The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-06 00:00:00

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

1

The bill enabling the Government to puiclase.tha vvlit44'
of the telegraphs in the United Kingdom, to be worked
under one uniform system by the Post Office establishment,
has been printed and placed in the hands of members of
Parliament, and we are now able to form some definite idea
as to the advantages to be derived from the plan. The pre-
amble of the Act sufficiently points out the objects in view,
since it is very correctly recited, firstly, that the means of
communication at present existing by electric telegraaph
are insufficient, and many important districts are with-
out any such means of communication ; secondly, that
there is nothing in the existing Acts of Parliament making
it obligatory upon telegraph companies to exercise their
powers within any particular district ; and, thirdly, that
it would be attended with great advantage to the State, to
merchants and traders, and to the public generally, if a
cheaper, 'more widely extended, and more expeditious
system of telegraphy were established, and to that end it
is expedient that the Postmaster-General be empowered
to work telegraphs in connection with the administration
of the Post Office. In the first instance it is provided
that the powers of the Telegraph Act of 1863, which
applies to all telegraph companies, shall be incorporated
in this Act, by which means the public will be as much
protected against the exercise of any special privileges as
they now are. The means of acquiring and purchasing
the interests of existing companies are permissive only, and
not compulsory. Thus it is made lawful for the Postmaster-
General, with the consent of the Treasury, from time to
time, out of moneys to be appropriated by Act of Parlia-
ment for that purpose, to purchase the whole or such parts
as he shall think fit of the undertaking of any com-
pany, which shall then be vested in the Postmaster-
General and his successors, and any company with the
authority of two-thirds of the votes of their shareholders
may sell their undertaking to the Postmaster-General
for such sum as may be mutually agreed upon, and the
acts, charters, and grants of any such company shall re-
main in full force, and any works which could have been
executed by the company shall thereafter be executed by
Postmaster-General. If any one undertaking shall be
acquired by the L ostmacter-General under the powers of
this Act, then it is made compulsory upon him to purchase
any other companies already established who shall be
desirous of selling their undertaking either upon terms
to be agreed upon between them or to be fixed by arbi-
tration. There are powers conferred upon the Post-
master-General from time to time to lease any parts of
the undertakings or property so purchased by him, and
to make regulations for the conduct of the telegraph busi-
I ness generally ; and in this respect the public will find

that their interests are well protected, since it is provided
that the charges for the transmission of messages through-
out the United Kingdom shall uniformly, and without re-
gard to distance, be at a rate not exceeding is. for the first
20 words or part of 20 words, and not exceeding fid. for
each additional 10 words or part of 10 words, the names
and addresses of the senders and receivers not being
counted as part of the words ; and that these sums shall in-
clude delivery by special foot messengers within one mile
of the Terminal Telegraphic Office, or within the town
postal delivery of that office when it is a head office,
and the town postal delivery extends for more than
a mile from it. The charge for delivery beyond
the prescribed limits, where the sender desires to
have his message delivered by special foot messenger,
is not to exceed sixpence per double mile, but if the
sender does not wish to incur the extra charge for a
special messenger beyond the limits, then the message will
be delivered free by the ordinary postal delivery next
following the arrival of the message. The payments for

transmission of messages (except extra porterage) will in
all cases be made by means of stamps, and a proper supply
of stamps and stamped paper for that purpose will be kept
at the post offices. The Postmaster-General is also
empowered to appoint any offices or pillar letter-boxes he
may think fit as places of deposit for messages, which
will then be conveyed to the offices of transmission
'without extra charge at the ordinary time for collecting
post letters. All regulations made by the Postmaster-
General from time to time are to receive the sanction of
Parliament before they are put into operation. The
general proviiions of this Act are, no doubt, calculated to
effect a very beneficial improvement in the conduct of the
telegraphic communications of the country ; but there
appears to be one palpable omission suggested by the second
clause of the preamble, which is, that there is no enactment
making it obligatory upon the Postmaster-General to extend
the telegraph system throughout any particular districts.
It has, of course, been found by the existing companies
that the populous districts pay better than others ; but
if private enterprise is to be swamped by Government
centralisation, there certainly should be some assurance
given to the public that every effort will be made to extend
the telegraph wires wherever a reasonable amount of en-
couragement is offered. The principle of the scheme is
good, for there can be no question that by means of the
Post Office machinery and appliances a very considerable
saving may be effected in the management, and as there
will be no bodies of shareholders clamouring for large divi-
dends, all the profits may be made available for the benefit
of the public generally. It is certainly a very singular fact
that Great Britain, which is the most letter-writing country
in Europe, should stand the lowest in the scale in respect
of telegraphic communications. One would have supposed
that the enormous amount of mercantile transactions in
the country would have produced a different result, and
the only way of accounting for the phenomenon is the
hitherto imperfect nature of the telegraphic arrangements.
We cannot doubt that a new and improved system will
create a very considerable alteration in this respect.
It will, however, be necessary that in passing such a
measure some minor details should be well considered, and
amongst others we would draw attention to the present
employes in the different telegraph companies. It appears
that there are hundreds of ladies now acting in the capacity
of clerks, and it has been said, and probably with
much truth, that educated women are capable of ac-
quiring the necessary manipulation of the apparatus in
a much shorter time than men. It would be a subject of
great regret if female talent should under the Government
system be excluded from the various offices, but we are
aware that such a suggestion has already been mooted. It
would certainly take time to induct a sufficient number of
men into the business, and the ladies may therefore rest
assured that their employment will continue for at least
two years ; but we trust that instead of limiting the
employment of women a still greater use will be made
of them, and that the increase of telegraphic business
generally will open to females a new field of useful em-
ployment, by which they may earn sufficient to support
themselves.

THE DIVISIONS ON FRIDAY NIGHT.-011 the
Premier's leaving the House of Commons on Friday night,
after the two divisions, he was enthusiastically cheered by
the bystanders, about 200 of whom followed him to the
Carlton Club, cheering all the way.— Herald.
THE COUNTESS D'ALTEVRAC V. LORD WIL-
LOUGHBY DE ERESBY.—Mr. W. Vernon Harcourt, Q.C.,
to whom this case was referred by the Lord Chief Justice,
has just made his award, directing £6,000 to be paid to the
plaintiff forthwith, and that £1,200 a year be secured to
her for life.
MANSION HOUSE. —The Lord Mayor and the
Lady Mayoress, with their sister (Miss Allen), have
accepted invitations from the Lord Mayor of Dublin to
be his guests on the forthcoming visit of their Royal High-
nesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, and they will
leave the Mansion House for Dublin on the evening of
Tuesday or Wednesday week. The visit will render it
necessary for the Lord Mayor to appoint a member of the
Court of Aldermen to discharge the duties of chief magic
trate of the City during his absence.
A labourer, named Mallon, at Liverpool, stran-
gled his child, three years old, with his hands. The poor
boy slept with his father and mother, and the shocking
deed was committed about three o'clock on Friday morn-
ing. The mother, on becoming aware of what had occurred,
raised an alarm, and the neighbours rushed in. The
wretched man afterwards attempted to cut his throat,
but the knife was not sharp enough. He said " the
devil bade him do it." The prisoner is said to
be suffering from "mental weakness, the result of in-
temperance."
MINISTERIAL MOVEMENTS.—The Right Hon. the
First Lord of the Admiralty left town for the Isle of
Wight, on Saturday, for the parliamentaryrecess. The
Right Hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer left town on
Saturday, after the Cabinet Council, for his seati near
Oundle, Northamptonshire. The Duke of
Rs'ur iat mona
and Lady Caroline Gordon Lennox left town
n
Mrs.
for Goodwood, Sussex. The RigidtsH.oorionnc.
Gasatltch,
Hardy and
:rnreetullriaisrd3rtoY'
who left on Saturday for Wi
town to-day, and will afterTrst.J
The Duke of
family at his seat near Staple I
SOUTH LANCASHIRE DISTURBANCES.—On
Marl-
borugh is expected to leave town immediately to meet his
yacht at Portsmouth.
THE
Saturday there was no attempt to renew the disturbances
at Haydock. Mounted police patrolled the township, but
the men on strike did not make any show of force. Only
ono or two assaults upon knobsticks are reported to have
been. committed by small parties of men. The soldiers
returned to Warrington on Friday, where, however, they
remain in readiness for immediate transport to Haydock ;
the business of only a very few minutes, as the colliery
railway of Mr. Evans runs into the heart of the township.
The Wigan police were strongly represented in Whelley
on Saturday morning, but all was quiet there, and the
reports from all the other districts were of a similar
character. The military force on duty in Wigan has been
ireduced to eighty, and the men are now quartered at the
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