LETTERS BY ELECTRIC POST.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9642, 17 January 1903, Page 5 (Supplement)

LETTERS BY ELECTRIC POST.

■ — SO* -* DETAILS OF A COUNT'S ASTONISH. ING SCHEME. One -of tlie dreams of the future is the electric post, which, by an aerial system, ' is to flash letters and parcels from post ■ ofhee to post, office and from city to city at something not far removed from lightning speed. Naturally enough, ' Count Piscicelh, the inventor, has a -fine faith m its practicability; so much so, indeed, that hei is now m London busily endeavoring, to place it on a commercial foot- ' ing. i If is plan is to build a number of small I electric railways, made of steel ivires sop- ' ported on poies, on which light vi-kkles ' capable of carrying a hundredwoight would be electrically propelled from point to point. Tne wire rails actdug as conductors of/the electric current wou.'d, on contact with the'wheels -of the vehicle, ' charge the motor attached to it: It is proposed to construct "main hnes" between all the great towns, with swii ches '. and "side-tracks" for the less important districts. The system, it, is claimed, is based on an automatic principle. When < one of the carirers set to stop at a certain city leaves u*despatcking station it chooses its proper switch at every station, as it flies along, and pulls up of its own accord when it reaches its destination. Speed is, of course, the alii., ing feature of the invention. Count Piscicelli as- : serts that it will be possible to maintain a continuous service throughout the twenty- ( four hours, and that the distance between London and Manchester will, rouglily speaking, be covered m about an hour. >