TELEGRAPHS IN EUROPE.

Otago Witness, Issue 838, 20 December 1867, Page 14

TELEGRAPHS IN EUROPE.

(From the Scientific American.) The Swiss telegraph, of which there are 1130 miles of line, or fourteen miles for every hundred square miles of territory — has been for some years in the hands of the Government. The charge is uniformly one franc, and a quarter franc for every additional ten words, with free delivery by carrier within three miles, or by mail at greater distances. Postal money orders are also transmitted in the same way. The number of telegrams in 1565 was 364,000, and the proportion of telegrams to letters steadily increases. As the lightning travels u\) and down and through the snows with equal facility, it has a peculiar advantage over the mails in a country like Switzerland. In Belgium, the telegraph is still cheaper, the uniform charge being only j half a franc, or less than one dime, for the I first twenty words. The system has belonged to the Government since 1850, and every post office is either a telegraph office or an office for forwarding telegrams by messenger or mail as may be desired. There are 2000 miles of line. Messages are written on stamped paper, and delivered free of further charge for a distance of a mile and a quarter, beyond which they may be forwarded express or free by mail. Jf the message does not reach its destination as soon as the mail, or is incorrectly sent, the price is returned. In 1860, at a charge of a franc and a-half , there were 20,000 telegrams, being one to 218 letters ; in 1865, at one franc, there were 332,700, being one to 48 letters. In December, 1855, the charge was reduced to half a franc, the present rate and the cheapest in the world. In Prussia, the lowest charge by the national telegraph is about 15 cents. In Paris the postal telegraph system has been tried with success.

Shepherding witkout Dogs. — It appears that some of the wool growers of Australia are discarding the sheep-dog. A correspondent of the Delinqxtin Chronicle says, in reference to the Widgiewa Station, on the Murray : — "The run is divided into paddocks, and from these the sheep are brought in by the boundry riders, no dogs being used for the purpose of annoying and worrying the sheep. The tail of the last specimen of this modern discovery of man to save his limbs has been religiously nailed up, and may be seen rotting on the wall. Dogs were used by the ancients to protect the sheep from tne raids of their natural enemy ; the present generation use them to fret and annoy the inoffensive dumb animal ; but here the ' dog has been, as he ought to be, discai'ded altogether in the management of sheep. At shearing lime, they are quietly taken to the wash pen yards, and inclosed therein without the Blighest trouble."