The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-29 00:00:00

THE NEW TELEGRAPH SYSTEM-.

The actual handing over to the Government of the
various telegraph companies of Great Britain is now
taking place, and the numerous signs and rumours of
the great changes affecting this most important
system will culminate on the sth of Feb-
ruary in the discarding of all the old tele-
graphic operations, and the introduction of an
entirely new and, let us hope, advantageous nlllime.
The fact of all the greatest inventions of science having
burst s 4 on the civilised world at a very recent date,
comparatively speaking, has given rise to a feeling
that we ought to be quite satisfied with what
we have got, and think ourselveS lucky that we are not
worse off than we are. If a railway passenger alludes with
a growl to the slow speed of the train, which is carrying
him along at the rate of thirty miles an hour, some old
lady or gentleman is sure to remind him of the old
coaching days, and the ten miles an hour of the
" Tally-ho." In the same way, if an important letter
miscarries in its transmssion through the post, we are told
that the system is far better than that of sending a mes-
senger on horseback, as our ancestors did; and when a
telegram takes from morning to night to get from London
to Paris the consolation is offered that a letter would
not have been delivered in that time. All this is a
stand-still theory. We have, thanks to genius and
energy, splendid systems by which science promc,tes our
comfort and our welfare; and the same genius and energy
which originated them, can surely make thom
perfect in their operation. We shall have no occasion to
boast of our conquest of steam, if it is not made use of
to an appreciable extent; of the complicated arrangements
of the post-office, if letters miscarry or have their delivery
delayed ; or of the handling of the telegraphs by
the Government, if some, at least, of the abuses connected
with them, which we have hitherto submitted to, be not
speedily and thoroughly remedied.

From what we hear of the new tariff of charg es, our
expectations of a considerable reduction of expense
in telegraphing will be justified by the result. We
shall be able to send a message consisting of twenty words,
excluding the name and address of the sender and receiver,
for one shilling, from any one part of the United King-
dom to another. Further, this message will be delivered
free of charge at any place within one mile
of the office to which it is sent. This will be no small
concession, and will do away to a great extent with that
payment of " porterage " which has always caused the
receiver to incur expense as well as the sender. Thus the
sixpenny rate in London will prove to have been no
cheaper in the end than the new one.

Having gained, then, a great advantage, that of telegraphy,
telegraphic communication on matters of business or plea-
sure with those at a distance of many miles from us, at
the least possible cost we can reasonably expect, we must
next consider whether this beneficial arrangement
is ren-
dered thoroughly available by an increase in the tele-
graph stations all over the country where messages
are received, and from which they are despatched. In this
point lie the majority of the innovations which we now
welcome. Stated shortly, the simple plan is this : every
post-town in the kingdom shall have a telegraph
office; that is, every post-office where letters
are stamped and money-orders given, shah have
the wires extended to it, and be open for
the purpose of receiving and transmitting messages. A
vast change will thus be effected in rural districts. The
telegraph posts and wires will now be seen along many a
country road, and the people of our smaller towns, instead
of submitting to pay a horse-messenger one shilling per
mile for bringing a telegram from the nearest office of the
company, will receive the counnnnication perfectly free,
provided that they live within a mile of the post-office.
Country tradesmen have hitherto laboured under a disad-
vantage in. competing with those of the larger towns;
whilst the latter have frequently been enabled by means
of the telegraph to effect sales or purchases at the
right moment, or to proceed to any place on
business
at an opportune time, the former have
been forced to be content with transacting their
bargains by the slower medium of the. post. Then
again there is a numerous class of country families who
have only been kept from this means of correspondence
by the excessive sums they have had to pay for carriage.
The five shillings thus paid for the delivery of a message
to a person residing five miles from any telegraph office,
will now suffice to pay for five separate messages to be
delivered free at any remote corner of the three kingdoms.
It is clear, therefore, that these gains to the public in
the way of increased facilities for telegraphing aro not
merely an idea, but a positive and substantial fact.
The Government will also do its utmost, we are told, to
provide for promptitude, secrosy, and the general order
of the whole system. The members of the staff which
will be employed will be under stricter control than the
officials of the companies used to be. No preference or
favour will be shewn to any individual whatever, and all
messages will be despatched in regular rotation as they aro
received. How this rotation can be observed in cases
where a number of telegrams are deposited in pillar-boxes
it is difficult to tell, but it is to be supposed that persons
who trust their messages to a letter box are not in any
very extraordinary hurry about the delivery of them.
The details of the numerous arrangements include other
points of lesser Interest, though some of them will no
doubt prove of more or less general importance. The
Greenwich mean time will be sent every day
with the exception of Sunday to each station
at 10 a.m., and every clock in the place
will by this means be able to indicate the correct time.
In Ireland, of course, Dublin time will be the standard. •
The hours during whirls the offices will be ellen will pro-
bably be from S a.m to S pan., but there will be exceptions
in favour of messages fur the press, &c. When excep-
tional circumstances cause a run of work on any
particular station, prompt measures will be taken to pro-
vide a sufficient number of clerks, and to give every atten-
tion to the extra amount of service demanded by the
public. One other feathre of the system is that payment
for messages can be made in stamps. For
instance, forms will be issued with shilling stamps
attached, and these forms will contain spaces for each word
written, so that it will be easy to tell at a glance the num-
ber of words.

So, under tile new arrangement we have the prospect of
benefiting considerably by a reduction of expense, and the
widely-extended means of making use of the incalculable
advantages of the science of telegraphy. Nearly every nook
and corner throughout the land will be within easy reach
of the magic wires ; a great and important change is
effected, and from it, as far as we can see at present, au
undoubted benefit will acirue to the people of Great
Britain. •