The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-10-29 00:00:00

FRENCH OPINION ON IRELAND.

The Repv,blique Fran,caise says :—" The Land Apt
_,Utakes the Irish tenants co-proprietors of the soil,
o
lves them privileges such as no farmers have ever
Possessed in any part of the civilized world. Now
these beneficial measures are rejected at the instiga-
tion of the agitators. If the Irish were capable of
fawning, they would comprehend that just as Europe
Waia disposed to sympathize with them when their corn-
were not listened to so will public sympathy
nosed their cause as soon as they raise a rebellion
for the sake of doing 80. The situation of Ireland in
fegard to England has reached a climax. It not only
relliajos to be seen whether the economical and social
Position of Ireland will improve, but the crisis is
Pfegnant with consequences of a much more serious
raft log on the prosperity of the United Kingdon, for
Nilo things one—either Ireland will find in the pro-
??,sions of the Land Act the elements of a reconcilia-
°ion with England, or she will emerge from the
fttruggle irretrievably ruined."
. The Debate says The energetic measures taken
the English Cabinet are beginning to produce an
Mild in Ireland. It is not impossible, moreover,
4lat the declarations of the Catholic clergy, espe-
cul."„llY of the Archbishop of Cashel, may have some-
ni„._ lig to do with the change already perceptible
4
the directions given by the leaders of the Land
"-ague to their adherents. These pacifio counsels
tire a singular contrast to the appeals to open reds-
, ukce and to the noisy demonstrations made by the
'ue,, ague a few days age. Silence, if not calm, is about,
tj"en, to prevail in Ireland, and this new state of
ain_
cannot but be favourable to a fair trial of the

ABOLITION OF DISTINCTIVE STAMPS
FOR TELEGRAMS.

The a-ssimilatNn of the penny adhesive stamps for
postal and Inland Revenue charges having been re-
cetved by the public with much satisfaction, it les
been decided to proceed further in the tan* direction
and to aboli,h the distinctive staihps now used for the
payment of the changer 3 nticin telegraph messages. On
and after the Ist IsloveMber, therefore, the use of dis-
tinctive telegraph stamps will be discontinued and
postae-e etamps of all amounts, inc!nclii-ig the penny
postage and Inland Revennernp, will be available for
the payment of tell,ph charges. This measure will
facilitate the posting of telegrams in letter bwces
durittg the night, or where there is hb telegraph office
within a Convenient distnnt., as telegrams thus posted
will be conveyed, without extra charge, at the next
collection of letters to the nearest telegraph office
Inhich is open, for the purpose of being transmitted by
the wires at the earliest possible moment.
In those cases in which dllnchity would be expe-
rienced in obtaining Printed telegraph message form
ordinaty per may be used. The message may or
may not, at the object of the sender, be enclosed in an
envelope, but if an envelope is used it Must be marked
"Telegram, immediate.'

The stock of telegraph stamps arid stamped tele-
graph forms in the hands of the public may still be
used for telegraph purposes, but not for postage or
Inland Rev*nue payments.

The Tintcs notices the aboVe announcement in a leader,
irons which we Make Mb following extracts :

The public will be pleased to learn the announce-
ment which the Postmaster-General has just made.
Under the new system it will not be necessary to keen
a separate set of telegraph stamps or forms; postage
stamps, and if there be difficulty, in procuring the
forms, ordinary paper, will suffice. All the advantages
of this change, slight and obvious though it may seem
at first blush, cannot be stated in a few words. Mani-
festly, however, it means simplicity and economy, so
far as the interns, 'Arrangements of the Post Office are
eoncerned. It means no inconsiderable convenience to
the public, and it helps to make that department a
still more efficient servant than it is. Mr. Fawcett
may be congratulated on the good sense which he has
shown in regard to this and other matters during his
tenure of office. It may, indeed, appear to be a very
obvious improvement which he has just sanctioned,
and he must expect the comment that it is one which
would occur to any one. But a criticism of that
character is only equivalent to saying that there is
universal recognition of the propriety of the sugges-
tion as soon as it is made, and such criticism is indirect
praise of no mean order. Who knows where this move-
ment for the uniformity of stamps, once begun, is to
end ? Some financier may proceed further in the same
path and may reduce to order and simplicity the chaos
in which the stamps affecting agreements, convey-
ances, and other transactions now are. At any rate,
a good beginning has been made, and we would in-
vite the authorities iii Somerset-house and elsewhere to
consider whether they cannot imitate what has been
done with unquestioned success at the Post Office.

We must not, however, make too much of the
Change useful though it is. The public has been
taught rest upon the telegraph system to a degree
which even half-a-dozen years ago was inconceivable.
Constituted as society is, the postal sesvice is more
and more felt to be tcko tardy for many purposes. This
desire for speed may be unreasonable, and most of
us may rarely have to 411 our correspondents any-
thing which could not wee wait four-and-twenty
hours without serious injury to anybody. But a gene-
ration which has known the advantages of telegraphic
communication will not be persuaded to take that
view; and in all classes the desire for cheap tele-
grams is felt more and more. Large classes, however,
rarely telegraph. For many purposes of life the tele-
graph is not used, or used under restrictions which
greatly reduce its utility. No doubt, the business
is steadily increasing, and, in fact, the last report
of the Postmaster-General states that 3,419,821
more messages were sent in 1880-81 than the year
before. But the public earnestly wish for cheap
telegrams— that is, telegrams at sixpence or there-
abouts for every twenty words; and the depart-
ment has not yet seen its way to meet this
demand. Though, of course, a reduction in price
would induce people to telegraph more freely than
they now do, it is more than doubtful whether the
change could be earr,ied out without an immediate
loss in revenue. The great aim of every re-
former in this field ought, of course, to be to re-
duce the expenses of transmission. But how is
this to be effected? How, too, is the increase in
the business of the department to be dealt with.
At present the two courses open appear to be to mul-
tiply wires or operators. Either mode involves serious
expenditure. Under the simplest system of working
there must be an operator at both ends of the wire. If
the " duplex " system be employed, two operators at
either end must be in attendance • and if the auto-
matic or high-speed system be adopted, it is necessary
to have a set of clerks at the spot from which a mes-
sage is sent and another at the spot where it is re-
ceived, the one set preparing the message ana the
other deciphering and writing it out. Electricians
have devised many marvellously ingenious modes for
utilizing to the utmost a single wire, but the weakness
of all of them, in the view of a financier, is that
they require a considerable amount of skilled
labour. For the present the Post Office is seeking to
satisfy the growing requirements of large towns by
multiplying wires. If this be the only course open,
the age of cheap telegrams is obviously still far off.
But a correspondent makes a suggestion which he is
not alone in thinking would greatly reduce working
expenses, and that is a more extensive use of pneum-
atic tubes for short distances. They are already used,
as every one knows, as a mode of feeding and dis-
charging the Central Telegraph Office. They are
employed, however, in France aud Germany for
more important purposes, and the suggestion to
which we refer is to substitate largely for telegraphy,
which involves the erection of costly and far from
durable wires and considerable staffs of clerks,
"a blow post," which would be cheap, and would,
for short distances, answer most purposes. The
sender of a message by the latter system would
do most of the work which is dene by a clerk or
telegraph operaror. He would fold, put under cover,
and stamp his message as if it were a letter. It would
be placed in a tube filled with compressed air, and it
would be wafted [swiftly to the office nearest to its
final destination. The saving effected by such a
system would obviously be great. Skilled labour
would be dispensed with. Instead of wires, which, as
we have learnt by experience lately, are liable to many
accidents, we should in many cases have underground
tubes, which rarely get out of order, and are prac-
ticall3r imperishable. The argument of our corre-
spondent is that though the change would in-
volve considerable outlay at starting, the ulti-
mate gain to the department would be decided,
and would enable it to lower the telegraphic rate to a
point which is now out of the question. If the charge
abroad for sending a despatch by the " blow-post " be
only about threepence, why should it be much more
in this country? No doubt there are difficulties in the
way of the adoption of a suggestion, which is not new,
and has been often under the consideration of the
department. But it deserves fresh study, and we may
be sure that so vigilant and enlightened an adminis-
trator as Mr. Fawcett will not lose sight of the tempt-
ing possibilities it reveals.
It is not improbable that, in the interests both of
the public and the department, some other changes
of consequence may have to be made sooner or
later with respect to inland telegrams. It would
be strange indeed if arrangements some of wkieh
date from the youth, if not the very infancy, of
telegraphy should be found perfectly suitable in
its present development. To mention only one
matter, the present tariff of is.. for the first twenty
words, and 3d. for every additional five words, is
far from satisfactory. People will have the value
of their money. The art of brevity is rarely under-
stood, and hence it comes that almost every message
contains at least twenty words, which is not to the ad-
vantage of the department, more especially as certain
very common compound words are charged as if they
were one. On the other hand, the shortest message—
a mere " Yes "or "No," for instance—is treated as if
it were of average length. A vast number of sugges-
tions as to this point has been made. One of the most
plausible is that in lieu of the present hard and fast
tariff, we should have a "word tariff." If the minimum
charge were sixpence a message, and, subject to this,
the rate were so much a word, would not there be a
decided increase in the number of short telegrams?
The hope of those who advocate this change is
that we should soon see at once the length of
messages greatly reduced and their number increased.
We are aware that there is a natural reluotance to
indulge in experiments in regard to a department
which is now, on the whole, in a satisfactory state;
and the Chancellor of the Exchequer would have
something to say to changes which might injure
either the revenue from the Post Office or the
telegraphs. But past experience is encouraging. It
has always hitherto been found that liberality to the
public has been remunerative to the State. Even at
the pr & sent rates the business of the Telegraph Depart-
ment has developed with amazing rapidity. It is one
of the most significant social facts that, whereas the
total number of messages the year after the transfer of
the telegraphs to the State was 9,850,177, they had
risen in 1880-81 to 25,187,997. No one can suppose
, that there is no room for further development; and
it will be a matter for extreme satisfaction if the de-
partment can come to the conclusion that, without
taxing those who do not send telegrams for the benefit
of those who do, and without lcss of revenue, a reduc-
tion in the scale of charges can be in

"F. D. F." writes as follows to the Daily Nwes
"When the ordinary postage and receipt stamps are
made available for payment of telegraph messages an
alteration in the present telegraph forms will be re-
quired ; for it is impossible to affix twelve to eighteen
penny stamps to one of the forms now in use without
covering a large portion of the printed matter. If the
public have to keep a supply of shilling, sixpenny,
and threepenny stamps, the benefit of the change will
be lost. By condensing that portion of the present
form which is used for the service, and leaving a space
of one inch deep along the top, twelve penny stamps
might be affixed to a form, but not eighteen, though
the form allows of eighteen words to a message. It is
clear that the present form must be changed on the
Ist proximo to meet the new conditions."