The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-08-06 00:00:00

THE JUBILEE OF TELEGRAPHY.

The fiftieth anniversary of the occasion on which
elsctric telegraphy was brought into operation in
England, has been marked by a banquet in London,
under the presidency of Mr. Cecil Raikes; the Post-
master-General, and about 250 gentlemen, many of
them eminent in the world of science, were presen*:
to celebrate a jubilee as truly Royal in its character
as that of which the Naval Review on Saturday wt.
the crowning feature.,- The subject to be covered was
wide in its range, and the facts stated, the conclusions
drawn, and the prophecies. uttered imparted to the
speeches an interest that was veritably romantic. In
the progress of all branches of science there is some-
thing marvellous, but Mr. Raikes, in the peroration ,
of his principal speech, remarked this is especially the
case with electric telegraphy which, in its own noise-
less way, has annihilated space, and is now gene-.
rating light and revolutionising motion. :Tie speeches,
delivered mostly at a late hour, were by prac-
tical men. We cannot pretend to report them,
but they were worthy of embodiment in a per-
manent publication in which the history of the move-
•
ment to which we owe so much can be treasured '
Before the toast list was entered upon, friendly min
-
sages of congratulation were read by Mr. W. H-
Pieece, from tise British,Electricians in the United.
States, heads of telegraphic departments in the
Colonies and India, the Society of Telegraphic
Engineers in Mexico and Peru, and many English
public men, including members of both Houses of
Parliament. Then came the formal toasts, and before
anything else was done the company were asked to
drink a toast in silence to the memory of the pioneers
of telegraphy. Mr. Raikes, who proposed it, did not;
mention any Of these pioneers, but the names ot
Cooke, Wheatstone, and Faraday occurred, of course,
to the scientific men present, who are followers on
the road which the early labours of those eminent
men have made smooth and profitable. The right
hon. gentleman, in giving the toast, remarked that it
had been said by some that nothing was sacred to
the engineer, but the manner in which this tribute
was received showed the manifest untruth of the
saying.
The Progress of Telegraphy was the subject of the
toast of the evening, and in proposing it, the Post-
master-General, after paying a high compliment to his
predecessor, whose name was a venerated household
word wherever science was known (Sir Lyon Play.
fair), explained the occasion which -had brought this
Jubilee company together. He sketched the scene of
Wheatstone, half a century ago, sitting in his little
office by the light of a candle, and receiving from
Cooke a reply signifying that the first telegraphic
message sent from Euston to Camden-town was suc-
cessful. Then followed a number of carefully-mar-
shalled facts. The instrument eniployed by Cooke
and Wheatstone displayed five needles, and the block
of wood in which the copper were laid was exhibited
as an object that ought to be preserved in the
archives of science. At first the system was
crude and imperfect, but, as Mr. Raikes pointed
out, its development was largely assisted by railway
enterprise, the London and Blackwell Railway being
the first to utilise it. In 1844 the Government of
Sir Robert Peel first conceived the idea of applying
the telegraph to other than railway purposes, and a
telegraphic line was established between Waterloo and
Gosport. The first company (the Electric Telegraph
Company) was formed in 1846, and in 1850 the first
attempt was made to lay a submarine telegraph cable.
A portion of the gutta-percha wire then laid between
Dover and Calais was held up to view by Mr. Raikes,
and his reference to the presence at the end of one of
tables of Mr. Brett, the first concessionaire, was loudly
cheered, as was also the credit given to the work done
in these days by another gentleman present, Mr. T.
R. Crampton. In 1858 came the first Atlantic cable,
and other companies multiplied quickly, until in 1870
they were so numerous that the Government of
the day determined to acquire the whole of the
enterprises, and place the telegraph system in
the hands of the Post Office. Among the curious
facts mentioned by the chairman was this:
Two wires at first were found sufficient for the for-
warding of a message, but as science progressed, the
operators depended upon one. By-and-bye it was
discovered that a wire could send a message in
two directions, and then four messages—two
each way—were transmitted by a single wire. Now-
a-days a single wire is being used in the Central
Telegraph Station for the transmission of six messages
either in one direction or a combination of directions.
A mention of Hugh's printing instrument (the in-
ventor being present) was warmly applauded. It was
afterwards stated by Mr. Raikes that in the sounder
instrument fact has outstripped the wildest imagina-
tion. At first the rate of transmission was four or five
words a minute; in 1847 the speed was 17 word p a
minute; the present average of transmission betwflen
London and Dublin is 462 words (Sir W. Thompson
puts it at 500) per minute. Of course we heard
something from the head of the Department as to
what the Telegraph branch of the General Post
Office is doing. Last year 51:1- millions of telegrams,
were dispatched, or nearly a million per week, more
than 41 millions being inland messages. The num-
ber is steadily increasing, and the great proportion of
the total were Press messages. The rate of Press
messages is not much more than 2d. per hundred
words, and the reduced rate costs the revenue not
less than £200,000 per annum. But the Post-
master-General went on to say, the country is well
satisfied at the results of this subsidy. Owing to the
recent reduction in the tariff the value of a telegram
to the State is only Bd., against 13d. two years ago,
and 2s. 2d. before the State undertook the work. Ia
conclusion, the right hon. gentleman recommended
all who wished to acquire the complete facts of this
wonderful tale of progress to read the paper upon the
subject before the Society of Arta by his friend, Mr.
W. H. Preece.

•
So far as the past of telegraphy is con-
cerned, the toast was acknowletged by Mr.
Edwin Clark, who—in the early days of the
Electric Telegraph Company, when Mr. C. V.
Boys was head of the Intelligence Department,
Unfortunately Mr. Clark's remarks were almost
inaudible. The present spoke in a louder voice in
the persons of Mr. John Pander and Sir William
Thompson, who also replied, the former stating that
there are now 115,000 miles of submarine telegraph,
costing 38 millions sterling. "Talk about putting
a girdle around the globe in forty minutm," he
said, "we can do it in twenty minutes at the
present time." Sir William Thompson smoke upon
Ocean Telegraphy, and begged his audience not
to forget what they owed to the eminent men
of other countries who had made the Jubilee possible
—Coulomb. Ausperl, Ganes, of France, and Weber
and Steinheir of Munich. The race commenced
simultaneously with our own in America with Morse.
Then in this country we had Edward and Charles
Bright (Sir Charles was one of the vice-chairmen).
Whitehouse, the Brothers Werner, Cyrus Field,
Morifirty, Sir J. Anderson, W. Siemens, Canning,
fford, arley, Jenkin, Willoughby-Smith. Sir
William said that the scientists alone could not have
done the work, and that to two men above others was
due the cable of 1865-6—namely, John Ponder and
Cyrus Field. The toast of "The Scientific Societies"
was proposed in a brilliant speech by Sir Lyon Play-
fair, who declared that Professor Wheatstone used
to say that the real discoverers of telegraphy
were Oersted and Faraday. To this toast
Professor Stokes, President of the ROT al
Society, and Dr. Gladstone responded. Mr.
Shaw Lefevre, M.P., proposed "The Societies
representing Applied Science," to which the President
of the Institute of Civil Engineers (Mr. Bruce) and
the past President of the Society of Telegraph Engi-
neers (Mr. Latimer Clark) responded. Amongst the
musical interludes was a clever amateur violin solo by
Mr. Gatehouse, a colleague of Wheatstone and a
practical electrician. The vice-chairmen of the even-
ing weje Sir C. Bright, Mr. W. H. Preece, General
Webbe. Mr. Spagnoletti, Mr. Latimer Clark, Pro-
fessor Hughes, and Mr. Fischer; and the guests in-
cluded Lord Onslow, Lord Tweeddale, Sir F. Gold-
amid, Sir F. Abel, Sir Douglas Gratton, Sir G. Elliot,
Sir F. Anderson, Mr. Norman Lockver, Mr. S. W.
Smilry.ejr
o.
bMnrs.o
n , and Tyler,
oMthr. .e
rltg.
eKnt.lGe mraeyn cPornnfeecstgedr wAi tdharathe
Post Office, Telegraph, and Cable-laving services.

Au, my dear, skid a gallant lover to his sweetheart,
you always remind me of a lock and key.—Why so?
—Because you are something to adore.
A rROFESSIONAL maxim for lawyers—Whatever you
do, do it with your might. Many a member of the
proression has made a fortune by working with a will.
PATRICH, you told me you needed the alcohol to
clean the mirrors with, and hare I find you drinking
it.—Faix, mum, it's a drinkin' it and brathing °lithe
glass oi'm a doin'."
A SCHOOLXASTER, 7describing a moneylender, gays,
" He serves you in the present tense, he lends you in
the conditional mood, keeps you in the subjunctive,
and ruins you in the futpr.e."