THE THAMES TELEGRAPH.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3224, 13 June 1871, Page 3

THE THAMES TELEGRAPH.

Our evening contemporary reprints the following from the " New Zealand Herald," thinking thereby to supple ment a rather shady leading article meant (if indeed anything can be said to be meant by it) to shake the confidence of the public in the telegraph department : — " Tf a private Telegraph Company found that their plant was inadequate to the business which crowded in upon them, and that a very moderate outlay would enable them not only to extend that business, but to afford greater convenience to their customers, the ordinary course of procedure for that company would be to at once take steps to extend their machinery in the manner most desirable. Now this is exactly the condition in which the Government stand with regard to the Thames telegraph. Business has crowded in to such an extent that the present wires are insufficient to convey within a reasonable time, or even in the stated c£|Q" hours, the messages which are received. The Thames telegraph is in plain words about the best speculation that the Government have entered into for some little time, and the on'ginal plant is already far too small to carry on the required business. The duty of the Government is then at once plain on the face of it. Additional wires must bo laid on with the

least possible delay, and the staff of operators must be increased. We have on former occasions stated our conviction that 'the staff was 100 weak, and also our opinion that under the present lively condition of mining matters, the Telegraph Office hours should be extended. If this were done there would be a still greater occasion, of course, for additional operators, and we fail to perceive any reason why the Government should neglect to do that which would be for its own, no less than the public weal. It is very certain that we cannot go on much longer with the present number of wires, and the sooner the wants of the public are supplied the better will it be for the public purse " Itwill, nodoubt, afford very great satisfaction to the general public, and more especially to the " Evening Post," to be informed that " steps have" already ! " been taken" in the direction desired. By the s.s. Wellington, a sufficient staff of operators has been despatched, so as to enable both the Auckland and Grahamstown stations to be opened to the public for twelve hours each day ; and that material under the charge of an experienced lineman was sent by the same opportunity to increase the present wire accommodation between Auckland and the Thames, by running a third wire from Aucklaud to Mercer, and thereby making a direct line to Cambridge and Alexandra, and leaving two clear wires between Auckland and the Thames. Our contemporaries may rest assured that the telegraph department was never in a state of greater efficiency, was never readier for any emergency, or (if we may judge by the amount of business confided to it) was never more trusted by the public, or more profitable to the revenue.