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

gian management. At that time an eigh-
teen years concession from the Russian
Crown terminated and the system was put
up at auction through the ST. Petersburg
! Municipal Council, which decided eventu-
ally TO buy it over itself. The payment
made to the Government was $50 600 rubles,
and there were then 1000 subscribers.
With the adoption Of the municipal
ownership a period OF delays and mis-
management set in, and its end is not in
sight. 1t took the present writer four
teen months Of repeated applications
devious methods, including a favorable
petition from the prefecture, TO secure his
telephone, and there are more than 1000
applicants who nave been waiting since
last year and are still %unsupplied.
At the telephone ofice they agree that
but for the chronic delay in filing orders,
which Ia now notorious. there would be
5000 more users Of the telephone in ST.
Petersburg thar there are to-day. First
it was explained that the supply OF cable
was exhausted and now the excuse is that
they nave no commutators. In my case
a wall telephone had to be accepted because
they had no desk instrument left.
The ST. Petersburg business world is
Disguised TO find the City Council, after
operating it's concession for six years, still
hopelessly behind the public needs. The
explanation is not far TO seek.
When the widening Of the Nevsky was
resolved on and an electric light system
introduced the private firms which con-
tracted TO do the work were under a penalty.
some OF a thousand rubles daily and some
Of more for each day Of delay beyond the
limit specified for their work to be turned
over to the City Council. But in the case
Of the telephone the City Council undertook
to direct the work itself and naturally it
is not bothered by any question Of penalties
for delay. The materials. which are mostly
Swedish and Danish, are always obtainable
and IL is only the indifference Of the munich
pal management. based III the knowledge
tina it can be Indifferent with impunity,
that accounts for the failure TO supply the
needs Of the system.
In Moscow, where the last concession
also ended in 1901, 1t was renewed by a sale
to a Swedish-Da company, which gives
O much better service than here and is
abreast Of the public demand.
The service in Petersburg when at last
one manages to get a telephone is quite
adequate. You usually get a reply from
the exchange within five seconds and are
put through to the number asked for within
ten eoonds.
The service is intelligent as far as con-
Germs the girl at the exchange. Unfortu-
nately the telephone directory is as badly
behind as the supply of apparatus. The
last supplementary list Of subscribers
is dated April 10, 1905, and any one who
has acquired a number since then must
devise his own method Of letting the public
know his number. He can inscribe it in
hotels, newspaper Offices and information
bureaus.
Subject to this handicap the system
is well used in ordering domestic supplies,
calling the doctor or getting information
generally. The annual cost Of a telephone
ia IS rubles, or about $3s, TO business premises
and 50 rubles, or about S25, TO private
dwellings.
1t is explained by the telephone depart
ment OF the City Council that the charge
TO subscribers vas worked out on the follow
ing basis: The entire installation which
the Council proposes to establish within
the period of its eighteen years concession
il 10 cost 4, 100 900 rubles. They calculate
that the revenue received from subscribers
will at the end OF that period have equalled
the cost OF installation and that the Council
will then nave the system as a going con-
Germ fully paid of. Like other calculations
in the higher round Of Russian imperial
finance this scheme leaves large room for
possibilities and data are lacking on which
to base an opinion as TO the soundness
OF the Councils estimate.
The long distance service to Moscow is
under Government control, and excepting
for commercial exchange prices and news
paper business it is not very largely used.
1t costs | ruble 50 kopecs. or about IS
cents, for three minutes, and an urgent call
costs 4 rubles 80 kopecs.
As there are practically no call offices
here excepting the head Office and rail-
way stations. a man who has occasion to
talk with Moscow had better be supplied
with a coupon for ten talks, which is the
minimum issued. The reason for this is
that you must prepay your conversation,
and you could not get put through to Mos
COW from your private address until it was
found that you had a right to talk. The
usual thing TO do in thisc case is to telephone
from hotels, as the managers always sub
scribe ahead and can put through their
clients in their own m
The telephone service in Finland. which ia
privately managed by a Finnish Swedish
company, is admirable. For 80 Finnish
mares. about &lS, you have a service which
communicates all over the Grand Duchy.
Small farmers and wayside storekeepers
alike find it a great economy and order
supplies and transact bargains regularly
by telephone.
A man who has his country house eight
miles AVA from the railway tells me that
the company gave him a telephone to W.
borg, the nearest town, n 1t Is more than
twenty miles away. on his furnishing the
timber posta for the wire, The annual
service then cost only the ordinary sub
scription Of 90 mares
GERMANY BEHIND THE TINES.