BRITISH TELEGRAMS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 41, 27 November 1937, Page 2

BRITISH TELEGRAMS.

1 SENT IN ANY LANGUAGE. It does not matter whether you speak Chinese, Russian, Greek, or Basuto—the British Post Office will see that your telegrams are accurately and swiftly dispatched to any part of the world you choose, says a “Daily Telegraph” contributor. I was given this assurance by a Post Office official when seeking an explanation of a. grievance expressed to the “Daily Telegraph” by a German visitor to England. Recently the German wished to send a telegram in his own language to Munich. He telephoned the foreign telegrams department and started to dictate the message. When he used the town’s German name—Munchen—the girl to whom he was dictating said “it did not appear in her book.” The actual dictation of the message, it was claimed, was lengthy and exasperating, as the girl knew no German. “As a matter of fact,” said a Post Office official, “this is an unusual and unfortunate case. It should not matter in what language a'telegram is sent, if the rules of telephoning a telegram are obsei’ved. “The analogy system should always be used: this entails spelling out each letter, thus: A for Andrew, B for Benjamin, C for Charlie, and so on. The system is explained in the Telephone Directory. “If this method is employed—and the operator may insist upon it—any name or word, in any language, can be dictated, even if the girl at the exchange does not understand the language. “After the message has been taken down on a. typewriter, it is sent to a department where each word is checked. The name of cities and countries are kept in an official list with the alternatives in French, and German; finally, the message is read back to the subscriber—again by analogy if necessary.

“So that in any instance it does not concern the girl who takes the telegram whether the place-names are given in French, German or English, so long as she has the spelling correctly.” The official said that there are roughly 25,000 Post Offices in London where a telegram can he handed in personally, so that the need for telephoning except at night, need not often arise.