The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-11-05 00:00:00

POSTAL TELEGRAPHY.

The following letters, on the important subject of
Postal Telegraphy, have appeared in The Timer :
Slr,—Tellegniphy is now • neeeseity of life. So long as the
supply of this necesalty was in the hands of Joint stock com-
panies the welfare of these companies being dependent in a
great measure on the mode In which the work was performe 1,
that wort was tolerably well done. Now, however, that
telegraphy has been constituted a Government monopoly,
the business has literally bec dna "a delusion and • snare."
A delusion because one pays a find and sufficient amount for
the performance of a certain duty which In 99 out of 100 cases
is Imperfectly done. The single case In the hundred is the
snare. Like the gambler's single stroke of luck a telegraphic
message sent and received in time tempts or snares one on to
try another. I balleve lam not far wrong in my estimate of
the proportion of thentelegraphic failures. I r mid give many
examples of them from my own experience, but I must nA
encroach on your space. Let me, however, mention one of the
last. I sent five days ago a message of twenty words at eleven
a.m to a principal station on one of the chief lines of
railway, about 120 miles from town. It did not reach Its
destination until live pro , and the answer, although re-
turned immediately, did not reach me till 9 30p.m., showing
that the menage to and fro travelled at the rate of about
ten miles an hour. The Post Office authorities cannot have
any notion of the immense amount of inconvenience caused
, by this utter failure In our telegraphie communication;
I and this Inconvenience Is immensely exaggerated by the mod.
in which the business is conducted. If a message be taken
to an office, the clerk assures the bearer that it "shall be
sent off rta soon as possible," and thus one relies on its being
sent and received within a reasonable time. In this faith
Important engagements are made, but it Ls found when
, the time comes for keeping them that "as soon as
Ipossible" means any time or no time, and that engagement+,
however important, are made in vain. In feet, the postal
authorities have failed in their duties from having under-
taken much more than they could perform, and Instead of
meeting the difficulty by a liberal expenditure, they try by
, parsimony, by employing too few wires and too few hands,
and these I.snds cheap and Inefficient, to make profits,
while the piddle suffer loss. The results of this incom-
petence and Inefficiency are rendered still less endurable
by seeing the Post Office authorities employed about other
matters. Postal communication by telegraph or otherwise,
lilt were well c:one, would be an all sufficient duty for •
department, while Savings.lianks, Excise Licences, Life
Assurance, Annuities, and such like duties might be alto.
gaiter given over to other departments.
Permit me, In conclusion, to offer two or three ewes-
Cons by which, I believe, some improvement in our tele-
graphic communication might be effected.
1. The sender of a telegram should receive, If he ask for
It, some definite information as to the time at which his
message will be forwarded. It satisfied he can send it oat ;
if not, and he feels that to send it would be useless, he can
withdraw it. For this information a small fee might be
charged.
2 The stations and times at which messages are received
for transmission and went out for delivery should 1,9 cleaCy
shown on the telegram. A very carelessly performed at-
tempt at doing this is already made on the message-paper.
3. One reads weekly In The Times an ennmeration of
the number of messages transmitted by telegraph. Lei me