The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-16

thCy Pdy iOyoiNiNo VI
frngement Of the Government monopoly
under the head OF posts and ~telegraphs.
The National p pays more than
s1,OOO,o 900 a year TO the Government in this
way Ia total Of $lI 200. 900 TO date in ad-
dition to all the ordinary forms of taxation,
such as income tax. local rates, DC.
The handicap Of a 10 per cent. royalty
on gross receipts is by no means the most
serious artificial difficulty which has pre-
vented the development OF telephone ser
vice in Great Britain. The most serious
disability which the National Telephone
COMPANY has encountered has been the
refusal OF the pu bic authorities to allow
tn e putting Of telephone wires underground
in the large cities.
The telephone company has been at the
mercy Of individual property owners In SELL
ing way leaves for their lines. The average
EnRlishman says MOL when the telephone
company asks permission to pass a line
across the roof Of his house, and the offer
Of IS a year rental is usually scornfully
refused. So it happens there are thou
sands Of would be telephone subscribers
in England who cannot be connected be-
cause it is impossible to obtain right Of
way from their premises to the nearest
exchange. or course, the Government
promises to change all this foul years hence,
for it will make free use OF the privilege
which it denies a private company OF putting
wires underground in all streets.
The cost OF the telephone to the public
is a very mixed affair. 1t varies, Of course,
with localities and with the nature OF the
service.
In London a subscriber may obtain
unrestricted service within greater Lon
don for about $67 a year. The message
rate subscription costs S25 a year, plus
two cents for each call made in the metro
politan area.
In practical working the system falls
far short Of American standards. h
service is slow, blunders are constant and
the instruments far from perfect. To
attempt to get through a dozen telephone
conversations in the course Of the day
would ruin the disposition Of the most
~phlegmatic Englishman.
TIM Suns London office, for instance.
ia connected with both the National and
the Post ONCE telephone services 1t is
scarcely an e1ag geration TO say that half
the calls received on the Post Office phone
are false owing to blunders by the ex-
change operators or other subscribers,
The National service is a little better, but
as the two systems intercommunicate IL
is difficult to ~criticise them separately.
1t is quite true that the National company
has not been as alert or as enterprising in
the development Of its business as an Amer
lean concern would have been. Some Of
the largest exchanges in London are still
unequipped with the central betting system,
and it is necessary to turn a crank to call
central and to ring of at the end Of a con-
versation. But this is only natural, consid-
ering the disabilities under which the COM
pany has worked and the fact that in a COM
paratively short time the Government will
acquire the entire business by compulsory
purchase.
1t is In trunk line or long distance tele-
phoning that the effect Of Government
management is fully exemplifed in Great
Britain. Anything more inefficient and
unsatisfactory IL would be difficult TO
imagine.
Nobody thinks Of using it whose business
can be transacted by telegraph, which on
the average is much quicker. The writer
has made many attempts 10 get into tele-
phonic communication with London from
points from SO TO 900 miles distant. In
every case during business hours, before
6 P M, the reply has been:
Well take your application, sir, but you
must wait your turn"
And how long before l can get through
and the answer has never been less than an
hour and has usually been from one and a
half TO two hours.
Telephone communication between Lon
don and Paris is excellent-a night. In
the daytime 10 might as we'll not exist for
the general public. for it is only available
when the use OF a wire has been engaged
for a specific time long in advance.
A word about municipal attempts TO
establish local telephone service. Glasgow
furnishes the best example.
After Gripping the development OF the
National company's service in that city
for years by refusing permission for under
ground wires the local authorities decided
in 1900 to establish a telephone service Of
it's own-to be OF course cheaper and more
efficient than that OF the private company
They made free use themselves Of the
underground facilities which they refused
their rivals and in the course OF five years
they built up a service Of IL, 600 Subscribers.
But they equipped their service with
obsolete apparatus and even then at an
expense far In excess Of the estimates. In
the last year OF their operations their re-
oeipts and expenditures balanced with a
trife Of s2lO TO carry to account Of depreoia-
ton OF their extensive plent. Moreover,
the citizens complained that the municipal
exchange instead OF being an advantage
was a heavy additional burden to a large
portion OF their subscribers, who we're
obliged to pay two telephone subscriptions
instead Of one in order to be able TO COM
municate with the 1900 subscribers Of the
National company.
The experiment in a word was a complete
failure and the city authorities we're glad a
year ago TO sell out their obsolete equip
ment to the Government at about two-
thirds what II had cost. The national au.
thorities are severely criticised for paying
such a price in this and several similar
instances, where the apparatus is really
worth little more than scrap heap prices.
BAD SERVICE IN FRANCE.
Telephone Subscribers Organize Against