irs RE 
work as hitherto. The Committee is no longer limited to 
Europe; every country represented in the Universal Telegraph 
Union having the right to take part in the deliberations and 
work of the CCI. Thus the way is paved for transition from 
a European telephone system to one em- 
bracing the whole world. It is hoped to form 
the radio telephonic connection between England and America, 
in connection with the telephone systems on both sides of 
the Atlantic, into a general means of communication, and the 
experimental work already shows very promising results. The 
developments recently made in the use of short waves for 
radio telephony also give promise of enabling the number of 
transoceanic connections to be increased to meet future re- 
quirements. If these developments progress as they bid fair 
to do, the time is not very far off, when long distance tele- 
phonic communication over land and sea will be as much a 
necessity for the whole civilized world, as short and medium 
distance communication is now. 
3. Radio 
In the sphere of radio communication, the beginnings of 
which date back to the closing years of last Century, an inter- 
national regulation was soon arrived at between the Depart- 
ments and private companies concerned. 
In this case international agreement is absolutely essential, 
as all radiations from a transmitting station of any one country 
extend, to a greater or less degree, according to the power and 
range of the transmitting station, over other countries and over 
the open sea. First the marine radio service had to be con- 
sidered, i. e. intercommunication between ships at sea, and 
between coastal stations and ships. The first preliminary 
radio conference met in 1903 in Berlin. Representatives 
attended this conference from the United States of America, 
and the principal European countries (Germany, England, 
France, Italy, Austro-Hungary, Russia and Spain). The pro- 
posals made then dealt with questions of operation and tariffs 
for the marine service, and with the question of government 
supervision over this new means of communication, as well 
as the recognition of the principle, that all the different radio 
telegraphic systems possessed equal rights and should be bound 
to an interchange of communication. These proposals formed 
the basis for an international radio agreement, which was 
laid before the first general conference held in 1906