THE TELEGRAPH (_continued_)
A very important matter in connection with the Service is the timing of
telegrams, and in order to provide for their correct and uniform timing
throughout the United Kingdom, Greenwich mean time, which is received
from the Observatory hourly, is distributed from the Central Office at 9
and 10 A.M. daily. To enable this to be done, one circuit to every
office excepting certain principal towns is stopped just before 9 or 10
A.M. daily, and, as the gong sounds at these hours, the signal “nine” or
“ten” is transmitted to the offices in direct communication with the
Central Office, and these offices retransmit the signal to the smaller
offices connected with them by telegraph. The exceptions I have
mentioned are served by means of the chronefer. Two such instruments are
situated on the third floor provincial gallery, and daily transmit
automatically a current received directly from Greenwich Observatory,
one to the principal towns at 10 A.M., and the other to certain selected
towns at 1 P.M.
Magnetic clocks are now used throughout the galleries, and allow of
uniformity of timing.
Now let me deal with the practical working of the Service. The
introduction of the sixpenny minimum rate for inland telegrams in 1885
led to an immediate large increase, particularly in the social class of
telegrams. The average number dealt with during the month previous to
the reduced rate was 52,000. A month later, the total reached 70,000,
and these numbers have gone on increasing until at the present time the
daily number dealt with ranges between 120,000 and 165,000. On certain
occasions these totals are greatly exceeded. For instance, on the 25th
June 1902, the date when it was announced that the coronation of King
Edward was postponed, the record total of 314,116 was reached. These
totals represent ordinary telegrams, but in addition a considerable
quantity of news or press matter is dealt with, and frequently, on busy
parliamentary nights, as many as half a million words are dealt with.
For many years the news record for any one night was 1,050,000 words,
the occasion being the introduction of Mr. Gladstone's first Home Rule
Bill in 1886; but on the 5th December 1910, just before the General
Election, as many as 1,885,400 words were estimated to have been dealt
with. They were chiefly speeches delivered in various parts of the
country by parliamentary candidates. The total number of telegrams dealt
with at the Central Telegraph Office during the year 1910, including
continental and press messages, was upwards of 42,000,000.
A General Election, as may be imagined, throws an enormous quantity of
work upon the postal telegraphs and the Central Telegraph Office, the
chief transmitting and delivering office in particular. At the beginning
of the election campaign the leaders of each party address meetings in
various parts of the country, and as each speech for reporting purposes
varies from a half to several columns of a newspaper, the reception and
distribution to the London and provincial newspapers requires very
careful and extensive arrangements. A special staff, fast-speed
apparatus, and extra wires have very frequently to be provided for the
particular town in which each speech is delivered.
It sometimes happens that more than twenty speeches are delivered
throughout the country on the same night. On their receipt at the
Central Office they have to be transcribed for delivery to the various
London subscribers, and for transmission to the principal towns in the
United Kingdom for the newspapers. Sometimes it is found possible to
relieve the Central Office of some portion of the re-transmitted work by
utilising the YQ system, and distributing the traffic to the principal
centres in the Kingdom. During the first two weeks of the General
Election of December 1910, 15,210,600 words were dealt with at the
Central Office.
The reception and transmission of polling results require careful
treatment. The results are received by carefully skilled operators, and
immediately taken in hand for distribution to a large number of towns
for delivery to press agencies, subscribers, newspapers, clubs, &c. The
making up of direct wires to the polling towns when required, in order
that the result may be received in London in the shortest possible time,
involves care and forethought. As an example of the celerity with which
such messages are dealt with, the telegram conveying a result was handed
in at Listowel, in the West of Ireland, at 9.15 P.M., and delivered to
the press agents in London at 9.20 P.M.
Apart from the press work dealt with in the manner I have described,
arrangements have been made by certain provincial newspapers for the
leasing at a fixed rental of special or private wires from their London
offices direct into the editorial offices, over which a vast amount of
press matter is transmitted nightly.
Previous to 1885 the addresses of telegrams were signalled free. On the
introduction of the sixpenny rate with charge for each word in the
address, the public quickly recognised the advantage of registered
addresses. At the present time, in London alone there are no less than
31,000 registered telegraphic addresses.
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[Illustration]
_Photo_ _Clarke & Hyde_
TELEGRAMS ON TELEPHONE WIRES.
To save delay, while one subscriber is speaking on a line by
telephone, the next call is being arranged by telegraphic
communication over the same line, neither operation
interfering with the other.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The increase in the staff has of course been tremendous since the Post
Office took over the telegraphs. At the time of the transfer the force
consisted of 497 persons. At the present time the authorised staff is
4596 officers of all ranks, of whom 1214 are women.
The scales of pay for telegraphists in the Inland Section range from
16s. to 65s. per week for men, and from 14s. to 40s. for women. In the
cable room, the men obtain an additional allowance of 2s. 6d. a week for
knowledge of languages. An allowance of 3s. per week is granted to all
telegraphists at twenty-five years of age who obtain first-class
certificates in magnetism and electricity, and telegraphy or telephony,
and who pass a certain degree of manipulative skill. In the case,
however, of the cable room telegraphists the 2s. 6d. allowance is merged
in that of the 3s. allowance. While undergoing training in the telegraph
school, male learners receive 8s. and female learners 7s. a week. The
scales of pay for overseers and supervising officers are of course
higher. Salaries and wages absorb approximately half a million pounds
annually.
The Stock Exchange and Threadneedle Street branch offices, which for all
practical purposes are one and the same office, do a very considerable
amount of business direct from the floor of “the House,” and during
times of exceptional activity of the Stock markets between 3000 and 5000
telegrams are handed in from the Stock Exchange between 11 A.M. and noon
for onward delivery. The Threadneedle Street office is the busiest
branch in the City.
In dealing with the vast number of telegrams which pass between the
different offices in the United Kingdom it would, of course, not be
humanly possible for all to reach their destination without error.
Everything possible is done to reduce the risk of telegraphic errors and
failures, but where the condition of a wire is to some extent affected
by climatic conditions, it is obvious that errors and failures may
arise. On the whole, however, the percentage of errors to the number of
telegrams dealt with is extremely small. Bad writing is often a source
of error, and for this the senders are often to blame. To this cause
might be attributed such an error as “Reserve me two stalls,” being
rendered to the addressee as “Reserve me two stables.” But such an error
as “Send three dog pies” instead of “Send three doz. pies” might have
been caused either by bad writing, or by the failure of a dot in the
signals for the last letter of the word.
While such errors have their humorous side, there are some which are
distinctly tragic. For instance, the rendering of a message “Child dead”
for “Child bad” is due to the signals for “de” being run together or
inaccurately spaced.
Other sources of error are the incorrect transcribing of telegrams. For
instance, in Cornwall there is a parish named Helland. The vicar was
going to town, and hoped that his archdeacon could be induced to take
the duty. The negotiations were entrusted to a brother clergyman and all
went well. The latter despatched this telegram: “The Archdeacon of
Cornwall is going to Helland. You need not return.” The vicar received
with astonishment this message: “The Archdeacon of Cornwall is going to
Hell, and you need not return.”
There is probably still a vast amount of ignorance prevailing as to the
_modus operandi_ of the telegraph. The use of the poles was once
described as to hold up the wires and of the wires to hold up the poles.
A simple maiden once said to her mother, “How do the messages get past
the poles without being torn?” And the knowing mother replied, “They are
sent in a fluid state, my dear.”
An old woman presented herself at the telegraph office at Waterloo
Station and asked the clerk to write down a message to her son at
Portsmouth. When this was done, she said, pointing to an advertisement
in large type hanging in the office, “Would you mind sending it in print
like that, as my son cannot read very well.” I suppose many of us have
as children watched the telegraph wires to see if we could detect any
movement. The nursemaid of a telegraph official said to her mistress one
day, “I do not think they are very busy where master is employed,
because I have been standing on the railway bridge a long time without
seeing one message go by.” A young woman who was about to despatch a
telegram was heard to remark to her companion, “I must write this out
afresh, as I don't want Mrs. M—— to receive this untidy telegram.”
When telegraph business was recently introduced into a village in
Northamptonshire, most of the inhabitants spent a good portion of their
time in watching the newly-erected wires. At length one old lady who had
been especially diligent in her vigilance, was overheard remarking:
“Wal, that's a rum un. I can hear them eer wires a hummin, but I ain't
seen one of them eer yaller envelopes come up yet.”
The limitation of twelve words for sixpence is often a severe lesson in
brevity and compression. A happy lover was once cast into the deepest
despair on receiving this telegram: “Come as soon as you can; I am
dying—Kate.” He went, found Kate alive and well, and she explained she
had wanted to say she was dying to see him, but her twelve words had
been exhausted: she thought he would understand.
To give another instance of a telegraphic error, a pleasure party
telegraphed to some friends that they had arrived “all right,” but the
message was delivered as “all tight.” And yet another story. A merchant
away from home, learning of the illness of his wife, telegraphed to his
family doctor for particulars. He received the following reply: “No
danger; your wife has had a child. If we can keep her from having
another to-night she will do well.” Of course the letter “d” in child
had been substituted for “l.” The lady was suffering from a chill.
Many of the questions asked of the Secretary of the General Post Office
in respect to the telegraph are not from _bona-fide_ seekers after
postal information, but are sometimes evidently from those who are
engaged in newspaper competitions. For instance, the Secretary was
thought the right and proper person to answer this question: “How long
was the cable news being transmitted from England to America with the
news of Iroquois winning the English Derby 1881?” But the Department
provides special telegraphic facilities at race meetings, and the man
may have thought that the Secretary was _ex officio_ a racing man.
Another man wrote: “Sir, please would you kindly inform me what is the
length of the highest telegraph pole under the General Post Office.” The
inquirer was found to be a foreman who had had a dispute on the subject
with a number of his gang.
Telegraphy has held undisputed sway for a number of years, but latterly
the telephone has entered largely into competition, and there can be
little doubt that telephoning is and will become its very dangerous
rival. While some considerable time may elapse before the effect of the
trunk line telephony will make itself felt in competition with
telegraphy to provincial offices because of its somewhat high rates, it
is possible that as these rates are reduced it will show its effects
upon telegraphy. With regard to local telegrams, telephony has
undoubtedly already brought about a diminution in the number dealt with
by its vigorous competition, and unquestionably local telegraphy will
have to look to its laurels now that the Government has taken over the
National Telephone Company's system. At present, however, there is room
for both services, and with the efforts which are continually being made
to accelerate the telegraph service it is more than probable that both
telegraphs and telephones, each serving the public in its own particular
sphere, will together thrive and flourish for a long time yet.
Another company has recently sprung into existence and into competition
with telephone telegraphy. This is the National Telewriter Company,
which under licence by the Postmaster-General has rented junction lines
enabling its subscribers to send telegrams from their offices direct
into the Central Office for transmission onward, and also to receive
them in the opposite direction, thus obviating the counter and hand
delivery stages. This is on identical lines with the direct telephoning
of telegrams, but whereas these are orally communicated, the telewriter
instrument enables a facsimile reproduction of the sender's handwriting
to be received. With this in use the joke in the young lady's remark
about the untidiness of her telegram loses its point. The untidiness is
reproduced. The company has at present six metallic currents with the
Central Office, and in addition three wires are rented exclusively by
private firms through the company, worked with telewriter apparatus.
Not many years ago the statement that before long it might be possible
to transmit and receive telegrams to and from ships at sea would have
been received with incredulity. Wireless telegraphy, which is defined to
mean any system of communication by telegraph without the aid of any
wire connecting the points from and at which the messages are sent and
received, has, however, made this possible, and to-day communication may
be had through the General Post Office with ships passing round the
coast by means of the Radio-Telegraphic service. Such telegrams can be
accepted at any telegraph office for transmission to ships equipped with
wireless apparatus through a number of coast stations in the United
Kingdom and also through coast stations abroad. The charge for a “radio”
sent through a British coast station is, with certain exceptions, 10½d.
a word. Radio-telegrams can also be sent to certain ships through the
long-distance stations of the Marconi Company at Clifden and Poldhui.
This company retains its licence for its long-distance stations at these
places, which are primarily intended for communication with America.
The number of radio-telegrams dealt with during the year ending 31st
March 1910, at stations now in the hands of the Post Office, was in the
outward direction to ships 3266, and inward from ships 27,727.
In addition to wireless communication with ships, there is also
electrical communication with lighthouses, lightvessels, &c., round the
coast, and shipping casualties at sea can now be reported to owners of
ships from certain lighthouses and lightvessels.
Formerly all land lines were aerial, but more recently, in order to
obviate the risk of interruption of wires by storms, it was decided to
lay underground cables, and considerable progress has already been made
in this direction. The underground backbone system extends from London
to the north _via_ Birmingham, Warrington, Carlisle to Glasgow, thence
to Edinburgh, and westward from London to Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, and
Penzance. From Warrington the system has been extended to Liverpool on
the one side, and Manchester, Bradford, and Leeds on the other. Another
section of underground cable has been laid between Newcastle and
Stockton, and this will in course of time be extended to link up Leeds
and Sheffield with the main system. It is possible that in the not very
distant future the telegraph pole will go the way of the windmill and
the tollgate, and be regarded by our children as a clumsy device of a
comparatively dark age.
What is the future of communication by electricity? Who can tell? Let me
quote some words of Sir William Preece, who as Engineer-in-Chief of the
General Post Office for many years, was responsible for many advances in
telegraphy which I have described. “One cannot help speculating as to
what may occur through planetary space. Strange mysterious sounds are
heard on all long telephone lines when the earth is used as a return,
especially in the calm stillness of night. Earth currents are found in
telegraph circuits, and the Aurora Borealis lights up our northern sky
when the sun's atmosphere is disturbed by spots. The sun's surface must
at such times be violently disturbed by electrical storms, and if
oscillations are set up and radiated through space in sympathy with
those required to affect telephones, it is not a wild dream to say that
we may hear on this earth a thunderstorm in the sun. If any of the
planets be populated with beings like ourselves, having the gift of
language and the knowledge to adapt the great forces of Nature to their
wants, then, if they could oscillate immense stores of electrical energy
to and fro in telegraphic order, it would be possible for us to hold
commune by telephone with the people of Mars.” If this condition of
things does come to pass, I am quite sure that the General Post Office
will be equal to the situation: they will add another floor to the
building in St. Martin's le Grand to deal with the new business, and
will issue regulations both for our guidance and that of the good people
of Mars.