BEATING THE RECORD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5498, 25 February 1896, Page 2

BEATING THE RECORD.

The block on the telegraph lines of West Australia, of which we have recently heard a good deal, has been the cause of much irritation in that and the neighbouring colonies. It is alleged that when the line between Coolgardie and Perth was blocked^, the Telegraph Department, on two occasions, sent batches of five hundred telegrams from Coolgardie to Perth by parcels-post— obviously the smartest thing ever doriu ).y the department. The messages, if transmitted by wire, would have reached Perth in anything over two days, whereas they got there by post in twenty-four hours, besides which the move immensely relieved the congestion of the line. But the ungrateful senders, instead of appreciating • the expedition of the department, and the fact that there was no extra charge, thought that they should be handed back the difference between telegraphic and parcels rateß on these messages. An Adelaide paper tells of the marvellous despatch shown in forwarding a telegram from Perth. It says that on Friday, Jan. 17, the Post-master-General of South Australia, after an advisory visit to the west, left for Albany in order to catch the mail steamer for Adelaide. The Perth correspondent of the Advertiser at 6.30 p.m. on the same day handed in a telegram intimating that Sir Charles Todd had started on his return journey. He had a handicap of an hour or two, but this advantage was moro than compensated for by the delay between the arrival of the train at Albany and his embarkation on the Orotava. It may be fairly stated, therefore, that the telegram and Sir Charles were about on equal terms in the race. There is nothing to show that the captain of the mail-boat knew that he was engaged in a match against electricity or that Sir Charles himself took any special pains to manufacture favourable weather for the passage. But it is abundantly clear thatthe telegram was hopelessly beaten in the contest ThePostmaster-GenerallandedatLargs Bay on Tuesday, Jan. 21, and an interesting account of the results of his mission to Perth was published in the Advertiser next day. In the meantime the message waß laboriously working its way along* the wires, and it arrived, faint with fatigue, just a week after it was handed in. If Sir Charles had brought it in his pocket thero would have boen a saving of three days. This record will be difficult to beat, and not even the Westralian Telegraph Department is likely to do any worse, however industriously it may try.