The Express.
London, England, 1866-08-24 00:00:00

THE METROPOLITAN DISTRICT RAILWAY.

TELEGRAPHIC CODING.

" July 9, 1866."

" Crsrs FULD.
" WILLIAM THOMSON.

It may be added that Mr. Latimer Clark and the
rest of the scientific and practical electricians con-
nected with the undertaking concurred in the
above testimony, and that we are able to confirm it
from having practically tested the merits, of Cap-
tain Bolton's system. Every message sent through
the Atlantic or any other telegraphic line may be
I expressed, some in half, some in a fractional part of
the number of words now employed. Any com-
pany who had the exclusive use of this code could
afford to send messages at a moiety of the price
demanded by its rivals ; any telegraphic agent en-
joying its monopoly could reduce his expenditure
and amplify his intelligence at least fifty per cent. ;
and any merchant in possession of the secret and
the means of working it might telegraph to his
agents in all languages and in every part of the
world, at less than half the rate he disburses now.
In proof of this, and to show that the code effects
even greater economy than has been claimed for it,
an interesting experiment was made yesterday.
The following message was taken from the journals
of the morning, and coded, when it was found that
sixty of what electricians know as " elements," or,
in other words, sixty deflections of the needle or
ray of light, sufficed to express every word and
fraction of a word it contains :

An official inspection of the progress of the works of
the Metropolitan District line of railway was made yesterday
in the presence of the Earl of Devon and • large number of
noblemen and gentlemen connected with the system of our
metropolitan railways. The inspection was made under
the immediate superintendence of the noble chairman
(Earl of Devon), and amongst those present were
Lord Gort, Mr. A. C. Sherrift, M.P., Mr. C. Gilpin, M.P.,
Mr. Alderman Dakin, Mr. George Worms (directors of the
company) ; Mr. C. Waring, M.P., Mr. H. Waring, Mr. W.
Waring, on behalf of Messrs. Peto and Betts ; Belk and
Waring Brothers (the contractors), Mr. Burchell (solicitor),
and Messrs. James and G. Burchell, Mesas. Baker and
Cooper, representing Messrs. John Fowler and T. M. R-
Johnson, the engineers; Mears. C. Phillips and
H. F. Perky, were the district agents. The
general manager of the Metropolitan Company,
Mr. Myles Fenton, and Mr. Henchman, repre-
sented the Metropolitan Company ; and Mr. C. Hopwood,
the secretary of the Metropolitan District Company, and
Mr. H. Spencer, the assistant secretary, represented the
District Company. A. select party of gentlemen, in-
vited by the director', left the office of the Metro-
politan District Railway at No. 6, Victoria-street,
Westminster, shortly after noon, and proceeded to
the works near the Broad Sanctu►ry. They made
a close inspection of the tunnel, where the side brick-
works have been most satisfactorily proceeded with,
prior to the removal of the earth for the opening. The
party then proceeded in • number of private carriages,
ria Tothill-street, to the site of the proposed Broadway
station, from which runs • lift. opening on a slight curve
towards the Victoria-street station. Here the engineer
explained a most interesting series of works by which the
new premises of Messrs. Elliot and Watney would
be supported on 12 tons iron girders placed about
20 feet apart, to be tied by transverse girder-joints.
In this district there are a large number of houses of great
height, and as the company are bound to place founda-
tions of sufficient strength for • similar class of buildings
in the other portion of the street, the contractors have con-
structed all their crowning, of archways with no less than
ten rings of good stock bricks. Beyond this point there
are other great works which have had to be proceeded
with, and amongst them are the pumping stations by
which the works have been most materially relieved and
assisted at Victoria station. Near the bottom of Victoria-
street there will be underground paasages, placing the
whole of the Metropolitan District Company's traffic
in direct communication with the London, Brighton,
and South Coast, and the London, Chatham, and Dover
lines. The same may be said of the whole of the
other lines where there is any connexion with the metro-
politan system, including the Charing-cross, Cannon-
street, Finsbury, and at Paddington, antral*, on the West
London on to Kensington line. The carriages were
directed toward' Coleshill-street on to the Sloane-square
station, and from thence to Cromwell-road, which is the
largest, most commodious, and important on the line, but
at the Gloster-rood the works were found to be
in more rapid progress, and a large and useful
station showed itself approaching towards a state of
completion. It is 308 feet in length and 84 feet in width,
having three platforms with four lines of railway. A halt
was cried here, and the dusty explorers were cheered by
refreshments amply supplied by Mr. Henry Fisher, of the
refreshment department of, the Victoria Station. On
resuming the journey, a small engine carried them in a
light train of trucks, improvised for the occasion, over the
portions of the line connecting the Metropolitan District
Company with the West Midland and the Metropolitan
Proper. The company then proceeded on through Ken-
sington and Bayswater to Paddington, where they sat
down to a substantial and elegant collation, at the Great
Western Hotel, under the presidency of the chairman,
Earl Devon. The usual loyal tooth, and • few compli-
mentary speeches were delivered, and the company broke
up, much gratified with a very interesting excursion.

RESIORATION OF THE CANADILIT Frzuscs
MINISTER.—We learn by this mail that the Hon. A. T.
Galt has resigned in consequence of the French Canadian
members led by Mr. Callahan demanding the dropping of
the Lower Canada School Bill, or the pushing on of the
Upper Canada Bill of Mr. Bell pari Foam with it, backed
by government influence sad votes. The government
could not do the latter, and adopted the former alternative,
Mr. Galt found himself so pledged to the bill that he
resigned rather than consent to [its abandonment.—
Canadian News. .

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transmitted day by day in a few symbols by this
' method, and the public have some right to hope
Coding is to telegraphy what telegraphy was to for its general adoption, and the acceleration of
letter-writing not many years ago. It bridges pace which would neceaaarily follow.

_
over space more certainly, effects an enormous 1 Captain Bolton has had long and successful
saving in time, and is imperfectly understood.
Hitherto coding has been confined to auch'mer- experience in codifying and signalling, and, in con-
Hitherto on cti with Commander Colomb, of the navy,
chants and others as arranged
-signa
a aeries of private tried some important experiments for the govern-
ls with their agents, and has never been
ment a couple of years ago. Their then object was
adopted on a uniform and comprehensive scale.
P to establish a system of conveying messages by sig-
rivate coding has, however, been employed more
nal from ship to shore at great distances in such a
with the view of securing secrecy than speed ; way as to supplement the electric telegraph, and it
,
land a code which should at once promote accuracy, /
cheapen messages, and save labour, has long been is admitted on all hands that this was effectually
, done. After many trials made independently, these
a desideratum with telegraphists all over the world. gentlemen
decided that to communicate effectively
When the first Atlantic cable was laid, the impor-
tance of codifying messages sent through it seas so by night and day the " dot " and "dash" alphabet
, invented by Professor Morse for the electric tele-
strongly felt that an elaborate volume was Dom- 1 graph must be used, and its application extended
piled, by aid of which it was hoped to abbreviate to the flashing of lights and the sounds of a steam
language and save time. It was reserved, how• ! whistle, bugle, and hig_hsisi, By these means it
ever, for the successful laying of the cable of this I
was proved that communications of a character
year to elicit the most perfect code yet attained,
hitherto unprecedented for accuracy and speed
The following certificate, signed by Mr. Cyrus
could be easily made at vast distances, and without
Field, Mr. Cromwell Varley, and Professor Thom- the operators being visible to. each other.
Ala*** its own story respecting the system in- The oode now under cossideratios is, however,
.611114111 Captain Bolton, the heads of which We exclusively designed for electric communications,
propose to explain : and the advantages it claims may be briefly sum-
"We have witnessed several trials of Captain marised :—Gain of speed ; simplicity of trans-
Bolton's systbai of coding messages. These have mission ; non-liability to mutilation in passing
been transmitted through the Atlantic cable, first through foreign countries ; facility of repetition ;
by the More alphabet in full, and then codified. and applicability to any language by translation
" The messages have been correctly transmitted, without loss of time. If these things are proved,
and the time occupied in doing so through the as the electricians declare they are, and as the in-
cable has shown a saving in favour of Bolton's vestigations conducted independently show, the
code for messages of ordinary character, varying public may hope for the full benefit of the inven-
from 50 to 400 per cent., according to the nature tion, and that the evils of blocked electric lines and
of the message. "C. F. Vasusr. consequent delays shall be reduced to their

minimum.