78 . ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
age” by increasing the weight of letters for which a penny suffices to 
pay the carriage within the United Kingdom, from one ounce to 
four ounces. No such letter rate exists in any other country in the 
world. 
THE SECOND REFORM. 
The Queen had been on the throne ten years, when a new agency 
of marvellous capabilities presented itself as a means of human inter- 
course and led eventually to the second reform. 
The electric telegraph had no practical existence ee 1847, 
when through the enterprise of private companies, it began to be in- 
troduced as a means of communication. Telegraph lines were soon 
afterwards established between many of the principal cities of the 
United Kingdom by joint stock companies. These ventures proved 
most profitable to the promoters, but in course of time complaints 
were made of exorbitant charges, of vexatious delays in the transmis- 
sion of messages, and likewise that only important cities enjoyed the 
advantages of telegraphic communications. After a number of years, 
the conclusion was arrived at that the control of the electric lines by 
the Government would be attended with advantages to the State and 
the general public; accordingly, it was proposed to expropriate all the 
private lines, and give to the country postal telegraph service under 
State control. 
As early as 1852, suggestions were made that the Post Office 
should manage the telegraph system. Among others, Captain Galton 
prepared a paper on the subject. A few years later, Mr. Frederick 
Baines drew up an elaborate memorandum in which he advocated the 
scheme of a Government system of telegraphs, the wires to extend 
to every Post Office in England, Ireland and Scotland, and the man- 
agement to be controlled by the Post Office Department. He laid his 
views before the Duke of Argyll, then Postmaster General, and af- 
terwards before Lord Stanley of Alderley, who strongly favoured the 
idea. The names of Mr. Ricardo and Mr. Scudamore also appear in 
the record as taking a prominent part in the introduction of the 
scheme, although Mr. Scudamore disclaimed any originality for the 
proposal so far as the British Post Office was concerned; government 
telegraphs being already in operation in several other countries. 
To the Chamber of Commerce of Edinburgh belongs, very large- 
ly, the credit of creating public demand for the transfer of the services 
from private companies to the State, and Sir George Harrison, the 
convener of that body, was the moving spirit. 
