90,000,000 TELEGRAMS

Southland Times, Issue 18809, 30 April 1920, Page 2

90,000,000 TELEG R AMS

I ° ! STATE OWNERSHIP JUBILEE. [ Fifty years ago last February' the British, telegraphs were transferred from private ownership to the State. Those years have seen immense progress in the technical side of telegraphy, and in the number of telegrams transmitted over the wires. The Post Office began with 1000 telegraph offices and IROO offices at railway stations. The charge teas fixed at a uniform rate of 1/- for 20 words, covering delivery within one mile, (in per mile being charged for porterage outside (hat limit. By 1572 there were 3000 offices, and the number of telegrams rose from less than 7,000,000 to 15.000,000 in 1872. It is now dose upon 90,000,000. Further developments have been the introduction of telegraph money-orders and Pavings Bunk withdrawals. The find. Central London telegraph office wa; in Lothbury. and in ISGO a larger office was built in Telegraph Street. The arbitrary' code for London has always been "T. 5.,” from the words Telegraph Street. Practically (ho whole of the large building cl the corner of Newgate Street and St. Mertiivs-lc-Grand is now used for the telegraphs. There has always been rivalry between what may be called symbolic telegraphy, f.uch as the Morse, and printing telegraph}'. Of recent years there have been various developments, including the conjunction of printing machines with the high-speed Morse. One of there largely in use is known as the Creed machine. A French machine, the Baudot, enables S or 10, or in the case of the London-Birmingham route, 12 instruments to be worked on one wire. Fifty' years ago the average cost of an inland telegram was 2/2 with an additional charge of 1/- for Sunday messages; to-day' the average cost is 10} d. At the Central Telegraph Office alone the daily number of telegrams dealt with usually ranges between 120,000 and 165,000, the highest total being 355,353 on the occasion of the railway strike, September 29, 1919.