philip billingsley walker on 10 august 1899, the postmaster-general, one or two officers of the department and representatives of the press, were invited to a demonstration of wireless under the supervision of p. b. walker, engineer-in-chief of telegraphs. the transmitting and receiving aerial wires were suspended on the corners of the roof of the post office building with the equipment itself in the laboratory below. the demonstration was entirely a success, though interference was present from adjacent tram lines. walker stated that he felt there was presently limited commercial application, but nevertheless advised that further experiments would be conducted, with sea trials still to be decided upon. the transmitting was undertaken by walker and the receiving by watkin wynne. all the equipment was manufactured by staff of the government electrician, principally mr. nelson. a 12-inch induction coil was used for transmission and a two-inch coherer for reception. an amount of 150 pounds was stated to have been reserved for purchase of equipment from the marconi telegraph company, with further experiments to proceed upon receipt. however walker died in august 1900, and with his passing wireless telegraphy seems to have fallen dormant for many years.