108 The Dumfries Post Office, 1642-1910. 



At that time the tariff imposed by the Post Office was Is for 

 twenty words, with threepence extra for every additional five 

 words or fraction thereof, the names and addresses of both 

 senders and addressees not being included. This payment 

 covered delivery within a mile of any telegraph office or within 

 the town postal delivery of any head office: outside those limits a 

 charge was made of 6d per double mile for porterage. The 

 charge for press telegrams was fixed at a much lower rate, being 

 Is for 100 words at night and for 75 words in the daytime, with 

 an additional charge of 2d per 100 or 75 words for the transmis- 

 sion of the message to every additional address, wherever situated. 

 A sixpenny rate was indeed spoken of, but the authorities 

 decided that it was too soon for so low a tariff, and it was not 

 until the 1st October, 1885, that the present rate of 6d for twelve 

 words or fraction thereof, with a halfpenny extra for each addi- 

 tional word beyond twelve, was introduced, the free transmission 

 of addresses being abolished. Porterage at the rate of 6d per 

 mile was charged on all messages addressed to places beyond a 

 mile radius from the office of delivery, but at the Diamond 

 Jubilee in 1897 a large concession was granted and delivery free 

 of charge undertaken to all places within a three-mile radius, and 

 the porterage charges for the longer distances reduced to 3d per 

 mile, reckoned from the office of delivery. These porterage 

 charges were still further reduced on 1st January, 1906, the fee 

 of 3d per mile being then reckoned from the boundary of the free 

 delivery area, instead of from the office door. 



As regards technical improvements, the recently published 

 " Historical Summary of the Post Office " says : — " The most 

 striking is perhaps the increase in the working capacity of the 

 wires effected since the transfer. In 1870 each wire afforded 

 only a single channel for communication. By the introduction of 

 duplex working in 1871 it Avas rendered possible to use a wire for 

 the simultaneous transmission of two messages ; quadruplex work- 

 ing (introduced in 1878) raised the number of simultaneous trans- 

 missions to four; and multiplex working (introduced in 1885) to 

 six. Great advance has also been made in the speed of the 

 Wheatstone automatic apparatus. In 1870 a speed of from 60 

 to 80 words per minute was the highest which could be attained, 

 whereas at the present time a speed of 600 words per minute is 

 possible, and a working speed of 400 words is the fixed standard 



