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COMMERCIAL ASPECTS
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COMMERCIAL ASPECTS . The earliest See also:practical trial of See also:electrical telegraphy was made in 1837 on the See also:London and See also:North Western Railway, and the first public See also:line under the patent of See also:Wheatstone and See also:Cooke was laid from See also:Paddington to SIough on the See also:Great Western Railway in 1843. At first the use of the See also:telegraph was alm9st entirely confined to See also:railways. The Electric Telegraph See also:Company, formed to undertake the business of transmitting telegrams, was incorporated in 1846. For some See also:time it restricted its operations to constructing and maintaining railway telegraphs and was not commercially successful. Its See also:tariff was 1s. for 20 words within a See also:radius of 50 See also:miles, Is. 6d. within See also:loo miles, 5s. if exceeding 10o miles. After about five years great improvements were made in the working of the telegraphs and the See also:industry began to make progress. Telegraphic See also:money orders were established in 185o; a See also:cable was laid between See also:Dover and See also:Calais, and in See also:November 1851 the stock exchanges of London and See also:Paris were able for the first time to compare prices during business See also:hours of the same See also:day; numerous companies were formed, some of which were See also:independent of the railways, and keen competition led to considerable extensions of wires and reduction of tariffs, with the result that a large increase in the See also:volume of business took See also:place. In the See also:period from 1855 to 1868 the number of messages carried annually by all the telegraph companies of the See also:United See also:Kingdom increased from 1,017,529 to 5,781,989, or an See also:average See also:annual increase of 16.36 per cent. During this period the Electric Telegraph Company's average receipts per See also:message See also:fell from 4s. Id. to 2s. old., or just over See also:half, while the number of messages increased nearly fourfold. The working expenses were reduced in a progressively larger ratio, e.g. in 1859 the average working expenses were 2S. 7d. per message or more than 65 per cent. of the receipts, while in 1869 they were Is. old. per message or only 51 per cent. of the receipts. Much dissatisfaction was See also:felt because the larger towns where competition had been most keen were unduly benefited to the neglect of smaller towns where the business was comparatively less profit-able, but it must be remembered that the telegraph lines followed the railways and that many towns were not served owing to their opposition to the railways. In 1856 the See also:Edinburgh Chamber of See also:Commerce began an agitation for the See also:purchase by the See also:government of the telegraphs, and other See also:chambers of commerce in Great See also:Britain joined the agitation, which was strongly supported by the See also:Press. In 1865 the Postmaster-See also:General (See also:Lord See also:Stanley) commissioned Mr F. T. Scudamore, second secretary to the See also:Post See also:Office, to inquire and See also:report whether the electric telegraph service could be beneficially worked by the Post Office, and whether it would See also:entail any very large See also:expenditure on the Post Office beyond the purchase of the rights. At that time the See also:total number of places supplied with telegraphic communication by all the companies collectively, including railway stations, was 2500, whereas the number of places having postal communications was over 10,000. Under the then existing telegraphic tariff the See also:charge in Great Britain was a See also:shilling for a twenty-word message over a distance not exceeding See also:ioo miles ; Is. 6d. for a like message over distances from loo to 200 miles; 2S. when exceeding 500 miles. For a message between Great Britain and See also:Ireland thecharge ranged from 3S. to 6s.; to See also:Jersey or See also:Guernsey it was 75. 8d. There were also extra charges under contingent regulations of great complexity, which commonly added 5o per cent. to the See also:primary charge, and frequently doubled it. Mr Scudamore, who was regarded as the author of the See also:bill for the acquisition of the telegraph systems, reported that the charges made by the telegraph companies were too high and tended to check the growth of telegraphy; that there were frequent delays of messages; that many important districts were unprovided with facilities; that in many places the telegraph office was inconveniently remote from the centre of business and was open for too small a portion of the day; that little or no improvement could be expected so See also:long as the working of the telegraphs was conducted by commercial companies striving chiefly to See also:earn a See also:dividend and engaged in wasteful competition with each other; that the growth of telegraphy had been greatly stimulated in See also:Belgium and Switzer-See also:land by the See also:annexation of the telegraphs to the Post Offices of those countries and the consequent See also:adoption of a See also:low See also:scale of charges; that in Great Britain like results would follow the adoption of like means, and that the association of the telegraphs with the Post Office would produce great See also:advantage to the public and ultimately a large See also:revenue to the See also:state. In support of these views he reported that in Belgium in 1863 a reduction of 33 per cent. in the charge had been followed by an increase of 8o per cent. in the number of telegrams, and that in 1886 a reduction of 50 per cent. in the charge had been followed by an increase of 85 per cent. in the See also:traffic; and similar See also:statistics pointing to increase of business consequent on reduction of rates were produced in regard to See also:France, See also:Switzerland and See also:Prussia. The relative backwardness of telegraphy in Great Britain was attributed to high charges made by the companies and to restricted facilities. Some of the complaints against the companies, however, were exaggerated, and the estimates formed of the possible commercial development of telegraphy were optimistic. The basis for these estimates was the experience of other countries, which, however, did not justify the expectation that a large increase of business consequent on reduction of rates could be obtained without serious diminution of profit. The Belgian state telegraphs were started in 185o and were at first very profitable, but for the years 1866–9 they yielded an average profit of only 2.8 per cent., and subsequently failed to earn operating expenses, the reasons for the steady decline of the profits being the opening of relatively unprofitable lines and offices, increases in See also:wages, and a diminution in growth of the See also:foreign and transit messages which had constituted the most profitable See also:part of the whole business. The Belgian government endeavoured by reducing rates and increasing facilities to stimulate inland telegraphy in the See also:hope of thereby increasing the profits of the See also:department. But these expectations were not realized. Upwards of roo telegraph offices in Belgium despatched on the average less than one telegram per day, and some offices despatched less than one a See also:month. Similar experience was adduced by the working of the state telegraphs in Switzerland and in France. The profits when earned were derived mainly from foreign messages and transit messages between foreign countries, while the receipts from inland messages did not always See also:cover expenses. In 1868 there were in France over 300 telegraph offices whose average receipts did not exceed £8 per annum. In that See also:year the Swiss government reduced the See also:rate for inland telegrams by one-half, and the traffic immediately doubled, but the cost of carrying on the service increased in a larger ratio. The experience of the telegraph companies in the United Kingdom, moreover, showed that a See also:uniform rate, irrespective of distance, of Is. for 20 words, addressed See also:free, was not remunerative in the then state of telegraphy, which made it necessary for messages to be re-transmitted at intervals of about 300 miles. In 1861 the United Kingdom Telegraph Company began a competition with the other companies on the basis of a Is. rate, and the old-established companies were forced to adopt this rate between all points served by the United Kingdom Company; but after a trial of four years it was found that a uniform Is. rate irrespective of distance had not justified itself, and that for any but very See also:short distances the tariff was "utterly unremunerative " notwithstanding a very large increase in volume of business. Even the London See also:District Telegraph Company, which was formed in 1859 for the purpose of transmitting telegraph messages between points in See also:metropolitan London, found that a low uniform rate was not financially practicable. The company began with a tariff of 4d. per io words; it soon increased the rate to 6d. for 15 words with an additional porterage charge for delivery beyond a certain distance, and in 1866 the tariff was raised to Is. The company had 123 M. of line and 83 offices, and in 1865 conveyed over 316,000 messages, but it was not financially successful. Both the telegraph companies and the railway companies had incurred heavy commercial risks in developing the telegraph services of the See also:country and only moderate profits were earned. It cannot justly be said that the companies made large profits while neglecting to develop the services adequately, but it is true that they were not able commercially to comply with many of the demands made upon them by the public. Until See also:speculation took place in anticipation of government purchase, the See also:market prices of the telegraph securities were mostly below See also:par. The stock of the Electric and Inter-See also:national Company, the return on which had reached Io per cent. per annum, however, was valued at about 14 years' purchase of the annual profits. Very little new See also:capital was invested by the telegraph companies about 1865 because of , the natural reluctance of the companies to extend the systems under their See also:control so long as a proposal for their acquisition by the state was under See also:consideration. In 1868 the length of electric telegraph lines belonging to the companies was 16,643 m., and of those belonging to the railway companies 4872 m., or a total of 21,515. With regard to the statement that the companies had installed competitive systems and had expended capital needlessly, it was found by the Post Office authorities that in 1865 less than 2000 M. of telegraph lines, and 350 offices out of a total of over 2000, were redundant. The telegraph companies proposed to effect an amalgamation so as to enable the services to be consolidated and extended, and they proposed to submit to various conditions for the See also:protection of the public, such as maximum rates and See also:limitation of dividends, with the See also:provision that new issues of capital should be offered by See also:auction, but public See also:opinion was averse to the proposal. By 1868 both See also:political parties in the See also:House of See also:Commons had committed themselves to the policy of state purchase of the telegraphs. After much negotiation the basis finally agreed upon between the government and the companies was 20 years' purchase of the profits of the year ended 3oth See also:June 1868. The See also:Chancellor of the See also:Exchequer described the terms as " very liberal but not more liberal than they should be under the circumstances," and stated that Mr Scudamore had estimated that £6,000,000 was the maximum See also:price which the government would have to pay, and that the Postmaster-General would obtain from the telegraphs a See also:net annual revenue of £203,000 at least. In addition to the undertakings of the telegraph companies the government had to purchase the reversionary rights of the railway companies which arose out of the circumstance that the telegraph companies for the most part had erected their poles and wires along the permanent way of the railways under leases which in 1868 had still many years to run. The price awarded to the six telegraph companies was £5,733,000. A further £ioo,000 was paid for the Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of See also:Man and other" undertakings, and about £2,000,000 was paid to the railway companies for their reversionary rights, the cost of which had been estimated at £700,000. The government acquired the perpetual and exclusive way-leaves for telegraph lines over the railways, but the See also:monopoly of the Postmaster-General does not apply to those numerous wires which are required for the protection of See also:life on railways. The telegraphs were transferred to the Post Office on the 5th of See also:February 1870. During the following three years the government spent £500,000 in making See also:good the depreciation suffered by the plant in the transition years of 1868 and 1869, for which See also:allowance had been made in the purchase price, and about £1,700,000 was expended on new plant. During that period 8000 m. of posts, 46,000 m. of See also:wire and about 200 M. of underground pipes were added. The cost of these See also:works had been underestimated, and the report of the Select See also:Committee of the Post Office (Telegraph Department), 1876, states that " the committee have not received any full and satisfactory explanation of the great See also:differences between the estimated expenditure of 1869 and the actual expenditure incurred up to 1876." The excess expenditure caused the Post Office during two or three years to make temporary application of Savings See also:Banks' balances to telegraph expenditure, an expedient which was disapproved of by both the See also:Treasury and the House of Commons. Probably no more arduous task was ever thrown upon a public department than that imposed on the Post Office by the See also:transfer. The reforms which it was to bring about were eagerly and impatiently demanded by the public. This great operation had to be effected without interrupting the public service, and the department had immediately to reduce and to simplify the charges for transmission throughout the kingdom. It had to extend the hours of business at all the offices; it had to extend the wires from railway stations lying outside of See also:town populations to post offices in the centre of those populations and throughout their suburbs; it had also to extend the wires from towns into rural districts previously devoid of telegraphic communication; it had to effect a See also:complete severance of commercial and domestic telegraphy from that of See also:mere railway traffic, and in See also:order to effect this severance it had to provide the railways with ,some 6000 m. of wires in substitution for those of which they had been See also:joint users. It had further to provide at low charges for the See also:distribution of See also:news to the Press; it had, to facilitate the transmission of money orders by telegram; finally, it had to amalgamate into one See also:staff bodies of men who had formerly worked as rivals upon opposite plans and with different See also:instruments, and to combine the amalgamated telegraph staff with that of the postal service. So zealously was the See also:work of improvement pursued that within little more than six years of the transfer the aggregate extent of road wires in the United Kingdom was already 63,000 m. and that of railway wires 45,000, in all io8,000 m. The number of instruments in the telegraph offices was 12,000. At that date the superintending and managing staffs of the Post Office comprised 590 persons, the staff of the old companies with only about one-third of the traffic having been 534 persons. The anticipations as to the increase of messages that would result from the reduction of rates were fully realized. The number of messages increased from about 6,500,000 in 1869 to nearly io,000,00o in 1871 and to 20,000,000 in 1875, but the expectations as to net revenue were not justified by the results. In 1869 Mr Scudamore estimated the operating expenses at 51 to 56 per cent. of the See also:gross revenue. In 187o–1 they were 57 per cent. and in 1871-2, 78 per cent. Since 1873 the capital See also:account has been closed with a total expenditure of £10,867,644, and all subsequent expenditure for extensions, purchase of sites and erection of buildings has been charged against revenue. There are several reasons for the unsatisfactory See also:financial results apart from the high price paid for the acquisition of the telegraphs. The unprofitable See also:extension of the telegraphs has largely contributed to the loss. Moreover, since 1881 the wages and salaries of the telegraph employees have been increased on several occasions in consequence of political pressure brought to See also:bear on members of See also:parliament; and notwithstanding the protest of the government of the day, the House of Commons in 1883 carried a See also:resolution that the minimum rate for inland telegrams should be reduced to 6d. This involved a large extension of wires to See also:cope with increased traffic. The reduced rate took effect as from the Ist of See also:October 1886. Another See also:reason assigned by the committee appointed by the Treasury in 1875 " to investigate the causes of the increased cost of the telegraphic service since the acquisition of the telegraphs by the state " is the loss on the business of transmitting Press messages, which has been estimated as at least £300,000 a year. A further cause has been competition offered by the See also:telephone service, but against this the Post Office has received royalties from telephone companies and revenue from See also:trunk telephone lines. These amounted in 1887 to £26,170 and £I 12 respectively; in 1897 to £85,289 and £113,294, and in 1907 to £240,331 and £479,639 respectively. The following table shows the financial results of the business in the year immediately following the purchase of the telegraphs by the state, in the two years preceding and the two years following the introduction of the 6d. tariff, and in the seven financial years from 19oo-1907:-the See also:British See also:ship " See also:Agamemnon," both being See also:war-See also:ships See also:lent for the purpose by their respective governments. The See also:shore end was landed in See also:Valentia See also:Harbour on the 5th of See also:August, and next See also:morning paying out was started by the " See also:Niagara," to which the laying of the first half had been entrusted. For the first few days the operation proceeded satisfactorily, though slowly, but on the afternoon of the 11th, when 38o m. had been laid, the cable snapped, owing to a See also:mistake in the manipulation of the See also:brake, and the ships returned to See also:Plymouth with what remained. Next year, 700 M. of new cable having been made, the See also:attempt was renewed, with the same ships, but on this occasion it was Year. Number of Gross Receipts. Total e Net Revenue or Net Revenue See also:Interest on Messages. Expenditure. Percentage Deficiency. after omitting Stock created Total from Total for Purchase of Expenditure Expenditure the Telegraphs. to Gross cost of Sites, Receipts. Buildings and Telegraph Extensions. £ £ £ £ £ 1870-71 * 9,850,1i7 801,262 462,762 57.75 338,500 342,618 214,500 1883-84 . 32,843,120 1,789,223 1,808,920 I0I•I0 19,697 330,835 326,417 Deficiency 1884-851 33,278,459 1,784,414 1,820,764 102.03 36,350 274,271 326,417 Deficiency 1885-86 . 39,146,283 1,787,264 1,832,401 102.52 45,137 167,915 326,417 Deficiency 1886-87 . . 50,243,639 1,887,159 2,032,632 107.70 145,473 88,484 326417
Deficiency
1900-01 89,576,961 3,459,353 3,796,994 109.76 337,641 6,861 298,860
Deficiency Deficit
1901-02 . 90,432,041 3,570,046 4,221,927 118.26 651,881 169,772 298,860
Deficiency Deficit
1902-03 . 92,471,000 3,723,866 4,325,577 116.16 601,711 109,760 298,860
Deficiency Deficit
1903-04 • 89,997,000 3,736,115 4,693,898 125.64 957,783 306,108 278,483
Deficiency Deficit
1904-05 . 88,969,000 3,920,023 4,839,459 123.45 919,436 160,989 271,691
Deficiency Deficit
1905-06 . 89,478,000 4,151,380 4,892,199 117.85 740,819 12,693 271,691
Deficiency
1906-07 . 89,493,000 4,369,230 5,021,285 114.92 652,055 214,982 271,691
(Estimated) Deficiency
* 5th February 1870.-Transfer of telegraphs to the state. t 1st October 1885.-Introduction of sixpenny tariff.
Submarine Telegraphs.-The first commercially successful cable was that laid across the straits of Dover from the See also:South See also:Foreland to Sangatte by T. R. Crampton in 1851, and two years later, after several futile attempts, another was laid between See also:Port See also:Patrick in the south of See also:Scotland and See also:Donaghadee in Ireland. This was followed by various other cables between See also:England and the neighbouring countries, and their success naturally revived the See also:idea which had been suggested in 1845 of establishing telegraphic communication between England and See also:America, though this enterprise, on account of the distance and the greater See also:depth of See also:water, was of a much more formidable See also:character. On the See also:American See also:side See also:Cyrus W. See also: N. See also:Gisborne for a land line connecting St See also: The " Niagara " landed her end in Trinity See also:Bay, Newfoundland, on the 5th of August, while on the same day the " Agamemnon" landed hers at Valentia. The electrical See also:condition of the cable was then excellent, but unfortunately the electrician in charge, See also:Wildman Whitehouse, conceived the wrong idea that it should be worked by currents of high potential. For nearly a week futile attempts were made to send messages by his methods, and then a return was made to the weak currents and the See also:mirror galvanometers of Sir See also: These two cables did not have a very long life, that of 1865 breaking down in 1877 and that of 1866 in 1872, but by the later of these See also:dates four other cables had been laid across the Atlantic, including one from See also:Brest to See also:Duxbury, See also:Mass. It was stated by Sir Charles Bright in 1887 that by that date 107,000 M. of submarine cable had been laid, while ten years later it was computed that 162,000 nautical miles of cable were in existence, representing a capital of £40,000,000, 75 per cent of which had been provided by the United Kingdom. Among the men of business it was undoubtedly Sir John See also:Pender (1815–1896) who contributed most to the development of this See also:colossal industry, and to his unfailing faith in their ultimate realization must be ascribed the completion of the first successful Atlantic cables. The submarine cables of the See also:world now have a length exceeding 200,000 nautical miles, and most of them have been manufactured on the See also:Thames.
The monopoly conferred upon the Postmaster-General by the Telegraph See also:Act 1869 was subsequently extended to telephony and wireless telegraphy, but it does not extend to submarine telegraphy. The submarine telegraphs are mainly controlled by companies, the amount of issued capital of the existing British telegraph companies (twenty-four in number) being £30,447,191, but a certain number of lines are in government hands. Thus on the 31st of See also: In 1890 See also:Liverpool was placed in See also:direct telegraphic communication with See also:Hamburg and Havre, and London with See also:Rome. The following year an additional cable was laid from Bacton, in See also:Norfolk, to See also:Borkum, in Germany, at the joint expense of the British and German governments. Direct telegraphic com-munication was thus afforded between London and See also:Vienna. In 1893 a See also:contract was made with the Eastern and South See also:Africa Telegraph Company for the construction, laying and See also:maintenance of a cable from See also:Zanzibar to the See also:Seychelles and See also:Mauritius, a distance of 2210 m., for a See also:subsidy of £28,000 a year for twenty years. In 1894 the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company laid a cable from See also:Singapore to See also:Labuan and Hong See also:Kong, thus duplicating the route and making it an all-British line. The following year the rates to and from East and South Africa were reduced, by negotiation, from charges varying from 7s. 9d. to 8s. ltd. a word to 5s. 2d. or 5s. Government messages were accorded a rate of 2S. 6d., and Press telegrams one of from 1s. 5d. to 1s. 732'-d. a word. In 1896 it was arranged to lay two new cables to France and one (for duplex working) to Germany. On the 1st of February 1898 a new cable was laid between Bermuda and See also:Jamaica (via See also:Turks Islands), giving an all-British line to the West Indies, with reduced charges. In 190o direct telegraph working was established between London and See also:Genoa, and a third cable was laid to South Africa via St See also:Helena and See also:Ascension. In 1896 a committee was appointed to consider the proposal for laying a telegraph cable between British North America and See also:Australasia. The report of the committee, which is dated See also:January 1897, was presented to parliament in April 1899, and dealt with the practicability of the project, the route, the cost and the revenue. The committee was of opinion that the cable should be owned and worked by the governments interested, and that the general direction should be in the hands of a manager in London under the control of a small board at which the associated governments should be represented. The See also:English cable companies urged that state interference with private enterprise was neither justifiable nor necessary, as the rates could be reduced and an alternative cable route to See also:Australia arranged on reasonable terms without it, and that the Cape route would be the best alternative route. The government policy would, they alleged, create an See also:absolute and objectionable monopoly. In the See also:correspondence (See also:Blue See also:Book, Ed. 46, 1900) between the Eastern Telegraph Company and the Colonial Office, the company pointed out that Mr See also:Raikes, when Postmaster-General, had stated that " it would be without precedent for the English government itself to become interested in such a See also:scheme in such a way as to constitute itself a competitor with existing commercial enterprises carried on by citizens of the British See also:empire. There would be a very serious question raised, and it would probably extend to other forms of British enterprise." The company further pointed out that Mr L. See also:Courtney (after-wards Lord Courtney), when Secretary of the Treasury, had stated that " it would be highly inexpedient to encourage upon See also:light grounds competition against a company in the position of the Eastern Telegraph Company which has embarked much capital in existing lines "; and that the permanent officials representing the Post Office before the Pacific Cable committee had stated " that there was no precedent for the Imperial Government alone or in association with the Colonies managing or seeking business for a line of this See also:kind." The reply of the Colonial Office contained the following statements of general policy:—" With the progressive development of society the tendency is to enlarge the functions and widen the See also:sphere of See also:action of the central government as well as of the See also:local authorities, and to claim for them a more or less exclusive use of See also:powers, and the performance of services where the desired result is difficult to attain through private enterprise, or where the result of entrusting such powers or services to private enterprise would be detrimental to the public interest, through their being in that event necessarily conducted primarily for the benefit of the undertakers rather than of the public. This tendency is specially manifested in cases where from the magnitude or other conditions of the enterprise the public is deprived of the important safeguard of unrestricted competition. . . . In the See also:case of inland telegraphs and of cable communication with the See also:continent of See also:Europe government control has entirely superseded private companies. Closely analogous to the action of the state in the cases referred to is the action taken by municipal atithorities with the authority of the legislature in competing with or superseding private companies for the See also:supply of electric light, See also:gas, water, tramways and other public services. . . . The service which the government and the colonies See also:desire is one which neither the Eastern Telegraph Company nor any other private enterprise is prepared to undertake on terms which can be considered in comparison with the terms upon which it can be provided by the associated governments." In November 1899 a committee was appointed by the Colonial Office for the further examination of the scheme, and towards the end of 1900 a See also:tender was accepted for the manufacture and laying of a submarine cable between the See also:Island of See also:Vancouver and See also:Queensland and New See also:Zealand for the sum of £1,795,000, the work to be completed by the 31st of See also:December 1902. A board was constituted to supervise the construction and working of the cable, composed of representatives of the several governments, with offices at See also:Westminster. Under the Pacific Cable Act See also:tool the capital sum of £2,000,000 was provided in the following proportions: United Kingdom, 5/18ths with 3 representatives including the chairman. See also:Canada, 5/18ths with 2 representatives. Australia, 6/18ths with 2 representatives. New Zealand, 2/18ths with I representative. In these proportions the respective contributing governments are responsible for the losses made in the working of the under-taking. The annual expenses of the board include £35,000 for cable See also:repairs and reserve and a fixed See also:payment to the National See also:Debt Commissioners of £77,544 as sinking fund to amortise capital expenditure in fifty years. The deficiency on the working for the year ended 31st March 1907 was £54,924, and the approximate number of messages transmitted during the year was 96,783 with 1,126,940 words. There was in addition a considerable inter-colonial traffic between Australia, New Zealand and the Fijis. Since the early days of See also:international telegraphy, conferences of representatives of government telegraph departments and companies have been held from time to time (Paris 1865, Vienna 1868, Rome 1871 and 1878, St See also:Petersburg 1895, London 1879, See also:Berlin 1885, Paris 1891, Buda Pesth 1896, London 1903). In 1868 the International See also:Bureau of Telegraphic Administrations was constituted at Berne, and a See also:convention was formulated by which a central office was appointed to collect and publish See also:information and generally to promote the interests of inter-national telegraphy. International service regulations have been See also:drawn up which possess equal authority with the convention and constitute what may be regarded as the See also:law See also:relating to international telegraphy. The total lengths of the land lines of the telegraphs throughout the world in 1907 were 1,015,894 m. aerial, and 11,454 M. underground, and the total lengths of submarine cables of the world were 39,072 nautical miles under government See also:administration and 194,751 nautical miles under the administration of private companies. ' BIBL1OGRAPxv.-Reports to the Postmaster-General upon proposals for transferring to the Post Office the Telegraphs throughout the United Kingdom (1868); See also:Special Reports from Select Committee on the Electric Telegraphs Bills (1868, 1869); Report by Mr Scudamore on the reorganization of the Telegraph See also:system of the United Kingdom (1871) ; Journ. Statistical Society (September 1872, March 1881) ; Report of a Committee appointed by the Treasury to investigate the causes of the increased cost of the Telegraphic Service, &c. (1875); Reports of the Postmaster-General for 1895, &c.; Journ. Inst. Flee. Fug. (November 1996); H. R. See also:Meyer, The British State Telegraphs (London. 1907); The " Electrician " Electrical Trades See also:Directory; E. Garcke, See also:Manual of Electrical Undertakings. On submarine cables see also the- works of Sir Charles Bright's son, Mr Charles Bright, F.R.S.E., A.M.Inst.C.E., M.I.E.E.; e.g. his Life of his See also:father (1898), his Address to London Chamber of Commerce on Imperial Telegraphic Communication " (1902), Lecture to Royal United Service Institution on " Submarine Telegraphy " (1907), Lectures to Royal See also:Naval War See also:College (1910) arid R.E. Military School (1908) on " Submarine Cable Laying and Repairing," and articles in Quarterly See also:Review (April 1903) on ' Imperial Telegraphs," and in Edinburgh Review (April 1908) on " The International Radio-Telegraphic Convention." (E. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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