the channel pilot off the Isle of Wight on May 21. Experienced fine weather across the Bay of Biscay and Mediteranean. Arrived at Port Said on June 2, left again the next morning after coaling. Entered the Suez Canal at 1 a.m. on June 3, and arrived in the Suez Roads at 7 p.m. same day, left again the same evening, and arrived at Aden on June 9. Received the English mail, and proceeded on the same day, arriving at Colombo on June 17. Coaled, and left again the next day, and reached Batavia on June 25. After discharging a small quantity of cargo and replenishing the bunkers, left again the next day. Called at Samarang and Sourabaya, and arrived at Thursday Island on July 6, and picked up the coast pilot and resumed the voyage, calling at the usual Queensland ports en route to Brisbane. Arrived in Moreton Bay on the evening of July 14, and was assisted up the river yesterday morning by the Boko, berthing at the Norman wharf at 3.15 p.m. the same day. The weather throughout the passage was fine, except after clearing Cape Guardafui, when a strong southwest monsoon was experienced."
Hesketh and wife arrive in Brisbane, Jumna docking at Norman Wharf at 3.15 pm Wednesday 15 July 1896
SHIPPING. Arrivals. July 15.— JUMNA, R.M.S., 5,192 tons, Captain Sanders, from London, via ports. Passengers: Mrs. Hesketh, Miss Barriball, Messrs. Hesketh, J. Burt, and 16 in the steerage. B.I. and Q.A. Company, Limited, managing agents.
Hesketh's interviewed at length by a Telegraph reporter on his first full day in Qld, Thursday 16 July 1896
The following appeared in our Second Edition yesterday. (but not scanned for Trove - SSD) Government Electrician. Arrival of Mr. Hesketh. Interviewed on Thursday. Mr. J. Hesketh, the newly appointed electrical engineer to the Queensland Government, arrived in Brisbane by the R.M.S. Jumna on Wednesday, preparatory to taking up the duties of his office here. He called on the Under Secretary for the Post and Telegraph Department on Thursday morning, and had not been very long there when he was followed by a representative of the Telegraph. Mr. Hesketh, who is still a young man, expressed some surprise at being thus asked so early to give an account of himself, but after some preliminary conversation, during which he remarked that he had already found that Queenslanders were a very kind and good-natured people, and that he had had a beautifully fine passage from England, he prepared himself to be interviewed. About yourself, Mr. Hesketh? Well that is a very bad topic; I cannot talk about that at all. Ask me something else — about anything else. But Mr. Hesketh's modesty was shortly overcome, and he talked about himself after all. Where did you come from Mr. Hesketh? We have heard something about Blackpool in connection with your name. Yes, I had charge of the electrical works of the Blackpool Municipal Council, and had the pleasure, if you may so term it, of pulling the corporation works through their most troublesome times — till profits began to come in. I had charge of the electric lighting of the town, and also the electric tramways, both of which are conducted by the corporation. Blackpool is not entirely lit by electricity, but it possesses the most brilliantly lighted promenade quay in the United Kingdom. This promenade is 3 miles long, and is lighted by arc electric lamps placed 55 yards apart. The corporation also supplies to some extent electric lighting for domestic purposes. Before I went to Blackpool I was at New-castle in the employ of the Electric Supply Company there, having joined the company at the request of Mr. Heaviside, superintendent of the post and telegraphs of the district. With that gentleman I had been previously all the time in the telephone and telegraph department in its various brunches. For 17 years I was at Lytham, in Lancashire, where I started my electric career. As regards electric traction, Mr. Hesketh, you will probably have had experience in the various methods in use. What is the method principally in use in England? The latest system which has found favour in England is the Bristol overhead system, which has worked very well indeed. I think the overhead system of traction is the best. The difficulty is to get over the idea that the poles and wires are unsightly. Undoubtedly it is the best system, especially for country districts. If you wanted to extend the tramways from Brisbane to suburbs 3 or 4 miles out the conduit system would present many difficulties, while the overhead system would be easy and less costly. Comparing the electric method of traction with other methods, Mr. Hesketh, how do we stand then? The electric tramways are absolutely the first in the field. The low initial cost, as compared with other systems, and the fact that one generating station will supply power for several country lines, gives the electric system an immense advantage. It is certainly cheaper than the cable system, which must have a congested traffic before it can be made to pay. What do you think of the Thomson-Houston system which it is proposed to introduce into Brisbane? The Thomson-Houston system is a very good one indeed. I have seen the latest examples of their work at Havre and Rouen. There steep gradients are ascended at the rate of 25 miles an hour, and so completely are the cars under control that they can be stopped in case of accident or threatened accident within two car lengths, even on steep gradients. Concerning telephone work, what is new in this direction? Lately the trunk wires throughout the United Kingdom have been to a very great extent taken over by the Government. They are now talking about establishing telephone oonnection between London and Berlin, seeing that the London to Paris system has turned out so successfully. The tendency for the time at home is to improved efficiency all along the line and reduced rates. The system till recently has been to charge so much for each conversation at the telegraph exchanges, but it has been arranged to charge 6d. for each three minutes use of the instruments for all distances not over 50 miles. What instruments are used, and what is the system of arrangement with subscribers to the telephone exchange? In the department the Gar-Bell instrument has been adopted. Only the one type is used, and this is made by the department and supplied to subscribers. How do the charges run, Mr. Hesketh? The department provides the telephone, and for distances up to a quarter of a mile the charge is £8 per annum. For a mile it is £14. We have the advantage here, Mr. Hesketh. Our charge is £5 for the first mile, and 12s. 6d. for each additional mile, the subscriber providing his own telephone, which is kept in repair by the department for an annual charge of £1. Certainly you have. But I think it undoubtedly the best policy for the department to provide the instruments. It saves the trouble and annoyance which must follow when second-hand and indifferent instruments are used. A non-technical purchaser buys a telephone which works all right during certain conditions of the atmosphere, but it suddenly fails and he blames the department. In the course of further conversation Mr. Hesketh expressed in a very decided way his opinion that in such matters as public conveyance, lighting, &amp;c., the users should receive the benefits which might accrue from their use, and all such works should be conducted by the municipalities.
Hesketh attends telephone exchange inspection with the Governor on his first full day in Qld, Thursday 16 July 1896
Brisbane Telephone Exchange. Inspected by the Governor. His Excellency the Governor on Thursday paid a visit to the post office, and was shown over the telephone exchange by the Under Secretary, Mr. McDonnell. Mr. Hesketh, the new Government Electrician, was also present. The whole of the working of the exchange was explained by Mr. Watson, the officer in charge. His Excellency as much interested, and expressed himself as very pleased with what he had seen.
Hesketh interviewed in detail by Brisbane Courier reporter and most forthright on his views of electrical development, first formal day of work, Friday 16 July 1896
GOVERNMENT ELECTRICAL ENGINEER. ARRIVAL IN BRISBANE. LIGHTING AND TRAMWAYS. Among the passengers by the R.M.S. Jumna, which arrived on Wednesday, was Mr. Hesketh, the Government Electrical Engineer. Waited upon this morning by a "Courier" reporter, he was good enough to give some interesting information upon the subjects of electric lighting, electric tramways, and telephones as worked in England. Before touching upon these matters, he courteously explained, in answer to questions, that he commenced his professional career at the age of 17 at Lytham a small English town. Subsequently at the request of Mr. Heaviside, superintending engineer of the Post and Telegraphs in the Newcastle district, he entered the Electric Lighting Works at Newcastle. After some years valuable experience in the service of this department he went to the watering-place of Blackpool, where, as engineer, he had charge of the Corporation Electric Lighting and Tramways. Latterly the tramways were handed over to another engineer, who combined the functions of working and consulting engineer. Mr. Hesketh then took over completely the electric lighting department. He occupied this position when he accepted his present post under the Queensland Government. Of his trip out he speaks in glowing terms. He enjoyed himself immensely, and, as he put it yesterday, the voyage was so smooth and pleasant that he had not even the chance of feeling sick. Speaking of Blackpool, he said there were sixty three and a-half miles of electric lighting there. Its splendid promenade is the most brilliantly lit thoroughfare in England. One unbroken line of are lamps light up this place of resort. Then the three piers along the front are similarly lit up with fortyfive are lamps, and in one of the public gardens alone night is almost turned into day by fifty lamps of that character. It therefore follows that Blackpool, whatever else it may lack, possesses abundance of light. Some of the private houses are lit by electricity, but so far that system of illumination has not made so much progress in the homes of the people. Both lighting and the working of the tramways are under the corporation. On this subject Mr. Hesketh said: "The whole history of electric lighting is one of developments. Everything is developing in the most wonderful manner in connection with it. The general tend-ency now strongly marked is towards the consolidation and municipalisation of lighting and tramways. All undertakings of this nature are being taken over by the municipal bodies. The day of small things is, of course, not despised, but it has practically passed in electric lighting and tramways. Small companies have no place at all except in pioneering, and as soon as their works begin to pay they are absorbed by the municipalities, which purchase them at a valuation generally mutually satisfactory." Asked what were the latest developments in tramways, he stated that the latest things in England are the overhead electric tramways at Bristol, Coventry, and Leeds, In each of which towns they are working satisfactorily. The Blackpool system is that known as the conduit or underground wire system. Comparing the two systems, he said, "When you once get used to the unsightliness of the overhead system, you readily appreciate its immense advantages. It is undoubtedly the the best system, especially for country districts. If, for instance, you wanted to extend the tramway line from Brisbane to suburbs three or four miles distant, it would be impracticable on the conduit system, while with the overhead system it would be easily done. The conduit would be impracticable on the score of the heavy expense. Not only that, in working tramways where the traffic is not dense overhead electric tramways are absolutely first in the field. The low initial cost and the fact that one generating station will supply power for several of these country lines gives this system immense advantage over any other. They are much more economical than the cable system, which is desirable only where there is congested traffic. The electric system is much cheaper, except in one or two cases, such as in the congested traffic of a very busy city." Asked what he thought of the system about to he introduced in Brisbane, he said: "The Thomson-Houston Company have a very good overhead system. The latest examples of it which I have seen were at Havre and Rouen, in France. In the latter town there are many steep gradients, but these trams travel up them at the rate of from twenty miles to twentyfive miles an hour, and one remarkable thing about them is that, though travelling at this comparatively high rate of speed, they are very often pulled up within two or three lengths. Accidents of any kind are very rare with this or any of the other overhead systems, and the instances which have occurred have been greatly exaggerated. In one case in which a man was supposed to have been killed by the electric current it was proved conclusively that at the time no electric current was on, and that the man was working under one of the cars to the light of a kerosene lamp." Mr. Hesketh expressed himself a strong believer in the municipalisation of electric lighting and tramways, and was somewhat surprised to hear that there were electric lighting companies in Brisbane which practically had no legal status. In his opinion this was a mistake. He did not think that companies ought to exist on a mere sufferance basis, but if allowed to establish themselves at all it ought to be on certain well-specified conditions. It was not right, he thought, for companies to go on spending their money on a business which might be at any moment taken over, or prohibited, by the corporation. On the other hand, it was not right that such companies should go on exercising a power by which they might usurp really the functions of the municipality or corporation. In connection with telephones, Mr. Hesketh explained how, in the United Kingdom, all the trunk lines had been taken over by the Government. In his opinion it was preferable on every ground that the Government should supply telephone instruments to the lessees, to the latter providing any kind of instrument which they thought good enough.
Hesketh's first formal day at work, Friday 17 July 1896
Government Electrician. Taking Up Work. The new Government Electrician, Mr. J. Hesketh, formally entered upon his duties on Friday morning. His first business was to make himself generally acquainted with the work of the department, of the electrical portion of which he is to have charge. Office accommodation is being provided for the new officer in the tower at the post office.
Courier reporter interviews A. J. Thynne, Qld Postmaster General, notes immediate task for Hesketh is advising on proposed new South Brisbane telephone exchange
THE TELEPHONE SERVICE. PROPOSED SOUTH BRISBANE EXCHANGE. OTHER CONTEMPLATED IMPROVEMENTS. In the course of an interview with a representative of this paper yesterday afternoon, the Hon. A. J. Thynne, Postmaster-General, gave some interesting information with reference to the establishment of a local telephone exchange in South Brisbane, and on other matters in connection with the service. In answer to a question, Mr. Thynne stated that some months ago the necessity for a local telephone exchange in South Brisbane was impressed on him when the Victoria Bridge was threatened by the flood-waters. Arrangements were made, and a room has now been secured in the Melbourne-street Railway Station building, which will be at once fitted up for use as an exchange. The South Brisbane Exchange will be connected with the present Central Exchange by a trunk line consisting of one or more wires, according to the requirements of the business at the exchanges. This will have the effect of saving the inconvenience and many other drawbacks of carrying so many wires across the bridge. The establishment of the South Brisbane local exchange is only part of a scheme by which Mr. Thynne hopes to see the city and suburbs divided up into a number of what may be called telephone areas, each with its own local exchange, and connected with other exchanges by means of trunk lines. Considering the population of the metropolitan area, and the pressure upon people's time, and the great advantages of the telephone system, Mr. Thynne is of opinion that the present number of telephones in Brisbane is only a fraction of what it ought to be. "The crowded state of the wires going into the telephone exchange under the present conditions," said Mr. Thynne, "warrant us in making the arrangements we have under consideration, to provide for the increase of the number of lines. Any such change will involve the consideration of many points in which the advice of Mr. Hesketh, the new electrical engineer of the department, will be required as soon as he can give the matter his attention. I hope ultimately that this new system of local exchanges will lead to a considerable saving both to the subscribers and to the department." "Will the new electric tramway service involve metallic circuits for telephones and telegraph instruments?" "On account of the electric trams It will probably be necessary to have metallic circuits for the telephones instead of the present system of using the ground as the return circuit. As regards the telegraph lines, I understand that the effect of the electricity used in the tram service on telegraph lines is not likely to be anything at all like the effect on the telephone system, and probably it will not be necessary to go to the expense of a metallic circuit for the telegraph lines."
1896 08.
Hesketh gazetted as electrical engineer for colonial Qld Post and Telegraph Department
Official Notifications. (From Saturday's "Government Gazette.") Appointments. Department of Lands.— M. O. Sullivan, acting clerk of petty sessions at Mount Morgan, to be assistant land commissioner; Robert Woodhouse, acting clerk of petty sessions, Surat, to be land agent; John W. W. Jackson, to be warden and mineral commissioner, stationed at Thargomindah, in the room of F. Nixon, deceased. The Treasury.— Wallumbilla to be a place having a branch of the Government Savings Bank; Carl B. W. Edlundh to be lightkeeper in charge at Caloundra; John Reed to be superintendent of the Pile Lighthouse, Brisbane bar; and William Morefield to be superintendent of the Dent Island Lightship. Department of Justice.— John W. W. Jackson, acting clerk of petty sessions at Thargomindah, to be also high bailiff at that place. Post and Telegraph Department.— John Hesketh, A.M.I.C.E., M.I.E.E., to be electrical engineer; the following officers to be transferred: James Wonderley, clerk, Townsville to Bowen; Joseph W. Perkins, clerk, Bowen to Townsville; Sydney Court, assistant, Cloncurry to Brisbane; Charles C. Hardy, railway telegraph operator, to be assistant at Cloncurry.
Hesketh identified to solve many problems with electrical distribution, tramway supply and interference to telephone lines
Telegraph and Telephone Systems. The rapid increase in the number of overhead wires carried on posts through the streets of the city for telegraph and telephone purposes, and the prospect of further increases, with the extension and development of the city, have for some time past pointed to the necessity for the adoption of some more suitable means of carrying the wires than that at present in existence. Besides being anything but an ornament to the streets through which they pass, the numerous wires form a great source of danger in the event of an outbreak of fire in buildings in their vicinity, hindering, as they always do, the operations of fire brigades. In the case of fire, also, the wires always suffer serious damage; frequently they are cut, and, consequently, delay and inconvenience of a serious nature are almost bound to follow on such occasions. The subject has been to the post and telegraph authorities one of serious consideration; but in the absence of sufficient data as to the cost of making desired alterations, and of expert evidence as to the best course to be pursued, nothing definite, till now, had been decided upon. The arrival of Mr. Hesketh, the Government electrician, has cleared away these difficulties, and at the same time the decision of the Tramway Company to adopt a system of electrical traction, a system which would, under present conditions, seriously affect the efficiency of telegraphic and telephonic communication, has made it impossible longer to postpone needed reforms. So long as electric tramways did not exist in the neighbourhood of message wires it might be perfectly satisfactory to use single overhead wires, making use of the earth for return currents; but as soon as electricity is brought into use for propelling our tramcars it becomes absolutely necessary to duplicate all other electric wires. This is due to the fact that the heavy currents used to work the tramways, however carefully they may be arranged, are sure to lead into and affect the other wires. This has been very forcibly shown in other cities. Suppose wires are not duplicated, what happens? The current for working the trams leaves the generating station by feeding wires which are placed either overhead or underground. It then passes into the trolly wire, and then through the motor driving the car; after which it passes into the rails on which the car runs, and then travels by the rails to the generating station again. But in passing along the rails, they being in contact with the earth, the current leaks into the earth; and supposing the other wires also to be connected with the earth, part of the leakage current will find its way to those wires, it being a law in electricity that the current will follow the line of least resistance. Supposing this to be the case and a telephone subscriber to be speaking on the line, he will hear the noise as if a steam syren were beginning to blow off, the noise being caused by a motor on a car commencing to work. As the motor attains a quicker speed, so the note in the telephone becomes shriller and shriller, and sometimes louder and louder, till conversation is absolutely impossible. The same trouble may arise from induction between a trolly wire and a single telephone wire, whether underground or overhead. But should the wire be doubled, that is to say should there be a complete metallic circuit, any current induced in the one wire will also be induced in the other to an equal and opposite extent, so that no interruption results. Also, where the wire is doubled, it is free from the earth, and no leakage current from the tramway service can get into it. A complete metallic circuit is, therefore, free from both the trouble arising from induction and from leakage. The present condition of affairs plainly points to the necessity for doubling all electric wires now in use. But the prospect of doubling the already too numerous wires in the streets of the city, is, if not appalling, to say the least of it, exceedingly undesirable. Under such circumstances it will be of interest to review what has been done in other places with a view to avoid these difficulties. In many large European towns all telephone wires are placed underground in the central districts, and are carried overhead only in the suburbs, where their number is small. Many systems of doing this are in use. In Sydney the most expensive method of all is employed. There a tunnel 7 feet high has been built under the middle of the roadway, and all wires are led along in this tunnel on brackets, which are readily accessible to a man walking along the tunnel. The cost of installing this system has been enormous — namely, over £20,000. The cost of such a system is therefore prohibitive so far as Brisbane is concerned. It is suitable only for the most wealthy, and at the same time the most extravagant communities. A more practical solution of the difficulty is to be found in the method now being adopted for carrying the numerous wires over the new Victoria bridge. There lines of pipes are being laid down with inspection boxes at fixed distances. The wires are to be bound together in the form of cables, and drawn through the pipes, the wires within the cables being insulated from each other by some suitable material, the whole cable being enclosed in a watertight, leaden covering, outside of which again is a covering of tapes. The connections with the premises of subscribers will be made by a smaller cable of similar construction, containing a complete metallic circuit laid underground; much in the same way as water and gas are laid on now. Another method of placing the cables is simply to lay them in wooden troughing under the footway, the troughing being filled up with pitchy sand or bituminous composition. The same system of inspection boxes could be arranged; but, of course, the cables once laid, could not be taken up again without opening the streets, whereas, in the case of their being laid in tubes, they can easily be drawn out if faulty, and new ones drawn in; the inspection boxes giving facility for localising the faulty section. As to the question of cost, the expense of laying double wires underground should not be very much more than would be the cost of duplicating the existing wires overhead. The present wires are so numerous that there is no room on the existing poles for more; and it would be necessary to go to the expense of erecting new and much taller and heavier poles. Such a course, too, it should be pointed out, would add considerably to the disadvantages already alluded to of the existence in busy thoroughfares of numerous wires. But in connection with this matter of cost, a far more important question is that of maintenance. Every telephone subscriber at present knows to his sorrow how easy it is, even during moderate winds, for something to go wrong with his telephone connection, but with the underground system he would have no trouble of that kind. Faults arising from outside causes would be far less frequent than at present, and therefore the cost of maintenance would be considerably reduced. From a layman's point of view at least, everything seems to be in favour of the introduction of the underground system by cables in pipes.
Brisbane Council receives Electric Lighting Bill by State Government, not supported by council or by Hesketh. Council wants dilapidated telegraph poles replaced, Post &amp; Telegraphs declines stating soon underground
BRISBANE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL. The fortnightly meeting of the Brisbane Municipal Council was held in the Town Hall Buildings yesterday afternoon, when there were present — Aldermen Thurlow (Mayor), Fraser, Morrow, Proe, Clark, Hipwood, Thorne, and Raymond. Correspondence. The correspondence submitted included the following communications:— To D. L. Brown and Co., intimating that the council would have no objection to a dolphin being fixed at the end of Margaret-street for mooring purposes. The matter was left in the hands of the Mayor to be dealt with. To the Superintendent of Electric Telegraphs, inviting attention to the state of telegraph posts, and urging that the more dilapidated be replaced by sound ones. From the superintendent, stating that a scheme for placing all the wires underground would shortly be submitted, and that it was considered the expense of renewing posts should not be undertaken except where the posts were absolutely dangerous. To D. McCarthy, agreeing to renew his lease of the Botanic Gardens Ferry, conditionally. To the Premier, furnishing the views of the council with regard to the formation of a carriage drive through Government House Domain. From the Victoria Bridge Board, stating that instructions had been given to have the posts left standing in the footway of the bridge removed if no longer required. From Macpherson and Feez, forwarding a statement of account in connection with the Clark and Fauset action, and a cheque for £141 3s. 9d., as the council's moiety of money in their hands. To James Campbell and Sons, granting them permission to erect, on a first-class section in Creek-street, the building recently in use at Bowen Park, if the structure were removed at the expiry of six months. From R. S. W. Cummings, agreeing to lease the whole of the Columbia Rink building, conditionally, at £12 per month, paying all rates, for twelve months, with the option of renewing. To the Queensland Marine Board, pointing out that if their suggestion for the erection of a hand-rail down the centre of the steps at the river end of Edward-street were given effect to, the usefulness of the steps would be greatly impaired. Correspondence Dealt With. The correspondence contained a letter from the Central Board of Health, with reference to the licensing of dairies within the municipality. The Mayor did not think that licenses should be granted to dairymen within the city; the conditions under which the dairies were carried on were not such as to justify the council in licensing them. Mr. Hipwood remarked that the dairies were worse outside the city, especially as regarded water. Mr. Clark did not think the Mayor had power to absolutely refuse a license. The Mayor said he would instruct the inspector to bring up a report on the matter. A letter was read from the Brisbane Gas Company, with reference to the lighting of the city. It was agreed that the Finance Committee should have another meeting with the Gas Company with a view to arranging matters satisfactorily. The Tramway Company wrote stating that they were about to erect buildings near the Roma-street Railway Station, and asking to be furnished with levels, and inquiring if the council would form the pathway and do the necessary kerbing in front of the buildings. It was agreed to furnish the levels and allow the other requests to stand over in the meantime. An offer to rent the Arthur-street baths at £30 per annum was received. It was stated that the present lessee had asked for a reduction in rent, after having conducted the baths satisfactorily for three years. The Mayor remarked that the question of rental would be solved by the calling for tenders. The Electric Lighting Bill. A letter had been forwarded to the Postmaster-General with reference to the contemplated introduction of a bill dealing with the question of electric light and power supply, expressing a hope that the council's interests had been borne in mind, and properly conserved. Twelve copies of the measure had been received by the council and distributed among the aldermen. The Mayor stated that he had interviewed Mr. Hesketh, the Government Engineer, and had made objection to a great many of the clauses in the bill, which, instead of granting powers to the council, usurped the rights that body at present enjoyed. Mr. Fraser asked if the bill had been brought forward in the place of the one which the council had so long been promised. The Mayor replied that he did not know; but in his opinion the measure was a very poor apology for one which was really required by the council. He had drawn up a series of amendments, all in the direction of conserving the council's rights. Mr. Hesketh was of the same opinion as he was, that the council should have the first right to undertake electric lighting in any portion of the municipality. Mr. Clark said it would be remembered that about five years ago the council had a private bill introduced in the Legislative Assembly by Mr. Drake. That measure was, like many another good bill, slaughtered, but a distinct promise was made by the Premier to bring in a bill to deal with electric lighting in the city during the next session. Nothing more was heard of the matter until a few days ago, when the Premier intimated to Mr. Fraser that the Electric Lighting Bill, which the council had been asking for, was to be brought forward. (The Mayor: "This is the bill.") Then it was not the bill the council had requested. It was merely a measure dealing with companies who wished to start electric lighting in the city; and the council ought to make a strong protest against the infringement of their privileges, which was likely to take place if the bill were passed into law. He moved that a deputation wait upon Mr. Thynne, and point out to him the injustice which would be done to the council under the measure. Mr. Fraser seconded the motion. Mr. Clark pointed out that, after what had taken place, it was unfair that the Government should have introduced the bill without first consulting the council. The privileges of the city had been quite forgotten, and it seemed as if the Government were going directly in the face of the representations made by the council, and doing exactly what the council did not wish them to do. Mr. Raymond quite agreed with Mr. Clark, and thought that the local authorities should be given considerable power to deal with the question of electric lighting. The motion that a deputation wait on the Postmaster-General was agreed to. Finance Committee's Report. The report of the Finance Committee, dated the 20th instant, recommended the payment of accounts to the amount of £2719, sanitary services, officers' salaries, purchase of land, wages, road metal, and street channels being the more important items. Motions. The motions given notice of at last meeting were referred to the Works Committee. Notified Motions. By Mr. Thorne,— 1. "That Vulture-street, between Wellington-road and Leopard-street, be put in a passable state of repair." 2. "That concrete water-table be laid on the east side of Quinton-street." 3. "That the Government be requested to introduce a bill into Parliament during the present session to authorise this council to borrow on debentures the sum of £55,000, to enable this council to complete laying the water-tables of the city in stone and cement, and to lay a pontoon bridge from the East Ward to Kangaroo Point." By Mr. Raymond,— "That a concrete water-table be laid on the north side of Shafston-road, from Wellington-road to Thorn-street." By Mr. Hipwood,— "That concrete water-table be laid on the south side of Wedd-street." By Mr. Proe,— "That concrete water-table be laid on the northern side of Ballow-street, from Wickham-street towards the Valley Railway Station." This concluded the business.
Hesketh already joined the local Freemasons Lodge and entertains with vocal renditions
The Lodge Room. Freemasons. General Gordon Lodge, No. 2, 119, E.C. — The annual installation meeting was held in the Masonic Hall, Alice street, last night, when there were 150 members of the craft, representing English, Scottish, Irish, and Victorian constitutions, present. The District Grand Master, E.C. (Hon. A. C. Gregory, C.M.G.), attended by the deputy district grand master (B. L. Burnett, P.M.), district grand secretary (J. Fenwiok, P.M.), and several other district grand officers attended. The ceremony of installation, which was carried out in a quiet earnest manner by the retiring master (Wor. Bro. J. E. Trude) was greatly enhanced by the excellent rendering of the incidental music by a choir of well known vocalists and a complete orchestra led by Bro. Truda, and including more than a dozen of the best instrumentalists of the city. These were conducted by Bro. W. A. Caflisch. The new master (Bro. S. G. Cowell) having been installed, he invested his officers, and they were placed at their respective stations by Wor. Bro. Gibbon, P.M. The final charge was given by the installing officer. The complete list of officers is as follows: Master, S. G. Cowell; senior warden, D. B. McCullough; junior warden, H. R. Gale; Chaplain, Rev. Canon Stone-Wigg, B.A.; Treasurer, A. C. Saltmarsh, P.M.; secretary, E. O. Boden; senior deacon, F. A. Huet; junior deacon, W. H. Kelynack; organist, W. A. Caflisch; stewards, H. W. Petty and H. Weightman; inner guard, G. F. J. Hewitt; tyler, F. Hobbs. At the close of the ceremonies the lodge was closed and those present adjourned to the banquet room, where light refreshments were served. The usual toasts were given, the health of the district grand master being specially honoured. A singularly excellent programme of vocal and instrumental music was provided by Bro. Caflisch. A violin solo was finely played by Bro. Truda; and so were a flute solo by Bro. H. King, and a horn solo by Bro. E. Down. Songs were given by Bros. J. Hesketh, S. R. Giles, A. J. Powell, and Cowell. The choir and orchestra also contributed their aid to a notably pleasant evening.
1896 09.
Hesketh involved in 3 of the first 4 summary items in the Courier Mail
The Brisbane Courier. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1896. Fine weather is anticipated, and it is expected that there will be further strong winds from the west and southwest. Customs collections at the port of Brisbane during July and August show an increase of £8739, as compared with the corresponding months of last year. The Ipswich Municipal Council are requesting the Government to establish a main trunk telephone line between Brisbane and Ipswich. A report on the subject of lighting Ipswich by electricity has been prepared by Mr. Hesketh, Government Electrician for the corporation. It is stated that the Tramway Company are ready and eager to push on with the work of installing the electrical system as soon as certain points have been settled between themselves and the Municipal Council.
Ipswich Council considers a long report by Hesketh and seeks a main trunk telephone line Ipswich-Brisbane
Provincial Pickings. (From Our Exchanges.) . . . A special meeting of the Ipswich Municipal Council was held at the Council Chambers on Monday afternoon, at which, among other matters, the question of improving the lighting of the town was considered. A long report was read from the Government electrician, Mr. John Hesketh, on the subject of electric-lighting, in which he suggests that the council should secure an electric-lighting plant and generate power for lighting the town and private places by electricity. A resolution was adopted empowering the Mayor to communicate with the Government with a view of inducing them to erect a main trunk telephone-line between Brisbane and Ipswich.
Hesketh enables sharing of a single line by both telegraph and telephone
TELEPHONE TO DARKEY FLAT. The residents of Darkey Flat, near Warwick, have been for some time past petitioning the Postmaster-General to place a telegraph instrument there to connect that place with Warwick. This Mr. Thynne could not see his way clear to do, as there was not sufficient work likely to come from a station at Darkey Flat to justify the expense of stationing an operator there. However, Mr. Thynne sent up Mr. Hesketh, the departmental electrical engineer, to inspect the place, and Mr. Hesketh has completed a telephone circuit from Warwick to Darkey Flat. Thus the residents there can communicate at once with Warwick, should they want a doctor, being charged the rate of a telegram for the use of the telephone. They can also send telegrams for transmismission to any place through the telephone, being charged on telegram rates. The telegraph line running through Darkey Flat to Inglewood has been used by Mr. Hesketh for the telephone circuit, and by a special contrivance the difficulty of the audible clicking of the instruments has been done away with. During his visit to Warwick on Saturday last, Mr. Thynne spoke through the telephone to Darkey Flat, while an operator close by sent a telegram along the same wire. Mr. Thynne states that less noise was to be heard than is experienced in using the Brisbane telephones.
Hesketh inquiring into reduction of flat rate telephone charges for Maryborough
Local Requirements. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. Mr Kidston's Inquiries. PROMISES MADE. Some Important Improvements. The following letter from Mr W. Kidston, M.L.A., was received on Saturday by Mr Dawbarn, secretary of the Rockhampton Chamber of Commerce:— Sir,— Re the several matters to which your committee called my attention, I have made inquiry since my return to Brisbane, and I now advise you as to results. . . . 6. Reduction of telephone charges.— There seems to be no grounds whatever for the Maryborough complaint, as the rate of the department is where there are 30 subscribers the charge is £10 per year; where there are 50 subscribers the charge is £8 per year; where there are 100 subscribers the oharge is £5 per year. And, indeed, the department professes its willingness to reduce the charge to £5 in any place where 75 subscribers can be got; which seems to me to be a fair answer to the statement that a reduction of the charges would largely increase the number of those using. Mr Hesketh, the chief electrician, is, however, making inquiry as to whether anything can be done to improve and popularise this servioe.
As previous Darkey Flat item, but greater detail
LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS. . . . TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION WITH PRATTEN. — Mr. Hesketh, the electrician attached to the Post and Telegraph Department, arrived in Warwick last week, and with Mr. C. E. Bright, Post and Telegraph Master, visited Darky Flat (Pratten) on Friday and eatablished telephonic communication between that centre and Warwick, the first message being transmitted over the line on Friday evening. The instrument at the Darky Flat end is installed in the office of the Postmistress (Miss Clare), and that at the Warwick end is in the local Telegraph Office. The cost of managing the service will be trifling, probably not more than £10 or £12 per annum. Messages will be charged at the ordinary rate for telegrams — 1s for ten words. This is the first instance in Queensland in which a Morse telegraph line has been used for the purposes of regular telephonic communication, but it is thought probable that the system just introduced will be widely extended with great advantage to many places where the business would be insufficient to meet the cost of maintaining a telegraph operator.
Hesketh looking into cost of intercolonial telegrams
BRISBANE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. The committee of the Brisbane Chamber of Commerce held a meeting in the rooms, Courier Building, yesterday. Mr. Trundle occupied the chair, and the other members were Messrs. Carter, Abercrombie, Munro, Unmack, and Macintosh. . . . The Post and Telegraph Department wrote with reference to the chamber's communication on intercolonial telegrams that Mr. Hesketh, the electrical engineer, was considering the matter. Mr. Munro remarked that if a beginning was made by reducing the price of wires between the capitals of the colonies that would be a great step forward. The meeting adjourned till Monday next.
Annual report of Qld Post and Telegraph Dept by Postmaster-General Thynne highlights the problems facing Hesketh
POST AND TELEGRAPH SERVICES. Perhaps no branch of the public service is so intimately associated as the Post and Telegraph Department with the social life of the people. The letter, the newspaper, the book parcel, the post parcel, the telegram, the telephone message, the postal note, or the money order is of daily recurring interest to every family in the land. And there is no conflict of opinion as to the advisability or otherwise of these services being undertaken by the Government. The department over which Mr. Thynne presides more than justifies its existence, although it imposes a heavy annual charge upon the taxpayers. The Postmaster-General states the deficiency for 1895 at £60,371, a reduction of some £10,000 by comparison with 1894, but the saving is only apparent, the department having been relieved of a half-year's ocean mail subsidy by the transfer on the 1st July, 1895, of that burden to the Treasury, on the ground that the steamship service is not maintained for mail purposes, and therefore has been for some time improperly charged to the Postal Department. But the excess of outlay over income is larger than the report states, for it omits mention of the charge for interest accruing on telegraph lines constructed out of loan moneys, amounting, in fact, to nearly £800,000, on which 4 per cent means £32,000 a year. The annual loss sustained by the department therefore exceeds £92,000, which ought if practicable to be lessened, especially since the British-India mail service, costing the department £55,000 a year, besides "the poundage" on letters sent by the Melbourne-Suez route, has been saved. The total expense of the ocean mail service is only £10,000. The deficit in the New South Wales Post and Telegraph service is about £74,000, with a total revenue just three times that of Queensland; while with a revenue slightly in excess of that of the parent colony Victoria gets an excess of income over expenditure of about £225,000 a year; and South Australia, with a smaller population and much smaller total revenue than Queensland, gets a post and telegraph income slightly less than ours, and an excess over expenditure of about £20,000 a year. The circumstances of the various colonies differ, of course, but with her large territory South Australia spends one-third less than Queensland upon her Post and Telegraph service. Referring to this subject, Mr. Thynne says that "the Department endeavours to give every settlement in the country the utmost possible facilities for postal and telegraphic communication; and when the large area of the colony and its sparse settlement are considered the deficiency stated is perhaps not too great an expendlture by the general taxpayer for services which aid so much in the promotion of settlement in every form. Still it will be necessary to exercise much prudence and economy with the view of reducing the existing burden on the general taxpayer without unduly curtailing the public convenience." It is but fair to add that, although the department has been relieved of the ocean mail subsidy of late years, it now pays £40,000 per annum to the Railway Department for the carriage of inland mails. And the postal and telegraphic receipts for last year were both elastic, the receipts showing an increase upon the previous year of £19,000. Strange to say, this sum is just equal to the decline suffered since 1891, the revenue for 1891 and 1895 being about equal. When it is recollected that newspaper postage was imposed in 1892, and was supposed to yield an additional £12,000 a year, it follows that the financial state of the department would have been serious today but for the recovery in receipts for 1893. A small part of the decline was, of course, due to the reduction of the ocean postage rate from 6d. to 2½d., but this seems not to have amounted to over £5000 a year. The business depression and the curtailment of Press messages through the newspaper tax were therefore chiefly accountable for the diminution of receipts. The topic which occupies the chief space in Mr. Thynne's introduction to the report is the Pacific cable question. Referring to the meetings of Postmasters-General in Sydney last year, Mr. Thynne says their effect "was very satisfactory, many of the apparent difficulties having been removed, with the final result that a Conference was held in Sydney in January last." After recapitulating the resolutions passed at the Conference, the Postmaster-General remarks,— "It will be seen that a fair adjustment of almost all matters of local conflicting interest was arrived at, and a route at the Australasian end recommended which is calculated to provide the best facilities for the colonies interested. Two delegates were chosen to represent Australasia on the Commission appointed by the Imperial Government to consider the whole question." Mr. Thynne hopes that in October next, when the sittings of the Commission will be resumed in London, "sound conclusions in favour of laying the proposed cable will be reached." But most persons acquainted with the facts are much less sanguine than our Postmaster-General appears to be on this question. The departmental report is, as usual, a mass of interesting detail. The increase of total correspondence as compared with the previous year was only 2.71 per cent, but the increase of newspapers was 8.97, and of packets 10.01 per cent. In postal note transactions the increase was 22.15 per cent, and in money orders 7.58 per cent. Queensland was the first Australian colony to adopt the postal note system, and it is satisfactory to learn that the number of transactions in these documents last year was 396,444, as against 295,765 in money orders. The total number of letters posted and received at the Chief Office during 1895 was 10¼ millions, of packets 2¾ millions, and of newspapers 5½ millions — fair increases by comparison with the preceding year being shown under each head. Approximately 46,000 letters, 4000 packets, and 5000 newspapers were posted in the Brisbane tramcars during the year. Nearly £700 was collected on articles liable to Customs duty transmitted through the post, contained in 4714 packages. The total number of letters posted and received in the colony during the year was 17¾ millions, of which number only 85,283 were unclaimed. Missing letters are a source of much trouble to the post office, and it is shown that miscarriages are mostly due to the senders, or to the persons to whom the business of posting is intrusted. Some prosecutions have been necessary during the year to prevent evasions of postage, and the hint is given that unless the practice is discontinued it may become necessary to adopt the Postal Union practice of charging all commercial papers under two ounces in weight a single letter rate as a minimum, thus raising the postage from one penny to twopence. The parcel post has nearly doubled its business during the year, chiefly in consequence of the new arrangement made for the transmission of such parcels by all the coach services. The parcels revenue for the year was £8467, as against £4731 for the preceding year. With respect to electric telegraphs the chief event recorded is the appointment and arrival of Mr. Hesketh, from whose knowledge and skill improvements in the telegraph and telephone services are anticipated. The total wire mileage is 17,797, and of line 9986 miles. The total number of stations open is 371. The number of subscribers to the Brisbane telephone exchange is 600, and the calls average 5500 per day and 100 per night. It is admitted that the working of the system is not entirely satisfactory, partly through the twelve distinct types of instruments in use, and partly through line faults "mainly caused by the extremely crowded state of the poles in the city." The provincial telephone exchanges are reported to be working fairly well, but storms appear to have caused trouble at various times. "At Charters Towers in February last, during a terrific thunderstorm, the telephone exchange was struck by lightning. A large ball of fire was seen to follow the leading wires into the exchange, where 50 per cent of the wires were fused and some woodwork set on fire." Happily no one appears to have been hurt by the incident. Efforts are being made to improve these telephone services, and in the public interest it may be hoped they will be successful. The high charge made in provincial centres, however, very much minimises the utility of the telephone, and it is worth consideration whether a reduced rate would not prove ultimately more remunerative to the department, for a telephone exchange is only of value when it has a considerable number of subscribers.
Mr and Mrs Hesketh quick to join in Qld's social scene
WOMAN'S WORLD. THE BALL AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE. The second ball at Government House took place last night, and was in every particular as biilliant as the first. The decorations were similar, but all fresh and beautiful. Bamboo masts in the corners of the room, twined with flowers, in various colours, looked very pretty and cool. The staircase was decorated with lilies and ferns. The green foliage set off the brilliant costumes worn by the ladles to great advantage. The same rooms were used as ballrooms, and filled as they were with dancers, formed an exceedingly pretty sight viewed from the staircase, particularly, during the waltz. The programme contained fourteen numbers, the music for which was chosen by Lady Lamington: — Waltz, "Rose Queen;" lancers, "Rip Van Winkle;" waltz, "Marechal Neil;" waltz, "Pepita;" polka, "May;" waltz, " Peri;" lancers, "Sultan of Mocha;" waltz, "Sweet Vows;" waltz, "Gondoliers;" polka, "Cyprus;" waltz, "Wheel of Fortune;" polka, "Sultan;" schottische, "Idle Moments;" waltz, "Olivette." The guests were invited for 9 o'clock, and by that time a large number had assembled. Punctually at the hour named, his Excellency the Governor and Lady Lamington descended the stairs to the strains of "God Save the Queen." A waltz was commenced at once, and afterwards the first set of lancers were danced. In the centre of the room were — His Excellency the Governor and Lady Griffith, Lady Lamington and Sir Samuel Griffith, the Hon. W. H. Wilson and Mrs. Drake, the Hon. T. J. Byrnes and Mrs. Tozer, the Hon. A. J. Thynne and Mrs. Real, Captain Drake and Mrs. Cowley, the Hon. H. Tozer and Mrs. Foxton, the Hon. J. F. G. Foxton and Mrs. W. H. Wilson. Refreshments were served all the evening, and supper at 11 p.m. The following was the menu:— Spiced beef, ham, roast chicken, tongue, roast turkey, pigeons in aspic, mayonnaise of chicken, veal and ham patties, cutlets of fish in aspic, tomato salad, jellies, strawberries and cream, trifle, meringues, champagne, claret, &amp;c. After supper, dancing was again resumed, and kept up with much enjoyment till half-past 12 o'clock. Lady Lamington wore a lovely gown of pale-pink satin; the skirt was plain, the bodice laced up at the back, V-shaped, and the V filled in with exquisite lace, and a berthe of the same; small puff sleeves, a folded white satin band round the bodice; magnificent diamond tiara and ornaments, and a pearl necklace. She also carried a beautiful bouquet of pink roses, with long streamers of ribbon to match the dress, and a white feather fan and long white gloves completed a most elegant toilette. Miss Rod wore a black silk brocade skirt and a beautiful blouse bodice of petunia silk; puff sleeves, divided by chiffon, and chiffon berthe; the corsage was entirely of violets; diamond and pearl ornaments. . . . . The following is a list of ladies and gentlemen who accepted invitations for last night's ball:— Mr. Colin Austin, Mr. F. Ayres. Hon. T. J. and the Misses Byrnes, Mr. F. Bousfield, Hon. A. H. and Mrs. Barlow, Mr. H. E. Barlow, Mr. B. L. Barnett, Mr. G. B. Barnett, Mr. W. Bell, Mr. M. Bell, Miss Bell, Miss Blanchard, Mr. W. and Mrs. Buckland. Hon. A. S. and Mrs. Cowley, Mr. S. B. Cameron, Dr. Connelly, Mr. Hugh Connelly, Miss Cormack. Hon. D. H. and Mrs. Dalrymple, Captain and Mrs. Drake, Mr. A. V. Drury, Mrs. and Miss Drury, Mr. F. De Little, Mr. W. A. Douglas, Mr. J. S. Dodds, Captain Darvall, Mr. J. F. W. Darvall, Mr. R. S. Dods, Miss Daly. Hon. J. F. G. and Mrs. Foxton, Mr. E. Flower, Miss French. Sir S. W. and Lady Griffith, Miss Griffith, Mr. Griffith, Colonel and Mrs. Gunter, Mr. Gunter, Mr. G. Graham, Mr. and Mrs. Galloway, Mr. C. Grut. Mr. W. Hart, Mr. and Mrs. J. Hesketh, Miss Harley, Mr. L. Hill, Miss Heterington, Mrs. Harris, Captain Hamilton, Miss Hollander. Mr. C. Jackson. Mr. Lees, Mrs. and Miss Lees, Mr. E. Lovell, Mr. J. S. Little, Mr. V. Little, Dr. G. Luther. . . .
The Heskeths to reside at Auvergne, Old Sandgate Rd, Albion
Social Doings. (Telegraph, September 12). . . . Mr. and Mrs. J. Hesketh have leased Mr. H. J. Brown's pretty villa, Auvergne, Old Sandgate road, and will take up their residence there on October 1.
Brisbane to replace its overhead single wire earth return telephone system with twin wire underground, Hesketh to oversight
THE TELEPHONE SYSTEM. As stated in these columns some time ago, the Postmaster-General (Hon. A. J. Thynne) has had under consideration the complete reorganisation of the present telephone system in this city. Mr. Thynne has now decided to go to work at once, and has ordered all the necessary materials for the new installation. A metallic circuit will be substituted for the present earth return circuit, and the whole installation will be of the most up-to-date system. The present unsightly telegraph poles and network of overhead wires will be done away with, and an underground cable system carried in pipes will be substituted. The present system of using the earth as a return circuit has many disadvantages, and it is quite a frequent thing for persons at the telephone to overhear conversations between other persons using the instruments. The metallic circuit will render this impossible, and will secure perfect secrecy. Provision will also be made for the establishment of a series of local exchanges in the future. The cost of the new installation will be at the least £20,000, and a start will be made as soon as the materials arrive from England. The connection of Darkey Flat with Warwick by telephone has led to other towns asking for similar concessions, and the people of Ipswich have been agitating for a telephone service between that place and Brisbane. Mr. Thynne has authorised Mr. Hesketh, the Government Electrical Engineer, to try an experiment there with a view of testing if conditions are suitable for a telephone between Ipswich and Brisbane, as they are in many respects different from those of Warwick, and success is not so thoroughly assured.
Explanation (likely from Hesketh himself) why the Darkey Flat experiment likely cannot be extended to to the metropolis
Long Distance Telephony. Success and Extension. The successful telephonic connection of Darkey Flat post office, distant about 22 miles from Warwick, with that town by utilising the electric telegraph wire between the two places, has resulted in the Post and Telegraph Department's receiving a number of applica-tions from other towns for a similar cances-sion, most pressing among them being one from the Ipswich people, who are to receive first attention. In the case of the Darkey Flat to Warwick line, as above stated, the telegraph wire was made use of and by a little experiment and balancing of the currents it now has been made to give excellent results for both telegraph and tele-phone communication at the same time. In the case of Ipswich to Brisbane, however, the conditions are somewhat different, the presence in the immediate vicinity — on the same pole in fact — of wires carrying comparatively heavy currents makes it a matter of consider-able difficulty to accomplish what has been so nicely done in the case of Darkey flat. However, the Postmaster-General has directed Mr. Hesketh, the Government electrician, to make experiments, and it is safe to say that if it can be done Mr. Hesketh will do it.
Hesketh's reputation spreading quickly amongst employees and associates
Mr. F. Rosender who is leaving by the northern steamer next Sunday, to take charge of the telephone exchanges at Charters Tower and Townsville, was entertained by the officers of the local Telegraph Office on board the launch Noachidae on Saturday evening. The Noachidae left the Rockhampton Rowing Club's pontoon about eight o'clock, and after steaming down as far as Brown's Crossing returned to town about eleven o'clock. The trip was a most delightful one for all on board. In the course of the evening Mr. Rosender was presented with a pair of field and opera glasses by his fellow officers as a token of their esteem. The toast of his health was proposed, and all the speakers spoke in a highly eulogistic manner of Mr. Roseneder's abilities in his profession, and of his kindness to all, but more particular to the juniors. Mr. Hewlett of the Electric Light Works, who was present, said he was surprised to find how wide and deep was Mr. Roseneder's knowledge, not merely of his own particular work, but also of electric lighting and electric traction work. Mr. Hewlett stated that although his brother officers might have a very high opinion of Mr. Rosenders abilities, yet perhaps they lacked the technical knowledge to enable them to know how well that opinion was justified. He said that he knew Mr. Hesketh, the new Government Electrical Engineer, personally and esteemed him highly, and he had no doubt he would value Mr. Roseneder as he deserved. Mr. Roseneder in responding said he felt keenly the kind remarks that had been expressed by the various speakers. He regretted leaving Rockhampton, where he had spent such a happy time and had so many friends, still a civil servant must hold himself ready to go anywhere at the request of his department. He appreciated Mr. Hewlett's remarks very highly, for Mr. Hewlett's abilities in his own line were well known. Mr. Roseneder stated that while in Brisbane last week he had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Hesketh, and he might tell them that they would find they had over them a man whose professional knowledge it would be an impertinence for him to criticise, for it was well known, but also a cultured gentleman from whom they would get all consideration. Their present to him he would always cherish for itself, and for the sake of the givers. He hoped to meet them again some other time. Messrs. Hewlett, Sneyd, O'Neill, Bishop, and Flynn contributed songs, and Messrs. Powell and Hallinan recitations to the evening's amusement. The party dispersed after giving three cheers for Mr. and Mrs. Roseneder. Mr. Roseneder has been Chairman of the Central Queensland Branch of the Telegraph Association for the last six years.
Mr &amp; Mrs Hesketh attend an "at home" with the Governor and Lady Lamington at Government House
WOMANS WORLD. "AT HOME" AT GOVERNMENT-HOUSE. Lady Lamington was "at home" at Government House yesterday afternoon, and the very large number of visitors who called were received on the lawn by his Excellency the Governor and Lady Lamington. The afternoon was beautifully fine, and the function proved a most enjoyable one. Lady Lamington wore a simple yet elegant costume of cream-coloured silk, the bodice was trimmed with lace insertion and pale-blue satin, the sleeves were made with one large puff falling to the elbow; a bonnet of blue and black striped velvet with cream silk crown, trimmed with black ostrich plumes and spring flowers, and white gloves stitched with black, completed a charming toilette. Miss Rod wore a chene silk with blurred roses, the bodice was covered with cream applique, very pretty sleeves divided into two puffs; picture hat with pink roses and cream lace, a wreath of pink roses resting on the hair at the back. Mrs. Stuart wore a black and white check silk trimmed with cream lace and black satin; large hat of white straw, trimmed with pink roses. . . . THE CARDS. The following ladies and gentlemen left their cards: . . . Mrs. G. V. Hellicar, Miss Hughes, Miss W. Holloway, Mr. and Mrs. J. Hesketh, Miss F. Harrington, Mr. and Mrs. W. G. Hayman, Mrs. W. E. Hill, Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Harris, Mrs. G. Harris, Mr. and Mrs. A. G. C. Haw-thorn, Miss Hanley, Mrs. Lloyd-Hassall, Mrs. Hobbs, Miss Hobbs, Miss Hart, Miss Mary Hart, Miss Mina Hollander, Mr. W. C. Harding, Mr. and Mrs. R. S. Hurd, Miss Hurd, Miss Hutton, Mrs. Hannam, Dr. E. Hirschfeld, Mr. and Mrs. George R. Harding, Mrs. G. B. Hirsch, Mrs. E. A. Hunt, Mr. E. Harper, Dr. and Mrs. G. H. Hopkins, Mr. G. C. and the Misses Horstmann, Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Horstmann, Mrs. Hudson, Mr. and Mrs. G. Hanbury, Miss Higginson, Miss Haly, Miss Heinecke, Misses Harris, Mr. E. G. Heinecke, Miss Hassell, Miss M. Hassell, Captain H. C. W. Hamilton, Mr. George Hall, Mrs. W. Hutson, Mr. and Mrs. E. F. Hughes, Mr. W. H. Hart, Hon. G. L. and Mrs. Hart, Miss E. Hart, Mrs. Hirst, the Misses Hirst, Miss Hetherington, Miss Hanley, Mr. and Mrs. Hume, Miss Hume, Miss Harding, Mrs. Highfield, Mrs. Heussler. . . .
Hesketh promoting use of telephones rather than telegraphs for small post offices to minimise employment costs and enable extension of the network
TELEGRAPHIC SYSTEM IN NEW ZEALAND. As the Postmaster-General has now under consideration the establishment of a telephone system to work in conjunction with the telegraph system, the following extracts, for which we are indebted to Mr. Hesketh, the department's electrical engineer, from the annual report of the New Zealand Postmaster General, are of great interest. From the report it appears that in New Zealand there are 743 public offices for the transaction of telegraphic business, of which 233 only are worked by telegraph, the remaining 510 being worked by telephones. The main feeder lines are worked by telegraph, and the local lines by telephone, the advantage being that expert officers are not required for small local lines, and whereas a telegraph operator has to be paid at least £150 a year to take charge of an office, on the telephone system a local office can be looked after by a storekeeper, or other person, and a great saving thereby effected.
1896 10.
Biography and future plan of action for Hesketh from "Queensland Electric Telegraph Gazette,"
SKETCHER. The Government Electrical Engineer. The recent arrival of Mr. John Hesketh, A.M.I.C.E., M.I.I.E., marks an important stage of the development of the electric telegraph system in Queensland. The pressing need for the adoption of the most advanced and economical methods of working in order to reduce the cost of maintaining telegraphic communication through the immense area under their control, as well as the prospect of wider use of electricity as a lighting and motive power, induced the Government to seek the assistance of an electrical engineer of undoubted ability and experience in the headquarters of electrical science, with the result that Mr. John Hesketh was chosen for the position out of seventy applicants by Mr. W. H. Preece, an electrician whose world-wide fame makes his opinion the most valuable that could be obtained, and his recommendation at once decided the Government to offer to Mr. Hesketh the post of Government Electrical Engineer in Queensland. From the last issue of the "Queensland Electric Telegraph Gazette," to which we are also indebted for the loan of the portrait block here published, we take the subjoined particulars of Mr. Hesketh's professional career:— Mr. John Hesketh joined the postal telegraph service in the year 1880, and was stationed at Lancashire. He was transferred to Newcastle three years later. It was due to the progress he had made that he was here transferred to the testing branch. In this city he had the advantage of the science training at the Science School and the Durham College of Science. He was still in the testing branch when the first trials were made in high speed working; and, as test clerk, frequently had the adjusting and working of instruments when a speed of 600 words per minute was attained. The trial of copper wire for telegraphic purposes was also made between Newcastle and London while he was test clerk at the former place. Desiring other fields to conquer, the subject of our sketch joined the Engineering Department under Mr. Heaviside. Having now greater scope for his abilities, he organised and taught technological classes in telegraphy, telephony, and submarine mining. The telephone system was, about this time, in course of alteration, and Mr. Hesketh was fortunate enough to see all the transition work from the old system to the new multiple system. He appears to have had an insatiable desire to keep abreast of modern improvements and inventions in his profession, and took part in the first trials of the Synchronous Multiplex. He left the engineering branch of the Telegraph Department to join the Electrical Supply Company, still under Mr. Heaviside as consulting engineer. He remained with this company from the commencement of their works in 1889 until August, 1892, when he was appointed electrical engineer to the Blackpool Corporation. Whilst occupying this position, he organised and carried out the whole of the admirable electric lighting system of this borough, with extensions, and for a time had the working of the electrical tramways under his control. Mr. Hesketh joined the Institute of Electrical Engineers in the year 1890; and that of the Civil Engineers in 1895, having the honour of being proposed for the latter society by Lord Kelvin, the jubilee of whose professorship was recently celebrated by the University of Glasgow. On the formation of the Northern Society of Electrical Engineers, in which Mr. Hesketh assisted, he became a member of its council, and read the first paper. He was also elected a member of the council of the Municipal Electrical Association, for the first annual convention of which society, recently held, he also wrote a paper. The Electrical Engineer commenced the duties of his new position by issuing the first few of a series of technical instructions. His attention has also been engaged with the Electric Lighting Bill now before Parliament. He has Initiated a fresh system of testing, which came into operation last month, and is carried out daily on all lines terminating in Brisbane. Needless to say, many rumours are current concerning alterations alleged to have been recommended by the Eleotrical Engineer. This we do know: He abhors the sight of an ink-writer and considers no operator expert unless he is better at sound than sight reading. Therefore, we may hope before long to take our proper place in the ranks of the telegraph world by dispensing with those aids to inaccuracy and inefficiency. (Photo Caption Start) Mr. John Hesketh, A.M.I.C.E., M.I.E.E., Electrical Engineer to the Queensland Government. (Photo Caption End)
Hesketh provisionally appointed to lieutenant in the Defence Force (land)
Official Notifications. (From Saturday's "Government Gazette.") Appointments. . . . Chief Secretary's Office.— Ernest F. de Chair, to be lieutenant in the Defence Force (marine), and also officer instructor to naval corps in the Queensland Defence Force; John Hesketh, to be provisionally a lieutenant in the Defence Force (land); James R. Sankey, to be provisionally a lieutenant in the volunteer branch of the Defence Force (land); Lieutenant James S. Dods, to be placed on the unattached list; also, Lieu-tenant C. S. Stringer and Lieutenant Thomas J. McReady, to be placed on the unattached list; Lieutenant A. E. Crichton, to be a cap-tain in the Defence Force; Guy F. Darvall and Michael B. Feenaghty, to be provisionally lieutenants in the Defence Force.
Hesketh testifies at parliament over Electric Light &amp; Power Bill
ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER BILL. The second reading motion of this bill is the sole item on the Legislative Council business paper for today. The measure excited rather strong opposition from the City Council and some other local authorities when introduced a few weeks ago, and it was consequently referred to a Select Committee on which there were two such experts as Mr. A. C. Gregory and Mr. J. Thorneloe Smith. Since then the Committee have sat nine times, and examined eleven witnesses. Their report was presented on Tuesday last, and it will be useful to hon. gentlemen in debating the bill. It recommends many amendments, but these in no way alter the general tendency or scope of the measure. Legislation ought to have taken place on this important subject many years ago, but the delay has been advantageous in enabling our Parliament to make use of the experience gained elsewhere with respect to many electrical matters some of which have scarcely yet emerged from the region of experimental science. Besides the Imperial Acts, and colonial statutes based upon them which have been in operation for years past, we have the benefit of experts fresh from England and America in the persons of Mr. Hesketh, Electrical Engineer to the Queensland Government, and Mr. J. S. Badger, who lately arrived here from New York to convert the Brisbane tramways into electrical overhead lines. These gentlemen were among the witnesses, and they gave valuable information. Mr. J. L. Woolcock watched the proceedings as counsel for the Brisbane Municipality, and both the Mayor and the Town Clerk as well as the City Engineer and Alderman Clark, submitted themselves to examination. The City Council had the standing grievance that although they had for many years past endeavoured to secure the passing of a special Act giving them authority to introduce or to regulate electric light and power, the promises of various Governments in that respect remained unfulfilled; and now, by the passing of a general Act, it was proposed to place them even in a worse position than any non-corporate electrical authority to be created by the bill. Both the Mayor and Alderman Clark contended strongly that the City Council ought to be solely authorised to regulate electric light and power within the area under its jurisdiction. The bill provides that the local authority's consent must be obtained to the granting of an order within its district, unless the Governor-in-Council, in any case in which the consent is refused, as of opinion that, having regard to all the circumstances, such consent ought to be dispensed with. This power to over-ride local bodies the representatives of the Council deprecated, but the Select Committee were not convinced of the soundness of the objection. The provision therefore remains in the bill, an amendment being recommended, however, which places the local authority in as good a position with respect to time as any other applicant for an Order-in-Council to supply electricity. It was ascertained by the Select Committee that such a monopoly as the City Council desires is not permitted in the mother country or elsewhere, and although there is force in the contention that practical inconvenience is suffered through the power granted to gas and water and electrical authorities to severally break up the streets on the prescribed conditions, that inconvenience is deemed the lesser evil. If the public of Brisbane had been deprived of tramway communication until the City Council provided it that boon would have been indefinitely deferred, just as the wood blocking of Queen-street has been unjustifiably delayed. Should the bill pass in its present form the Council may at once make application for an Order-in-Council giving it authority to supply both electric light and power; but no monopoly will be granted, and if the Council do not undertake the supply within a reasonable time private enterprise will no doubt step in. The Order-in-Council remains current for the long term of forty-two years, which has been objected to; but recollecting that it confers no monopoly — that in the event of the public interests requiring it another Order-in-Council may be issued to a competing authority for the same area, and that the forty-two years' term has been adopted in the mother country after the failure of legislation imposing a shorter term — there seems no valid reason for refusing here an inducement that is freely granted elsewhere. The Warwick Gas Company also made objection to the bill in the person of their chairman, Mr. Hayes, but after examination and explanations that gentleman appeared to accept the position, his company would occupy under the bill. All conflicting interests now seem to have been fairly well reconciled, and it may be expected that the bill will pass without much opposition. Mr. Thynne must be congratulated upon the ability with which he has piloted the measure through the Select Committee, and that body have earned the thanks of the country by the care and assiduity with which their duties have been discharged.
Hesketh instructed by Thynne to develop a plan to convert small telegraph offices into telephone offices
REORGANISING THE TELEGRAPH SYSTEM. The Postmaster-General (the Hon. A. J. Thynne) has instructed Mr. Hesketh, the electrical engineer of the Post and Telegraph Department, to have a map prepared showing the extent of the main lines of telegraph in the colony and what might be termed the subsidiary lines or feeders, with a view of ultimately converting a great many of what are now heavy drags on the expenditure of the department as telegraph offices into telephone offices. These converted offices will act as feeders to the main line, on the same principle as pertains in New Zealand.
Hesketh involved in a legal dispute over cab hiring to get to and from the Government Ball
A CABMAN'S FARE. A case which created considerable interest among cabmen was heard in the City Small Debts Court on Wednesday, before Mr. G. P. M. Murray, Police Magistrate, and Messrs. G. Robert and W. Gilles, JJ.P. Patrick Foley, cabman, summoned J. Hesketh, Government Electrical Engineer, for the recovery of 15s. 7½d., cab fare, alleged to be due for a hiring. Defendant paid 6s. into court. The point at issue appeared to be whether the hiring was a continuous one, or whether there had been two distinct engagements. Defendant hired plaintiff on the Alice-street stand to drive him from The Mansions, George-street, to Government House, on the night of the last ball there. Defendant's wife accompanied him. He asked plaintiff if he could return about midnight, and he consented to do so. Plaintiff returned to the Alice-street rank, and subsequently to Government House at the hour mentioned. After driving defendant to The Mansions he demanded 7s. 6d., but defendant offered him 6s., which the cab-man refused to take, contending it was a continuous hiring, the legal fare for which would be 15s. 7½d. Defendant's contention was that there were two distinct hirings, the legal fare for which would have been 2s. 6d., but he was willing to pay 6s., and plaintiff having returned to the ranks, in accordance with the provisions of the by-laws, he was plying for hire; moreover, the fact of his demanding 7s. 6d. was evidence that plaintiff believed he had not been continuously hired. Mr. T. F. O'Carroll, Comptroller of Traffic, gave evidence that in his opinion the hiring had not been a continuous one, but that there had been two distinct hirings, the legal fare for which would have been 2s. 6d. Verdict was given for defendant, with 2s. costs of plea. Mr. Hesketh not asking for witnesses' expenses.
Hesketh forewarns Municipal councils of possible consequences of passing of the Electric Lighting Bill
THE ELECTRIC LIGHTING BILL. The Brisbane Municipal Council yesterday considered a communicatíon addressed by the Government Electrician to the Ipswich Municipal Council, in which Mr. Hesketh, referring to the bill now before Parliament, stated that in the event of the bill being made law many companies would doubtless seek powers to establish electric lighting undertakings in the principal towns, and unless forestalled by the local authority, would practically obtain a footing which could not be taken from them, except at great loss to the municipality. The Mayor referred to the new clause inserted in the bill by the Select Committee, making special provision that existing works should not be affected by the provisions of the Act, and that it should not be necessary to do more than apply for and obtain an order in respect to any such works constructed before 1st September last. Alderman Clark said that if no action was taken the council would suffer materially. He moved that the Mayor and Aldermen Fraser, McMaster, and Mr. Macdonald-Paterson, M.L.A., wait upon the Premier to bring the matter under his notice, and state the council's views upon the matter. The motion was agreed to. Alderman McMaster said that the Mayor should find out what authority the Electric Company had in the city of Brisbane. The bill was made retrospective, and it looked to him as if it was done for a purpose. They ought to inquire whether the company was registered, and who were the shareholders. If the Government was bringing in the bill to push the council aside for the purposes of a private company, it was time the council asserted their rights. The council had been for a number of years trying to get a special Act for the city. Although a supporter of the Government, he was not going to be a party to assisting them to rob the council. He moved, and it was agreed to, that the Mayor be requested to inquire if the Electric Company was registered, and to ascertain their powers and the powers of the council.
Hesketh attached as supernumerary Acting Lieutenant in Brisbane Engineers, Qld Defence Forces (Colonel Gunter)
QUEENSLAND LAND FORCES. In General Orders dated 8th October, the following appointments and other changes are announced by the Com-mandant:— Brisbane Engineers: Acting Lieutenant J. Hesketh is attached to the corps as a supernumerary. . . .
Hesketh supervises the laying of two new submarine cables in Moreton Bay, also tests their use for telephone rather than telegraph
TELEPHONE V. TELEGRAPH. COMMUNICATION WITH ST. HELENA AND DUNWICH. Mr. Hesketh, the electrical engineer of the Post and Telegraph Department, was employed during the greater part of last week in superintending the laying of a second cable between St. Helena and Lytton. The old cable, which had failed, was restored, and a second cable laid, establishing a duplicate service from the island to the mainland. The Government steamer Pippo was used for laying the cable, and when at St. Helena Mr. Hesketh tried the experiment of telephoning by the cable from there to Brisbane, and was most successful. It is probable that the telephone will be used on that line in place of the telegraph. Mr. Hesketh, the electrical engineer of the Post and Telegraph Department, has concluded his experiments in telephone on the telegraph lines from Brisbane to Ipswich, they being in every way successful. One or two points will have to be finally arranged before the system can be used by the public, and its installation may be looked forward to shortly. In the meantime a dozen applications have been made to the department by outside places, where the telegraphic system is unsuited, for telephone connection. These applications will be dealt with as opportunity arises.
Hesketh wins kudos from country districts for the telegraph-telephone conversion
Brisbane Notes. (From our correspondent.) October 14. . . . The work of telephonising (if the word be accepted) our telegraph lines is going on apace. Telephony will soon be established between Brisbane and Ipswich, and numberless little telegraph offices that were over-looked in the conversion scheme are applying to be turned into telephone offices instead. People wanted to know what Mr. Hesketh, the Government Electrical Engineer, was going to do. Since his arrival no one has been busier, and at good work too. This conversion from telegraph to telephone will alone earn his salary many times over. Besides, electricity is the coming power, and should be dealt with accordingly.
Hesketh in first visit to Maryborough district attending to several matters, conducts successful experiment in telephony between Maryborough and Brisbane
GENERAL NEWS. . . . Mr. Hesketh, the new Government Electrical Engineer, is paying his first visit to this district. He proceeded from Brisbane to Childers to inspect the telegraph line from Childers to Cordalba, which is being erected according to his specifications, involving a new and improved system. Mr. Hesketh returned to Maryborough on Saturday, and in the evening had a informal interview with members of the . Chamber of Commerce at the School of Arts on the question of reduced rates to the telephone exchange. Some satisfactory information was given, and the matter will be pursued further. Yesterday morning, assisted by Mr. S. O'Brien, the Telegraph-master, Mr. Hesketh conducted a very successful experiment in long distance telephoney. In accordance with a prior arrangement, at the appointed hour the line was cleared between Maryborough and Brisbane, and the telephones hitched on. A remarkably clear and distinct conversation was then carried on between the gentlemen at this end, and the officials at the other, including, we understand, the Hon. A. J. Thynne, Postmaster-General. Mr. Hesketh appears to be a very accomplished, practical, and enterprising man, and we may look for many progressive reforms in the Department, which has been specially placed in his charge. Amongst other innovations, we believe, it is not improbable that telephone connection between Maryborough and Gympie will be established, the idea being to allow five minute conversations at the public telephones, for say one shilling. This would be a great advantage and boon to mining brokers and speculators. This morning before leaving for Brisbane, Mr. Hesketh will inspect the line across the river at the bridge, now supported on portions of the old bridge, which the Bridge Board have requested to be removed.
Comprehensive report of Hesketh interview by Maryborough Chamber of Commerce, telephones promoted, also need for PMGD to maintain telephone unit
THE TELEPHONE EXCHANGE. MR. HESKETH INTERVIEWED. In accordance with the wishes of the members of the Chamber of Commerce, the Secretary of that body (Mr. D. Gardner) interviewed Mr. Hesketh, Government Electrical Engineer, on Friday evening last, with reference to placing telephonic communication on a better footing in Maryborough than heretofore, and rendering this speedy mode of transacting business much more popular. Mr. Hesketh assured his interviewer that changes were at present underway, and there was every reason to hope that, if representations were made, Maryborough and all other towns would receive the same consideration as to terms as the metropolis. Questioned as to the telephones at present in use, Mr. Hesketh gave it as his opinion that nine tenths of the complaints made regarding the inability to distinguish what was spoken through the machines was due, not to any fault of the wires, but to defective instruments. "The telephone of ten years ago and the telephone of today are as chalk to cheese, said Mr. Hesketh, so great has been the improvements effected during the term mentioned. The life of a telephone is about ten years; little of the original instrument remains at the end of that term, the various important parts having been substituted in the course of repairs." In order to minimise these complaints, in most cases the result of not keeping the instrument in a proper state of repair, a scheme might be devised whereby the Government would supply the machines and keep them in thorough order. By this means the most approved instruments only would be fixed, and there would not be that tendency on the part of those in whose care they were entrusted to work them to death in order to save the cost of repairs, as, on the first indication of there being anything wrong with the instrument, the subscriber would forthwith notify the department and have the defect remedied. The first outlay, which is considerable, and in many cases a bar to having a connection with the exchange, would be avoided. Although not an official utterance, Mr. Hesketh believed that if the number of subscribers could be increased to fifty, the department would supply the instruments and keep them in repair at £8 per annum for the privilege of connection, the membership fee to be payable in half-yearly instalments, instead of yearly as at present. This would be a great consideration, as those not now connected would only require to lay out £4 instead of about £20. Under these arrangements there is little doubt that the required number (50, or 21 additional to the number now connected), and many more could be induced to subscribe, and it but remains for the Chamber of Commerce to take the initial step of placing the matter before the hon. the Postmaster-General. Another subject spoken of was long distance telephonic communication, such as a connection with Gympie, Bundaberg, and the Isis. In Mr. Hesketh's opinion this would be very easily accomplished, and it but remained for the towns interested to bring this under the notice of the department. Asked as to the probable cost, Mr. Hesketh said he thought a guarantee of £80 a year would be sufficient to ensure connection with either Gympie or Bundaberg. When once the connection was made, all a business man in the towns named would require to do would be to ask to be connected with number so-an-so, Gympie or Maryborough, as the case might be, and on payment of 1s. have a three minutes conversation with those with whom he desired to do business. This, it must be admitted, would be a great improvement on the telegraph system, with its delays in delivery and other drawbacks in the way of mutilation of messages, besides bringing the towns in closer commercial touch with each other. Mr. Hesketh is evidently a firm believer in the advantages of the telephonic communication as a feeder to such a telegraph system as that of Queensland, and from the interesting interview with him, the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce is of opinion that he is prepared to render every assistance possible in popularising this speedy and effective means of transacting business. No time should be lost by the Chamber in urging the adoption of such a scheme as that set forth with reference to the supply of instruments by the Government, and the reduction in the price to, say, £8, payable in two instalments. We have been given to understand that the Government have already ordered some 300 of the best instruments procurable (up-to-date machines), and should we be successful in obtaining some of these, the popularity of the telephone exchange would assuredly increase. Years ago, with all its drawbacks, the present mode was fairly well appreciated, some seventy of the business men of the town having found it desirable to be connected. Surely, with all the modern appliances and a better knowledge of the importance of connection, there should be no difficulty in inducing the required number to enrol and thus obtain the benefit of the reduction, as well as a superior machine kept in thorough working order by the department.
1896 11.
Hesketh supports extension of telephone system to Drayton
LOCAL GOVERNMENT. Drayton Shire Council. The regular meeting of the Drayton Shire Council was held on Wednesday afternoon, the members present being Messrs R. Handley (Chairman), W. Crawford, W. Peak, S. G. Shepperd, J. French, J. Shepperd, J. Brown, and R. Harvey. The minutes of last regular meeting were read and confirmed. CORRESPONDENCE. . . . From W. H. Groom, stating that in accordance with his promise at last general election to try to get telephonic communication with Drayton he had had an interview with the Under Secretary for Post and Telegraph Offices and Mr Hesketh the Electrical Engineer, who were both favourable to the project. Telephonic communication would be rendered certain if the Shire Council would help to a certain extent. The salary of the operator in Drayton would be £10 per annum, and the Department would be satisfied if the returns from the Drayton Office reached that amount but should it not do so he desired to know whether the Council would make up the deficiency to £10. Mr Groom to be informed that the Council is willing to make up the deficiency if any is required. On the motion of Councillor Handley, seconded by Councillor French, the Clerk was instructed to write and thank Messrs. Groom and Fogarty for the interest they had taken in these matters.
Hesketh accompanies the Qld Postmaster-General to the postal conference in Sydney
LADIES COLUMNS. SOCIAL DOINGS. . . . The Hon. A. J. Thynne and Miss Thynne left for Sydney on Thursday evening, where Mr. Thynne will attend the sittings of the Postal Conference. Mr. Thynne was accompanied by Mr. J. McDonnell, Under Secretary to the Post and Telegraph Department, and Mr. John Hesketh, electrical engineer.
Hesketh passes through Wallangarra on his way to the postal conference in Sydney
OVERLAND PASSENGERS. (By Telegraph.) WALLANGARRA, November 13. The following passengers travelled by mail train today:— For Sydney: Messrs. E. James, Hon. A. J. Thynne, Miss Thynne, Messrs. J. McDonnell, J. Hesketh, W. McLean, Thomas Walters, F. W. Lord, G. R. Allen, R. Kelvin, Mrs. Eustace. For Melbourne: Mr. A. J. Ketchner, Mr. and Mrs. F. J. Miles. . . .
New post &amp; telegraph regulations approved and to take effect 1 March 1897, rates and processes to be revised, telephones to be supplied and maintained by the P&amp;TD
NEW TELEPHONE RATES. FRESH REGULATIONS. WORKING OF THE SYSTEM. TELEPHONOGRAMS AND TRUNK LINES. At the meeting of the Executive Council yesterday, the new regulations under which the telephone system is to be worked from the 1st March, 1897, were approved. It has been known that for long the Postmaster-General has had under his consideration the complete revision of the rates, and since Mr. Hesketh's arrival the question has been given special prominence. It was recognised that the present system is far from efficient, and therefore the recommendation of the electrical engineer to adopt the underground metallic circuit system was adopted, and the necessary material ordered. By far the most fruitful source of trouble hitherto has been the instrument faults. Last year out of a total of 3519 faults 2858 were instrument faults. The instruments hitherto used have been of a variety of types and patterns, and have all been the property of the subscribers, they having purchased them from local dealers. This the Postmaster-General has decided to alter. In future all instruments will be supplied by the department, and therefore the responsibility of the whole system will be theirs. Local dealers may consider themselves aggrieved, but it is urged In reply that the fault has been in permitting them to interfere in the past — not in preventing them in the future. We understand that the instruments ordered from home are to be of the English Hunnings type. A full specification has been sent to the Agent-General by the Electrical Engineer, and he will wire the name of the selected tenderer for acceptance. Where a subscriber already owns his instrument these changes will still hold, but the department undertake full maintenance of the instrument, and will replace it immediately it becomes faulty. So far as the rates to be charged in future for Brisbane are concerned, there is not much change. The rates will be £6 per annum for the first half-mile, and 25s. for every additional half-mile, including wire and instrument Seeing that out of the 600 subscribers over 400 are within the half-mile radius, this is a distinct reduction, having regard to the fact that the new service will be far more efficient. By far the greatest advantage is given to suburban and country exchanges, which are now placed on the same terms as Brisbane. Residential districts should now be connected with the system, for £6 is not a high rate to pay for the service, especially when it is paid in half-yearly instalments. This is provided for by the suburban exchange clause. Fifteen renters insure a service from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and thirty a continuous service. This also holds for country towns. The rates for call office communication have been reduced to 3d. for three minutes, and a system of telephonograms introduced. Subscribers to the Telephone Exchange can now send telephonograms for delivery in the mile radius for 6d. for twenty words, and 1d. for every succeeding four words. This advantage should now be extended to the general public as well as to telephone subscribers. Trunk lines are contemplated between any two towns possessing exchanges, so that should the Ipswich people desire to bring to a successful issue their agitation for a trunk line to Brisbane, they need only provide the necessary fifteen or thirty subscribers, and the trunk line will follow as a matter of course. Altogether the new rates are, we believe, far lower than those charged in any of the other colonies, and if the new system be all it promises to be, there should be no grounds for any complaint.
As previous
Brisbane News. [From Our Metropolitan Files.] Tuesday, November 17. . . . At the meeting of the Executive Council, today, the new regulations under which the telephone system is to be worked from the 1st of March, 1897, were approved. It has been known that for long the Postmaster-General has had under his consideration the complete revision of the rates, and since Mr. Hesketh's arrival the question has been given special prominence. It was recognised that the present system is far from efficient, and therefore the recommendation of the electrical engineer to adopt the underground metallic circuit system was adopted, and the necessary material ordered. Trunk lines are contemplated between any two towns possessing exchanges, so that should the Ipswich people desire to bring to a successful issue their agitation for a trunk line to Brisbane, they need only provide the necessary fifteen or thirty subscribers, and the trunk line will follow as a matter of course.
Maryborough Chamber of Commerce notes that telephone subscribers unlikely to renew subscriptions with new rates imminent
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. The monthly meeting of the Chamber of Commerce was held in the School of Arts last night. Present — Messrs. Jas. Hockley (president), E. B. C. Corser, Jas. Robertson, F. G. Popp, J. Graham, G. Horsburgh, H. M. Ramsay, and Jas. Fairlie. The minutes of the previous meeting were confirmed, and correspondence read. . . . The Secretary reported upon an interview he had had with Mr. Hesketh, the Government Electrician, with regard to the telephones. What Mr. Hesketh had stated was practically embodied in the report in the Courier of that day's issue. (See below). It was stated that in face of the proposed reductions in March, no one would be likely to renew the telephones on the 1st January at the old rates. A motion was passed that the Postmaster General be asked to allow the Maryborough subscribers to pay the new rates from 1st January, with the use of the old telephones till replaced by the new Government machines. Meanwhile the Telephone Subcommittee will endeavour to increase the subscribers to the telephone exchange, on the basis of the new rates.
Hesketh returns to Brisbane from the postal conference in Sydney
OVERLAND PASSENGERS. WALLANGARRA, November 21. The following passengers travelled by mail train to-day:— . . . For Brisbane: Mr. and Mrs. S. Rowlands, Miss Hogan, Messrs. John Hesketh, C. F. Parkinson, A. W. Walker, W. Speeding, John Hogan, H. F. Lord, H. Cooling, D. Lanham, W. Marshall, and D. R. McCulloch.
Hesketh's new regulations quickly result in a movement in Toowoomba to establish a telephone exchange to enable telephone communication with Brisbane
TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION. Mr. Hesketh, the recently appointed electrical engineer, has not been idle since his appointment. One of the chief matters that has engaged his attention has been a complete investigation of telephonic communication as at present carried on in Queensland. Needless to say, it has not by any means met with his approbation, and he has recommended several alterations, which at a meeting of the Executive Council last week were approved, and the new telephone system will come into operation on the 1st March, 1897. The rents to be charged in future have been reduced from £10 to £6 for the first half mile from the exchange, and 25s for every additional half-mile. Where fifteen subscribers can be obtained a service will be given from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and where there are thirty the service will be continuous. In addition trunk lines are contemplated between towns containing exchanges. The opportunity has now arrived for the business men of Toowoomba to establish an exchange. On more than one occasion it has been tried before, but has proved a failure, principally owing to the impossibility to connect with Brisbane. As this disability may now be removed the time has come for taking action. Mr C. W. Hamilton, and this Office, have always taken an active interest in trying to bring about the establishment of a telephone exchange in Toowoomba and if those desirous of joining in the movement will commnnicate with Mr Hamilton or the Gazette Office, the basis of a scheme may be arranged. The benefits of having direct telephonic communication with Brisbane should be too apparent to every business man in the place to need an explanation. The rate for call office communication has been reduced to three pence for three minutes, and subscribers have the further advantage of sending a telephone message containing twenty words for sixpence, and the message will be delivered within the radius of a mile from the exchange.
1896 12.
Hesketh's position in respect of the Electric Light and Power Bill aired in Parliament
PARLIAMENT. Friday, December 4. LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. The Speaker read prayers, and took the chair at 3.30 o'clock. ADDITIONAL SITTING DAY. Mr. Tozer, for Sir Hugh Nelson, moved, — "That the House will meet for the despatch of business at 3 o'clock p.m. on Monday next, in addition to the days already provided by sessional order; and that Government business take precedence of all other business on that day." In doing so he pointed out to what an extent the paper was burdened with orders of the day, and how in asking for the extra sitting day it was intended to advance a number of minor but still very important measures of a non-contentious character. He hoped the extra sitting day would be allowed. Mr. Glassey said it was extraordinary that there was such an array of Government measures on the paper at this late stage of the session. There was something wrong when the House was asked to do so much business in a week or two. It signified that there had been a great want of foresight. He further pointed out that on the business paper there were many motions by private members, and if the Premier meant to draw the session to a close without giving opportunity for consideration of them, he was making a mistake. . . . ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER BILL. Mr. Tozer moved the second reading of the Electric Light and Power Bill, which he said was practically a summary of the English legislation on the subject. The bill had been thoroughly revised by a Select Committee of the Legislative Council. Mr. Glassey said he absolutely declined to discuss the details of a bill of such magnitude at this late stage of the session. Mr. McMaster said the bill ought to have been brought on in the Assembly earlier. In fact he thought it ought to have been introduced in the Assembly. The bill was designed to protect certain companies and to curtail the powers of local authorities. Mr. Tozer: What companies? Mr. McMaster: Any company that has an electric wire stretched over any portion of a town. Mr. Tozer: Whatever Barton got, the Brisbane Municipal Council gave him. Mr. McMaster: They did not. He had stretched wire without one permission, with the exception of two. (Laughter.) He questioned whether the electric light was going to be the best light for the lighting of cities. He believed the incandescent lights on the gas were superior. Mr. Browne said the Croydon Municipal Council had been trying for two years to get authority to establish and control electric lighting, but they could not get that authority under the Local Government Act. Mr. Annear said that legislation of this kind should emanate from the representatives of the people. He urged the withdrawal of the bill. Mr. Fraser said that if the bill were passed the Brisbane Municipal Council would have to give notice to electric light companies before they could repair their streets. Mr. Battersby said he believed the measure was required by towns other than Brisbane. Mr. Drake moved the adjournment of the debate. Mr. Tozer said that the bill had been before members since August. Mr. Dawson: The bill is contentious. Mr. Tozer: Solely from the point of view of the Brisbane Municipal Council. Mr. McMaster: No. Mr. Drake: Those persons who have studied it most are most opposed to it. Mr. Tozer referred to what the Government electrician (Mr. Hesketh) had said as to the urgency of the bill. No expert had objected to the measure. Mr. McDonald read from the Electrical Review a condemnatory criticism on the electric light system of Blackpool by the present engineer for that town. Mr. Bell, who defended Mr. Hesketh, said he had heard that gentleman state that he very much wished the bill to pass. Mr. McDonnell said the debate should be adjourned, because the bill was opposed by local authorities. Mr. Hesketh, in a report to the Ipswich Municipal Counoil, had condemned the bill. Mr. Leahy said that Mr. Bell had given an extraordinary reason why the bill should be proceeded with. The motion for the adjournment of the debate was defeated by 26 votes to 22. Mr. Leahy urged that the bill be not proceeded with. The House was just about sick of work. The bill was read a second time on the voices, and its committal fixed for Tuesday next. . . .
Explanation of the Blackpool electricity system problems having been identified by Hesketh rather than created by him
IN THE GALLERY. Business went through with a rush yesterday afternoon. There was a bit of a block at the outset consequent upon the proposition of the Premier to adjourn over Thursday afternoon. One or two members, notably Mr. Dunsford, made a bid for the donation of an hour or two of Government time to permit of divisions being taken on private members' business; but the agitation was without result, and Sir Hugh had his way. . . . The other evening Mr. McDonald, reading from the "Electrician," counselled care in accepting Mr. Hesketh's opinion on certain matters, the scientific paper in question having shown that the Blackpool electric lighting system, with which Mr. Hesketh had had some connection, had proved a failure. Yesterday the Home Secretary read correspondence, which showed that Mr. Hesketh had really demonstrated the failure of the Blackpool plant, and was in no way connected with its failure. There was just a suspicion that this matter would be taken further owing to a few casual but pointed references to Mr. McDonald's action by the member for Dalby, but nothing happened. Pursuing his usual policy, the leader of the Labour party moved a reduction in the Under Secretary's salary. It was, like all other similar motions, rejected in division. The department's estimates shortly afterwards were put through.
Hesketh mentioned (not altogether favourably) in Qld Parliament's supply debate (see previous for explanation)
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY. The Speaker (Hon. A. S. Cowley) read prayers, and took the chair at 3.30 o'clock. QUESTION OF ADJOURNMENT. The Premier moved,— "That the House at its rising adjourn till 6.30 p.m. next day." Mr. McDonald and Mr. Dunsford opposed the motion, on the grounds that members were anxious to get away to their homes. The motion was agreed to. . . . SUPPLY. Postmaster-General. Resumption of Committee. On the item, "Salaries," £137,540 — Mr. Byrnes detailed how the vote was an increase on the amount Iast year in consequence of increases to salaries. Mr. Dickson referred to the proposed change in reference to the carriage of newspapers from the southern colonies. He was not in favour of postage on newspapers at all, since they constituted an educational medium, it was desirable to circulate freely. . . . Mr. Macdonald-Paterson discussed the efficacy of the Civil Service Board in preventing such grievances as had been referred to. There were too many boards, and yet it seemed it was impossible for an employee to get justice in the Postal Department. Mr. Glassey said that it was time that the letter carriers, who had so far done their work so well, should be permanently appointed. The services rendered by those men were of such a character that they should be recognised and be permanently appointed. One officer in Gympie, of 24 years of age, was receiving £80 a year. Mr. Browne stated that the telegraphic line labourers complained that when working they were only paid so much per day, and that they had no chance of being appointed line repairers, messengers being appointed in preference to others who were not so competent for the work. Mr. Kerr complained that the answers he got in reference to the mail service between Gramzow and Beenleigh and Gramzow and Redland Bay were incorrect, He had visited the Logan electorate, and what struck him was the extensive accommodation in that electorate compared with that in the western districts. Mr. Stodart said that he had been through the Logan electorate that day and had only seen one post office. He advised the member for the Barcoo to look after his own electorate. Mr. Kerr asked if it was the intention of the department to run a service between Barcaldine and Blackall. Mr. Fitzgerald asked why the Government could not do in the western district as they did in other parts of the colony and utilise every possible means for creating mail services. Mr. Byrnes replying to Mr. Kerr, stated that the department had inquired into the matter, and decided that the traffic between Barcaldine and Blackall did not justify the expenditure for a mail service. Mr. Tozer said that the hon. member for Flinders had referred to a certain officer who had been brought out from home, as a failure when he had been previously employed at Blackpool; but he (Mr. Tozer) contended that that was not so, as anyone who had anything to do with Mr. Hesketh had certified to his ability. Mr. McDonald said that he had not said anything against the electrical engineer. He merely cautioned the Government to go steady in appointments of this land, in view of the reports circulated. He thought that the Home Secretary might have let him know that he was going to bring up the matter. Mr. Bell thought that Mr. McDonald should have announced to the Home Secretary that he intended to bring up the matter in the first place. Mr. McDonald contended that he should have done nothing of the kind. Mr. Keogh complained of the unfair manner in which the telegraph officers at the Ipswich station were treated in the matter of pay.
Further detail of previous
PARLIAMENT. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. The Presiding Chairman took the chair at 3.30 p.m. . . . Mr. TOZER, referring to a statement made the other day by Mr. McDonald, said that Mr. Hesketh, the Superinten-dent of Electric Telegraphs, was not a failure in the position he occupied at Blackpool; but that he bore a very high reputation at home. Mr. MCDONALD said he had said nothing against Mr. Hesketh.All he said was that in the face of a report regarding certain works at Blackpool the House should go slow regarding electrical matters here. Mr. BELL argued that Mr. McDonald should have exercised greater caution before he made any remark concerning Mr. Hesketh. Mr. MCDONALD stated that the para-graph with reference to the Blackpool electrical works came quite accidentally under his notice, and he felt himself quite justified in making the remarks he did.