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119-519: The Imperial Wireless Chain was a strategic international communications network of powerful long range radiotelegraphy stations, created by the British government to link the countries of the British Empire . The stations exchanged commercial and diplomatic text message traffic transmitted at high speed by Morse code using paper tape machines. Although the idea was conceived prior to World War I ,

238-465: A beat frequency ( heterodyne ) at the difference between the two frequencies is produced: f BEAT = | f IN − f BFO | {\displaystyle f_{\text{BEAT}}=|f_{\text{IN}}-f_{\text{BFO}}|} . If the BFO frequency is near enough to the radio station's frequency, the beat frequency is in the audio frequency range and can be heard in

357-465: A telegraph key , which turned the transmitter on and off, producing short ("dot") and long ("dash") pulses of radio waves, groups of which comprised the letters and other symbols of the Morse code. At the receiver, the signals could be heard as musical "beeps" in the earphones by the receiving operator, who would translate the code back into text. By 1910, communication by what had been called "Hertzian waves"

476-518: A telegraph line linking distant stations was very expensive, and wires could not reach some locations such as ships at sea. Inventors realized if a way could be found to send electrical impulses of Morse code between separate points without a connecting wire, it could revolutionize communications. The successful solution to this problem was the discovery of radio waves in 1887, and the development of practical radiotelegraphy transmitters and receivers by about 1899. Over several years starting in 1894,

595-555: A Dominion ended when Canadian parliament declared war on Germany on 9 September 1939, separately and distinctly from the United Kingdom's declaration of war six days earlier. By the 1950s, the term Dominion of Canada was no longer used by the United Kingdom, which considered Canada a "Realm of the Commonwealth". The government of Louis St. Laurent ended the practice of using Dominion in the statutes of Canada in 1951. This began

714-400: A constant sine wave generated by an electronic oscillator in the receiver called a beat frequency oscillator (BFO). The frequency of the oscillator f BFO {\displaystyle f_{\text{BFO}}} is offset from the radio transmitter's frequency f IN {\displaystyle f_{\text{IN}}} . In the detector the two frequencies subtract, and

833-637: A copy of any Federal legislation that has been assented to. Then, within two years after the receipt of this copy, the (British) Monarch in Council could disallow an Act. Thirdly, at least four pieces of Imperial legislation constrained the Canadian legislatures. The Colonial Laws Validity Act of 1865 provided that no colonial law could validly conflict with, amend, or repeal Imperial legislation that either explicitly, or by necessary implication, applied directly to that colony. The Merchant Shipping Act of 1894, as well as

952-468: A fixed amount of transoceanic telegram traffic, reducing the revenue of the cable companies and possibly bankrupting them. Parliament ruled out the creation of a private monopoly to provide the service and concluded that no government department was in a position to do so, and the Treasury were reluctant to fund the creation of a new department. Contracting the construction to a commercial "wireless company"

1071-703: A licence of a different class. As of 2021, licence Class A in Belarus and Estonia, or the General class in Monaco, or Class 1 in Ukraine require Morse proficiency to access the full amateur radio spectrum including the high frequency (HF) bands. Further, CEPT Class 1 licence in Ireland, and Class 1 in Russia, both of which require proficiency in wireless telegraphy, offer additional privileges:

1190-509: A matter of urgency. An expert committee also advised that Marconi were the only company with technology that was proven to operate reliably over the distances required (in excess of 2,000 miles (3,200 km)) "if rapid installation and immediate and trustworthy communication be desired". After further negotiations prompted by Treasury pressure, a modified contract was ratified by Parliament on 8 August 1913, with 221 Members of Parliament voting in favour, 140 against. The course of these events

1309-550: A means of communication. Continuous wave (CW) radiotelegraphy is regulated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as emission type A1A. The US Federal Communications Commission issues a lifetime commercial Radiotelegraph Operator License. This requires passing a simple written test on regulations, a more complex written exam on technology, and demonstrating Morse reception at 20 words per minute plain language and 16 wpm code groups. (Credit

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1428-501: A message, an operator at one office would tap on a switch called a telegraph key , creating pulses of electric current which spelled out a message in Morse code . When the key was pressed, it would connect a battery to the telegraph line, sending current down the wire. At the receiving office, the current pulses would operate a telegraph sounder , a device that would make a "click" sound when it received each pulse of current. The operator at

1547-399: A mile (800 m) long, and consisted of a row of five 277 feet (84 m) high lattice masts , erected in a line at 640 feet (200 m) intervals and at right angles to the overseas receiving station. These were topped by cross-arm measuring 10 feet (3.0 m) high by 90 feet (27 m) wide, from which the vertical wires of the aerial were hung, forming a " curtain antenna ". At Tetney

1666-744: A new federation named Canada from 1867. This was instituted by the British Parliament in the British North America Act, 1867 (see also Canadian Confederation ) . Section 3 of the Act referred to the new entity as a "Dominion", the first such entity to be created. From 1870 the Dominion included two vast neighbouring British territories without self-government: Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory ; together these became over time

1785-531: A new modulation method: continuous wave (CW) (designated by the International Telecommunication Union as emission type A1A). As long as the telegraph key was pressed, the transmitter produced a continuous sinusoidal wave of constant amplitude. Since all the radio wave's energy was concentrated at a single frequency, CW transmitters could transmit further with a given power, and also caused virtually no interference to transmissions on adjacent frequencies. The first transmitters able to produce continuous wave were

1904-593: A president of Ireland. At the same time, a law delegating functions to the King, not as King in Ireland but as the symbol of the co-operation amongst Commonwealth countries with which Ireland associated itself, continued to apply in external relations. The last statutory functions of the King with respect to Ireland were abolished in 1949 . The Balfour Declaration of 1926 , and the subsequent Statute of Westminster , 1931, restricted Britain's ability to pass or affect laws outside of its own jurisdiction. Until 1931, Newfoundland

2023-410: A range of 2,000 miles, which required relay stations, and that Britain should be connected to Canada , Australia , South Africa , Egypt, India , East Africa , Singapore , and Hong Kong . However, the report was not acted upon. While British politicians procrastinated, Marconi constructed stations for other nations, linking North and South America, as well as China and Japan, in 1922. In January 1922

2142-506: A receiver's earphone, this sounded like a musical tone, rasp or buzz. Thus the Morse code "dots" and "dashes" sounded like beeps. Damped wave had a large frequency bandwidth , meaning that the radio signal was not a single frequency but occupied a wide band of frequencies. Damped wave transmitters had a limited range and interfered with the transmissions of other transmitters on adjacent frequencies. After 1905 new types of radiotelegraph transmitters were invented which transmitted code using

2261-495: A shorter and more desirable call sign in both countries, and the right to use a higher transmit power in Russia. Efforts to find a way to transmit telegraph signals without wires grew out of the success of electric telegraph networks, the first instant telecommunication systems. Developed beginning in the 1830s, a telegraph line was a person-to-person text message system consisting of multiple telegraph offices linked by an overhead wire supported on telegraph poles . To send

2380-465: A standard part of radiotelegraphy receivers. Each time the radio was tuned to a different station frequency, the BFO frequency had to be changed also, so the BFO oscillator had to be tunable. In later superheterodyne receivers from the 1930s on, the BFO signal was mixed with the constant intermediate frequency (IF) produced by the superheterodyne's detector. Therefore, the BFO could be a fixed frequency. Continuous-wave vacuum tube transmitters replaced

2499-653: A substantive role as a representative of the British government, and ultimate executive power was vested in the British Monarch —who was advised only by British ministers in its exercise. Canada's independence came about as each of these sub-ordinations was eventually removed. When the Dominion of Canada was created in 1867, it was granted powers of self-government to deal with all internal matters, but Britain still retained overall legislative supremacy. This Imperial supremacy could be exercised through several statutory measures. In

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2618-678: A territory ceases to recognise the monarch as head of state, this status is changed by statute. Thus, for example, the British Ireland Act 1949 , recognised that the Republic of Ireland had "ceased to be part of His Majesty's dominions". The foundation of "Dominion" status followed the achievement of internal self-rule in British Colonies, in the specific form of full responsible government (as distinct from " representative government "). Colonial responsible government began to emerge during

2737-663: Is also taught by the military for use in emergency communications. However, commercial radiotelegraphy is obsolete. Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy, commonly called CW ( continuous wave ), ICW (interrupted continuous wave) transmission, or on-off keying , and designated by the International Telecommunication Union as emission type A1A or A2A , is a radio communication method. It was transmitted by several different modulation methods during its history. The primitive spark-gap transmitters used until 1920 transmitted damped waves , which had very wide bandwidth and tended to interfere with other transmissions. This type of emission

2856-486: Is given for amateur extra class licenses earned under the old 20 wpm requirement.) Dominion List of forms of government A dominion was any of several largely self-governing countries of the British Empire , once known collectively as the British Commonwealth of Nations . Progressing from colonies, their degrees of colonial self-governance increased unevenly over the late 19th century through

2975-402: Is now central and eastern Canada for almost 20 years. The Fathers of Confederation simply continued the system they knew, the system that was already working, and working well. The constitutional scholar Andrew Heard argues that Confederation did not legally change Canada's colonial status to anything approaching its later status of a Dominion. At its inception in 1867, Canada's colonial status

3094-472: Is that it was achieved with a minimum of legislative amendments. Much of Canada's independence arose from the development of new political arrangements, many of which have been absorbed into judicial decisions interpreting the constitution—with or without explicit recognition. Canada's passage from being an integral part of the British Empire to being an independent member of the Commonwealth richly illustrates

3213-513: Is the 2nd most popular mode of amateur radio communication, accounting for nearly 20% of contacts. This makes it more popular than voice communication, but not as popular as the FT8 digital mode, which accounted for 60% of amateur radio contacts made in 2021. Since 2003, knowledge of Morse code and wireless telegraphy has no longer been required to obtain an amateur radio license in many countries, it is, however, still required in some countries to obtain

3332-609: The Canadian Citizenship Act, 1946 , following which the British Nationality Act 1948 created Commonwealth citizenship and the Dominions subsequently created their own citizenships. As Heard later explained, the British government seldom invoked its powers over Canadian legislation. British legislative powers over Canadian domestic policy were largely theoretical and their exercise was increasingly unacceptable in

3451-540: The 1926 Imperial Conference to designate "autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations". The British government of Lloyd George had emphasised the use of the capital "D" when referring to

3570-778: The British Chambers of Commerce added their voice to the demands for action, adopting a resolution urging the government to urgently resolve the matter, as did other organisations such as the Empire Press Union , which claimed that the Empire was suffering "incalculable loss" in its absence. Under this pressure, after the 1922 General Election , the Conservative government commissioned the Empire Wireless Committee, chaired by Sir Robert Donald , to "consider and advise upon

3689-651: The British government created the Dominion Office from the Colonial Office , although for the next five years they shared the same secretary in charge of both offices. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada , Australia , New Zealand , Newfoundland , South Africa , and the Irish Free State at the 1926 Imperial Conference through the Balfour Declaration of 1926 , recognising Great Britain and

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3808-581: The Canadian Encyclopedia (1999), "The word came to be applied to the federal government and Parliament, and under the Constitution Act, 1982, 'Dominion' remains Canada's official title." Usage of the phrase Dominion of Canada was employed as the country's name after 1867, predating the general use of the term Dominion as applied to the other autonomous regions of the British Empire after 1907. The phrase Dominion of Canada does not appear in

3927-588: The Colonial Office received a formal proposal from the Marconi Company to construct a series of wireless telegraphy stations to link the British Empire within three years. While not then accepted, the Marconi proposal created serious interest in the concept. A dilemma faced by Britain throughout the negotiations to establish the chain was that Britain owned the largest network of submarine telegraph cables . The proposed stations would directly compete with cables for

4046-606: The International Maritime Organization switched to the satellite-based GMDSS system. However it is still used by amateur radio operators, and military services require signalmen to be trained in Morse code for emergency communication. A CW coastal station, KSM , still exists in California, run primarily as a museum by volunteers, and occasional contacts with ships are made. In a minor legacy use, VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) and NDB radio beacons in

4165-605: The Irish Free State in the Anglo-Irish Treaty to assure it the same constitutional status in order to avoid confusion with the wider term "His Majesty's dominions", which referred to the British Empire as a whole. At the time of the founding of the League of Nations in 1924, the League Covenant made provision for the admission of any "fully self-governing state, Dominion, or Colony", the implication being that "Dominion status

4284-580: The League of Nations with full power over appointing ambassadors to other countries. Following the Second World War , the changes in the constitutional relationship between the countries that continued to share a common sovereign with the United Kingdom led to the upper case term Dominion falling out of use. The Dominions Office was formally changed to the Commonwealth Relations Office in 1947. The status of "Dominion" established by

4403-618: The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company , dominated early radio. In the period leading up to World War I , long distance radiotelegraphy became a strategic defense technology, as it was realized that a nation without radio could be isolated by an enemy cutting its submarine telegraph cables , as indeed happened during the war. Starting around 1908, industrialized nations built global networks of powerful transoceanic wireless telegraphy stations to exchange Morse code telegram traffic with their overseas colonies. In 1910

4522-515: The Second Boer War (1899–1902). The self-governing colonies contributed significantly to British efforts to stem the insurrection, but ensured that they set the conditions for participation in these wars. Colonial governments repeatedly acted to ensure that they determined the extent of their participation in imperial wars in the military build-up to the First World War . The assertiveness of

4641-561: The Union of South Africa in 1910. In connection with proposals for the future government of British North America, use of the term "Dominion" was suggested by Samuel Leonard Tilley at the London Conference of 1866 discussing the confederation of the Province of Canada (subsequently becoming the provinces of Ontario and Quebec ), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into "One Dominion under

4760-518: The arc converter (Poulsen arc) transmitter, invented by Danish engineer Valdemar Poulsen in 1903, and the Alexanderson alternator , invented 1906–1912 by Reginald Fessenden and Ernst Alexanderson . These slowly replaced the spark transmitters in high power radiotelegraphy stations. However, the radio receivers used for damped wave could not receive continuous wave. Because the CW signal produced while

4879-455: The " White Dominions ". Four colonies of Australia had enjoyed responsible government since 1856: New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. Queensland had responsible government soon after its founding in 1859. Because of ongoing financial dependence on Britain, Western Australia became the last Australian colony to attain self-government in 1890. During the 1890s, the colonies voted to unite and in 1901 they were federated under

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4998-654: The 16th century and was sometimes used to describe Wales from 1535 to around 1800: for instance, the Laws in Wales Act 1535 applies to "the Dominion, Principality and Country of Wales". Dominion , as an official title, was conferred on the Colony of Virginia about 1660 and on the Dominion of New England in 1686. Under the British North America Act, 1867 , the partially self-governing colonies of British North America were united into

5117-663: The 1867 act nor in the Constitution Act, 1982 , but does appear in the Constitution Act, 1871 , other contemporaneous texts, and subsequent bills. References to the Dominion of Canada in later acts, such as the Statute of Westminster , do not clarify the point because all nouns were formally capitalised in British legislative style. Indeed, in the original text of the Constitution Act, 1867 , "One" and "Name" were also capitalised. Frank Scott theorised that Canada's status as

5236-434: The 1870s and 1880s. The rise to the status of a Dominion and then full independence for Canada and other possessions of the British Empire did not occur by the granting of titles or similar recognition by the British Parliament but by initiatives taken by the new governments of certain former British dependencies to assert their independence and to establish constitutional precedents. What is remarkable about this whole process

5355-510: The 1920s and 1930s, they began to represent themselves in international bodies, in treaty making, and in foreign capitals. Later India , Pakistan , and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka ) also became dominions for short periods. With the transition of the British Empire into the Commonwealth of Nations after World War II, it was decided that the term Commonwealth country should formally replace dominion for official Commonwealth usage. This decision

5474-412: The 1920s for many applications, making possible radio broadcasting . Wireless telegraphy continued to be used for private person-to-person business, governmental, and military communication, such as telegrams and diplomatic communications , and evolved into radioteletype networks. The ultimate implementation of wireless telegraphy was telex , using radio signals, which was developed in the 1930s and

5593-505: The 1930s. Vestiges of empire lasted in some dominions well into the late 20th century. With the evolution of the British Empire following the 1945 conclusion of the Second World War into the modern Commonwealth of Nations (after which the former Dominions were often referred to as the Old Commonwealth ), finalised in 1949, the dominions became independent states, either as Commonwealth republics or Commonwealth realms . In 1925,

5712-609: The British Crown as the Commonwealth of Australia by the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act . The Constitution of Australia had been drafted in Australia and approved by popular consent. Thus Australia is one of the few countries established by a popular vote. Under the Balfour Declaration of 1926 , the federal government was regarded as coequal with (and not subordinate to) the British and other Dominion governments, and this

5831-688: The Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act of 1890 required reservation of Dominion legislation on those topics for approval by the British Government. Also, the Colonial Stock Act of 1900 provided for the disallowance of any Dominion legislation the British government felt would harm British stockholders of Dominion trustee securities. Most importantly, however, the British Parliament could exercise the legal right of supremacy that it possessed over common law to pass any legislation on any matter affecting

5950-400: The Crown , were notionally foreign territory and not "within the crown's dominions". When these territories—including protectorates and protected states (a status with greater powers of self-government), as well as League of Nations mandates (which later became United Nations Trust Territories )—were granted independence and at the same time recognised the British monarch as head of state,

6069-407: The Dominion of Canada. The new federal and provincial governments split considerable local powers, but Britain retained overall legislative supremacy. At the 1907 Imperial Conference , the self-governing polities of Canada and the Commonwealth of Australia were referred to collectively as Dominions for the first time. Two other self-governing colonies — New Zealand and Newfoundland —were granted

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6188-405: The Dominions as "autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations". Their full legislative independence was subsequently confirmed in the 1931 Statute of Westminster . In

6307-435: The Dominions, it was decided that the high-power Rugby longwave station (announced on 13 July 1922 by the previous government) would be completed since it used proven technology, in addition to which a number of shortwave "beam stations" would be built (so called because a directional antenna concentrated the radio transmission into a narrow directional beam). The beam stations would communicate with those Dominions that chose

6426-646: The Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi worked on adapting the newly discovered phenomenon of radio waves to communication, turning what was essentially a laboratory experiment up to that point into a useful communication system, building the first radiotelegraphy system using them. Preece and the General Post Office (GPO) in Britain at first supported and gave financial backing to Marconi's experiments conducted on Salisbury Plain from 1896. Preece had become convinced of

6545-482: The Name of Canada", the first federation internal to the British Empire. Tilley's suggestion was taken from the 72nd Psalm , verse eight, "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth", which is echoed in the national motto, " A Mari Usque Ad Mare ". The new government of Canada under the British North America Act, 1867 began to use the phrase "Dominion of Canada" to designate

6664-609: The Pacific, West Indies and Atlantic, and would also be given a lease on the beam stations for a period of 25 years, for the sum of £250,000 per year. The conference's recommendations were incorporated into the Imperial Telegraphs Act 1929 , leading to the creation of two new companies on 8 April 1929; an operating company Imperial and International Communications, in turn owned by a holding company named Cable & Wireless Limited . In 1934 Imperial and International Communications

6783-535: The Post Office, and that eight high-power longwave stations should be used, as well as land-lines. The scheme was estimated at £500,000. At the time the committee was unaware of Marconi's 1923 experiments into shortwave radio transmissions, which offered a much cheaper alternative – although not a commercially proven one – to high-power long-wave transmission system. Following the Donald Report and discussions with

6902-573: The Statute of Westminster in 1931 was capitalised to distinguish it from the more general sense of "within the crown's dominions". The phrase the crown's dominions or His/Her Majesty's dominions is a legal and constitutional phrase that refers to all the realms and territories of the British sovereign, whether independent or not. These territories include the United Kingdom and its colonies, including those that had become Dominions. Dependent territories that had never been annexed and were not colonies of

7021-566: The UK Government. After protracted negotiations (that initially included New Zealand), six Australian colonies with responsible government (and their dependent territories) agreed to federate, along Canadian lines, becoming the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. In South Africa, the Cape Colony became the first British self-governing Colony, in 1872. (Until 1893, the Cape Colony also controlled

7140-534: The United Kingdom act granting independence declared that such and such a territory "shall form part of Her Majesty's dominions", and so become part of the territory in which the Queen exercises sovereignty , not merely suzerainty . Under British nationality law , the status of "Dominion" ceased to exist on January 1, 1949, when it was decided that each Dominion would enact laws pertaining to its own citizenship. However, "Dominion status" itself never ceased to exist within

7259-531: The United Kingdom was the last of the world's great powers to implement an operational system. The first link in the chain, between Leafield in Oxfordshire and Cairo , Egypt, eventually opened on 24 April 1922, with the final link, between Australia and Canada, opening on 16 June 1928. Guglielmo Marconi invented the first practical radio transmitters and receivers , and radio began to be used for practical ship-to-shore communication around 1900. His company,

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7378-644: The act states: "Whereas the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick have expressed their Desire to be federally united into One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom   ..." Furthermore, Sections 3 and 4 indicate that the provinces "shall form and be One Dominion under the Name of Canada; and on and after that Day those Three Provinces shall form and be One Dominion under that Name accordingly". According to

7497-676: The antenna for India was similar to those at Bodmin and Bridgwater, while the Australian aerial was carried on three 275 feet (84 m) high masts. Electronic components for the system were built at Marconi's New Street wireless factory in Chelmsford . Devizes was home to a receiving station until the outbreak of World War I . Radiotelegraphy Radiotelegraphy was the first means of radio communication. The first practical radio transmitters and receivers invented in 1894–1895 by Guglielmo Marconi used radiotelegraphy. It continued to be

7616-569: The approval of its own legislature, Britain suspended self-government in Newfoundland and instituted a " Commission of Government ", which continued until Newfoundland became a province of Canada in 1949. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland and South Africa (prior to becoming a republic and leaving the Commonwealth in 1961), with their large populations of European descent, were sometimes collectively referred to as

7735-545: The aviation radio navigation service still transmit their one to three letter identifiers in Morse code. Radiotelegraphy is popular amongst radio amateurs world-wide, who commonly refer to it as continuous wave , or just CW. A 2021 analysis of over 700 million communications logged by the Club Log blog, and a similar review of data logged by the American Radio Relay League , both show that wireless telegraphy

7854-632: The beam stations was reversed in 1947, when the Labour Government nationalised Cable and Wireless, integrating its UK assets with those of the Post Office. By this stage, however, three of the original stations had been closed, after the service was centralised during 1939–1940 at Dorchester and Somerton. The longwave Rugby radio station continued to remain under Post Office ownership throughout. The shortwave Imperial Wireless Chain "beam stations" operated in pairs; one transmitting and one receiving. Pairs of stations were sited at (transmitters first): At Bodmin and Bridgwater, each aerial stretched to nearly half

7973-403: The cable and wireless interests of the Eastern Telegraph Company , the Eastern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Company , Western Telegraph Company and Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company should be merged to form a single organisation holding a monopolistic position. The merged company would be overseen by an Imperial Advisory Committee, would purchase the government-owned cables in

8092-436: The colonies. For decades, the Dominions did not have their own embassies or consulates in foreign countries. International travel and commerce were transacted through British embassies and consulates. For example, matters concerning visas and lost or stolen passports of Dominion citizens were carried out at British diplomatic offices. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Dominion governments established their own embassies,

8211-400: The creation of the Imperial War Cabinet in 1917, which gave them a say in the running of the war. Dominion status as self-governing states, as opposed to symbolic titles granted various British colonies, waited until 1919, when the self-governing Dominions signed the Treaty of Versailles independently of the British government and became individual members of the League of Nations. This ended

8330-402: The crown as head of state. Gradually, particularly after 1953, the term was replaced by the term realm , as equal realms of the crown of the Commonwealth. The term dominion means "that which is mastered or ruled". It was used by the British to describe their colonies or territorial possessions. Use of dominion to refer to a particular territory within the British Empire dates back to

8449-454: The current provinces of Manitoba , Saskatchewan , and Alberta , and the three current territories, the Northwest Territories , Yukon and Nunavut . In 1871, the Crown Colony of British Columbia became a Canadian province, as did Prince Edward Island in 1873. Newfoundland , having become a Dominion itself in 1907, was restored to direct British rule in 1934, finally joining Canada in 1949 after referendums . The conditions under which

8568-486: The empire. The Colony of New Zealand , which chose not to take part in Australian federation, became the Dominion of New Zealand on 26 September 1907; Newfoundland became a Dominion on the same day. The Union of South Africa was referred to as a Dominion upon its creation in 1910. The initiatives and contributions of British colonies to the British war effort in the First World War were recognised by Britain with

8687-710: The event the link opened on 24 April 1922, two months after the UK declared Egypt independent . Parliament's decision came shortly after legal action initiated by Marconi in June 1919, claiming £7,182,000 in damages from the British government for breach of their July 1912 contract , and in which they were awarded £590,000 by the court. The government also commissioned the "Imperial Wireless Telegraphy Committee" chaired by Sir Henry Norman (the Norman Committee), which reported in 1920. The Norman Report recommended that transmitters should have

8806-626: The final link became operational between Australia and Canada, it was apparent that the commercial success of the Wireless Chain was threatening the viability of the cable telegraphy companies. An "Imperial Wireless and Cable Conference" was therefore held in London in January 1928, with delegates from the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions, India, the Crown Colonies and Protectorates, to "examine

8925-616: The first place, the British North America Act of 1867 provided in Section 55 that the Governor General may reserve any legislation passed by the two Houses of Parliament for "the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure", which is determined according to Section 57 by the British Monarch in Council. Secondly, Section 56 provides that the Governor General must forward to "one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State" in London

9044-579: The first two of which were established by Australia and Canada in Washington, D.C. , in the United States. Until 1948 any resident of a British colony or Dominion had the status of British subject . In 1935 the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act created a separate status of Irish national , but stopped short of creating a full citizenship. Canada was the first to create its own citizenship with

9163-561: The four separate Australian colonies— New South Wales , Tasmania , Western Australia , South Australia —and New Zealand could gain full responsible government were set out by the British government in the Australian Constitutions Act 1850 . The Act also separated the Colony of Victoria (in 1851) from New South Wales. During 1856, responsible government was achieved by New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania, and New Zealand. The remainder of New South Wales

9282-482: The greater scope of British law, because acts pertaining to "Dominion status", such as the Statute of Westminster 1931 , have not been repealed in both the United Kingdom and historic Dominions such as Canada. The term "within the crown's dominions" continues to apply in British law to those territories in which the British monarch remains head of state, and the term "self-governing dominion" is used in some legislation. When

9401-598: The idea through his experiments with wireless induction. However, the backing was withdrawn when Marconi formed the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company . GPO lawyers determined that the system was a telegraph under the meaning of the Telegraph Act and thus fell under the Post Office monopoly. This did not seem to hold back Marconi. After Marconi sent wireless telegraphic signals across the Atlantic Ocean in 1901,

9520-407: The key was pressed was just an unmodulated carrier wave , it made no sound in a receiver's earphones. To receive a CW signal, some way had to be found to make the Morse code carrier wave pulses audible in a receiver. This problem was solved by Reginald Fessenden in 1901. In his "heterodyne" receiver, the incoming radiotelegraph signal is mixed in the receiver's detector crystal or vacuum tube with

9639-658: The mid-19th century. The legislatures of Colonies with responsible government were able to make laws in all matters other than foreign affairs, defence and international trade, these being powers which remained with the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Nova Scotia soon followed by the Province of Canada (which included modern southern Ontario and southern Quebec ) were the first colonies to achieve responsible government, in 1848. Prince Edward Island followed in 1851, and New Brunswick and Newfoundland in 1855. All except for Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island agreed to form

9758-432: The new shortwave technology. Parliament finally approved an agreement between the Post Office and Marconi to build beam stations to communicate with Canada, South Africa, India and Australia, on 1 August 1924. From when the Post Office began operating the "Post Office Beam" services, through to March, 31st, 1929, they had earned gross receipts of £813,100 at a cost of £538,850, leaving a net surplus of £274,250. Even before

9877-572: The new, larger country. However, neither the Confederation nor the adoption of the title of "Dominion" granted extra autonomy or new powers to this new federal level of government. Senator Eugene Forsey wrote that the powers acquired since the 1840s that established the system of responsible government in Canada would simply be transferred to the new Dominion government: By the time of Confederation in 1867, this system had been operating in most of what

9996-440: The only type of radio transmission during the first few decades of radio, called the "wireless telegraphy era" up until World War I , when the development of amplitude modulation (AM) radiotelephony allowed sound ( audio ) to be transmitted by radio. Beginning about 1908, powerful transoceanic radiotelegraphy stations transmitted commercial telegram traffic between countries at rates up to 200 words per minute. Radiotelegraphy

10115-423: The other types of transmitter with the availability of power tubes after World War I because they were cheap. CW became the standard method of transmitting radiotelegraphy by the 20s, damped wave spark transmitters were banned by 1930 and CW continues to be used today. Even today most communications receivers produced for use in shortwave communication stations have BFOs. The International Radiotelegraph Union

10234-479: The phasing out of the use of Dominion , which had been used largely as a synonym of "federal" or "national" such as "Dominion building" for a post office, "Dominion-provincial relations", and so on. The last major change was renaming the national holiday from Dominion Day to Canada Day in 1982. Official bilingualism laws also contributed to the disuse of Dominion , as it has no acceptable equivalent in French. While

10353-530: The policy to be adopted as regards an Imperial wireless service so as to protect and facilitate public interest." Its report was presented to the Postmaster-General on 23 February 1924 The committee's recommendations were similar to those of the Norman Committee – that any stations in the United Kingdom used to communicate with the Empire should be in the hands of the state, that they should be operated by

10472-466: The purely colonial status of the Dominions. The Irish Free State , set up in 1922 after the Anglo-Irish War , was the third Dominion to appoint a non-UK born, non-aristocratic Governor-General when Timothy Michael Healy , following the tenures of Sir Gordon Drummond in Canada and of Sir Walter Edward Davidson and Sir William Allardyce in Newfoundland, took the position in 1922. Dominion status

10591-462: The receiver's earphones. During the "dots" and "dashes" of the signal, the beat tone is produced, while between them there is no carrier so no tone is produced. Thus the Morse code is audible as musical "beeps" in the earphones. The BFO was rare until the invention in 1913 of the first practical electronic oscillator, the vacuum tube feedback oscillator by Edwin Armstrong . After this time BFOs were

10710-617: The receiving location, Morse code is audible in the receiver 's earphone or speaker as a sequence of buzzes or beeps, which is translated back to text by an operator who knows Morse code. With automatic radiotelegraphy teleprinters at both ends use a code such as the International Telegraph Alphabet No. 2 and produced typed text. Radiotelegraphy is obsolete in commercial radio communication, and its last civilian use, requiring maritime shipping radio operators to use Morse code for emergency communications, ended in 1999 when

10829-541: The receiving station who knew Morse code would translate the clicking sounds to text and write down the message. The ground was used as the return path for current in the telegraph circuit, to avoid having to use a second overhead wire. By the 1860s, the telegraph was the standard way to send most urgent commercial, diplomatic and military messages, and industrial nations had built continent-wide telegraph networks, with submarine telegraph cables allowing telegraph messages to bridge oceans. However installing and maintaining

10948-421: The revenue which had been forecast, resulting in low dividends and an inability to reduce the rates charged to customers as much as had been expected. To ease the financial pressure, the British Government finally decided to transfer the beam stations to Cable and Wireless, in exchange for 2,600,000 of the 30,000,000 shares in the company, under the provisions of the Imperial Telegraphs Act 1938 . The ownership of

11067-538: The self-governing countries was recognised in the Imperial Conference of 1907 which, on the motions of the Prime Ministers of Canada and Australia, introduced the idea of the Dominions as self-governing countries by referring to Canada and Australia as Dominions. It also retired the name "Colonial Conference" and mandated that meetings take place regularly to consult the Dominions in running the foreign affairs of

11186-562: The separate Colony of Natal .) Following the Second Boer War (1899–1902), the British Empire assumed direct control of the Boer Republics , but transferred limited self-government to Transvaal in 1906, and the Orange River Colony in 1907. The Commonwealth of Australia was recognised as a Dominion in 1901, and the Dominion of New Zealand and the Dominion of Newfoundland were officially given Dominion status in 1907, followed by

11305-553: The situation which arose as a result of the competition of the Imperial Beam Wireless Services with the cable services of various parts of the empire, to report upon it and to make recommendations with a view to a common policy being adopted by the various governments concerned." It concluded that the cable companies would not be able to compete in an unrestricted market, but that the cable links remained of both commercial and strategic value. It therefore recommended that

11424-410: The status of Dominion in the same year. These were followed by the Union of South Africa in 1910. The Order in Council annexing the island of Cyprus in 1914 declared that, from 5 November 1914, the island "shall be annexed to and form part of His Majesty's dominions". Dominion status was formally accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at

11543-416: The system began being used for regular communication including ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship communication. With this development, wireless telegraphy came to mean radiotelegraphy , Morse code transmitted by radio waves. The first radio transmitters , primitive spark gap transmitters used until World War I, could not transmit voice ( audio signals ). Instead, the operator would send the text message on

11662-524: The term may be found in older official documents, and the Dominion Carillonneur still tolls at Parliament Hill , it is now hardly used to distinguish the federal government from the provinces or (historically) Canada before and after 1867. Nonetheless, the federal government continues to produce publications and educational materials that specify the currency of these official titles. The Constitution Act, 1982 does not mention and does not remove

11781-435: The title, and therefore a constitutional amendment may be required to change it. The word Dominion has been used with other agencies, laws, and roles: Notable Canadian corporations and organisations (not affiliated with government) that have used Dominion as a part of their name have included: Ceylon , which, as a Crown colony, was originally promised "fully responsible status within the British Commonwealth of Nations",

11900-569: The various colonies they incorporated could have done separately. They provided a new model which politicians in New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, Ireland, India, Malaysia could point to for their own relationship with Britain. Ultimately, "[Canada's] example of a peaceful accession to independence with a Westminster system of government came to be followed by 50 countries with a combined population of more than 2-billion people." Issues of colonial self-government spilled into foreign affairs with

12019-556: The way in which fundamental constitutional rules have evolved through the interaction of constitutional convention, international law, and municipal statute and case law. What was significant about the creation of the Canadian and Australian federations was not that they were instantly granted wide new powers by the Imperial centre at the time of their creation; but that they, because of their greater size and prestige, were better able to exercise their existing powers and lobby for new ones than

12138-467: The wishes of the opposition and officials in London. The governments of the states (colonies before 1901) remained under the Commonwealth but retained links to the UK until the passage of the Australia Act 1986 . The term Dominion is employed in the Constitution Act, 1867 (originally the B ritish North America Act, 1867 ), and describes the resulting political union. Specifically, the preamble of

12257-558: Was able to use it to its advantage during the conflict. With the end of the war and the Dominions continuing to apply pressure on the government to provide an "Imperial wireless system", the House of Commons agreed in 1919 that £170,000 should be spent constructing the first two radio stations in the chain, in Oxfordshire (at Leafield ) and Egypt (in Cairo), to be completed in early 1920 – although in

12376-427: Was banned by 1934, except for some legacy use on ships. The vacuum tube (valve) transmitters which came into use after 1920 transmitted code by pulses of unmodulated sinusoidal carrier wave called continuous wave (CW), which is still used today. To receive CW transmissions, the receiver requires a circuit called a beat frequency oscillator (BFO). The third type of modulation, frequency-shift keying (FSK)

12495-467: Was being universally referred to as " radio ", and the term wireless telegraphy has been largely replaced by the more modern term "radiotelegraphy". The primitive spark-gap transmitters used until 1920 transmitted by a modulation method called damped wave . As long as the telegraph key was pressed, the transmitter would produce a string of transient pulses of radio waves which repeated at an audio rate, usually between 50 and several thousand hertz . In

12614-501: Was disrupted somewhat by the Marconi scandal , when it was alleged that highly placed members of the governing Liberal party had used their knowledge of the negotiations to indulge in insider trading in Marconi shares. The outbreak of World War I led to the suspension of the contract by the government. Meanwhile Germany successfully constructed its own wireless chain before the war, at a cost equivalent to two million pounds sterling , and

12733-525: Was divided in three in 1859, a change that established most of the present borders of NSW; the Colony of Queensland , with its own responsible self-government, and the Northern Territory (which was not granted self-government prior to federation of the Australian Colonies). Western Australia did not receive self-government until 1891, mainly because of its continuing financial dependence on

12852-431: Was for many years the only reliable form of communication between many distant countries. The most advanced standard, CCITT R.44 , automated both routing and encoding of messages by short wave transmissions. Today, due to more modern text transmission methods, Morse code radiotelegraphy for commercial use has become obsolete. On shipboard, the computer and satellite-linked GMDSS system have largely replaced Morse as

12971-472: Was given formal legal recognition in 1942 (when the Statute of Westminster was adopted retroactively to the commencement of the Second World War in 1939). In 1930, the Australian prime minister, James Scullin , reinforced the right of the overseas Dominions to appoint native-born governors-general, when he advised King George V to appoint Sir Isaac Isaacs as his representative in Australia, against

13090-404: Was made during the 1949 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference when India was intending to become a republic , so that both types of governments could become and remain full members of the Commonwealth, and this term hence refers to the realms and republics. After this the term dominion , without its legal dimension, stayed in use thirty more years for those Commonwealth countries which had

13209-587: Was marked by political and legal subjugation to British Imperial supremacy in all aspects of government—legislative, judicial, and executive. The Imperial Parliament at Westminster could legislate on any matter to do with Canada and could override any local legislation, the final court of appeal for Canadian litigation lay with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, the Governor General had

13328-477: Was never popular in the Irish Free State where people saw it as a face-saving measure for a British government unable to countenance a republic in what had previously been the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . Successive Irish governments undermined the constitutional links with the United Kingdom. In 1937 Ireland, as it renamed itself, adopted a new republican constitution that included powers for

13447-838: Was referred to as a colony of the United Kingdom, as for example, in the 1927 reference to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to delineate the Quebec-Labrador boundary. Full autonomy was granted by the United Kingdom parliament with the Statute of Westminster in December 1931. By the request of Australia and New Zealand, the Statute of Westminster was not applied automatically to those two Dominions until their own parliaments confirmed it. Being economically close to Britain and dependent on it for defence, they did not do so until 1942 for Australia and 1947 for New Zealand . In 1934, following Newfoundland's economic collapse, and with

13566-634: Was renamed as Cable & Wireless Limited, with Cable and Wireless Limited being renamed as Cable and Wireless (Holding) Limited. From the beginning of April 1928 the beam services were operated by the Post Office as agent for Imperial and International Communications Limited. The 1930s saw the arrival of the Great Depression , as well as competition from the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation and affordable airmail . Due to such factors Cable and Wireless were never able to earn

13685-510: Was something between that of a colony and a state". With the adoption of the Statute of Westminster 1931 , Britain and the Dominions (except Newfoundland) formed the British Commonwealth of Nations . Dominions asserted full legislative independence, with direct access to the Monarch as Head of State previously reserved only for British governments. It also recognised autonomy in foreign affairs, including participation as autonomous countries in

13804-542: Was the favoured option, and a contract was signed with Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company in March 1912. The government then found itself facing severe criticism and appointed a select committee to examine the topic. After hearing evidence from the Admiralty , War Office , India Office , and representatives from South Africa , the committee unanimously concluded that a "chain of Imperial wireless stations" should be established as

13923-602: Was unofficially established at the first International Radiotelegraph Convention in 1906, and was merged into the International Telecommunication Union in 1932. When the United States entered World War I, private radiotelegraphy stations were prohibited, which put an end to several pioneers' work in this field. By the 1920s, there was a worldwide network of commercial and government radiotelegraphic stations, plus extensive use of radiotelegraphy by ships for both commercial purposes and passenger messages. The transmission of sound ( radiotelephony ) began to displace radiotelegraphy by

14042-438: Was used for long-distance person-to-person commercial, diplomatic, and military text communication throughout the first half of the 20th century. It became a strategically important capability during the two world wars since a nation without long-distance radiotelegraph stations could be isolated from the rest of the world by an enemy cutting its submarine telegraph cables . Radiotelegraphy remains popular in amateur radio . It

14161-463: Was used mainly by radioteletype networks (RTTY). Morse code radiotelegraphy was gradually replaced by radioteletype in most high volume applications by World War II . In manual radiotelegraphy the sending operator manipulates a switch called a telegraph key , which turns the radio transmitter on and off, producing pulses of unmodulated carrier wave of different lengths called "dots" and "dashes", which encode characters of text in Morse code . At

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