This country now contains 2,515 miles of wire, and eighty-nine
telegraphic stations open to the public. The Morse apparatus is the only
one employed. Of these eighty-nine stations, fifty-three belong to the
government, twenty-one to private telegraph companies, and fifteen to
railroads.
The tariff is fixed at ninety cents for a local telegram of twenty words
between any points in the kingdom. In 1867 there were transmitted
308,150 telegrams, of which 174,560 were local and 133,590 foreign. All
the stations send written despatches in all languages, even in cipher,
the only conditions being legible writing in an alphabet transmissible
by the Morse apparatus.
Money orders to the amount of 50 rix-dollars can be paid at all
post-offices by means of the telegraph. The sum being deposited at the
original office, an official telegram is sent to the place designated,
ordering payment.
For this service the sender has only to pay the tariff on the official
telegram. Messages can be sent from points where there are no
telegraphic stations, by sending them by post or by any other mode of
transportation to the nearest telegraph station. These telegrams can be
paid by a postage-stamp affixed to a designated part of the form. These
forms are the same as the printed envelopes, and can be procured at all
post and telegraph offices. At the top of these forms is printed an
extract from the rules for the transmission of despatches. The stamps
are detached from the forms and sent to the Department of Finances at
the same time that the other reports are forwarded. It is proposed to
extend these privileges to the private and railroad telegraph stations.
From 1863 to 1867 the telegraphic intercourse between the Scandinavian
countries has increased each year twenty-five per cent.