S7K \\-II.f.TAM SIEMENS, F.K.S. 177 



of the line-wire and working instruments upon which the puhlic 

 service depends. 



Great improvements have indeed been recently made by the 

 Postal Telegraph Department in the rate of working of Wheat- 

 stone's automatic circuits, and in the employment of fast-speed 

 translators or repeaters, as is proved by the following data, for 

 which I am indebted to our Vice-President, Mr. W. H. Preece. 

 For instance, it has been found that the insertion of one of the 

 new fast-speed translators in Dublin has more than doubled the 

 rate of working between London and Cork, and the insertion of 

 one of these relays in Anglesea has improved the rate of working 

 between London and Dublin about 50 per cent. 



As an indication of the rate at which messages can be trans- 

 mitted, it appears that the Queen's Speech, containing 801 words, 

 was sent to Leicester in 4m. 28secs., being at the rate of 179 words 

 per minute. The quickest rate at which it was sent by key was 

 between London and Beading, where it occupied seventeen minutes, 

 or at the very high speed of 47'1 words per minute. 



It is perhaps interesting to remark that on the first night of 

 the Session over 420,000 words were actually transmitted from the 

 central station, and over 1,000,000 words were delivered in different 

 parts of the country. 



The quadruplex system of telegraphy continues to be worked 

 with very satisfactory results between London and Liverpool, and 

 it has quite quadrupled the power of the one wire to carry 

 messages. The highest number of messages transmitted in one 

 hour has been 232 ; about 200 per hour have frequently been sent. 



The system of duplexing Wheatstone automatic circuits is 

 gradually extending, and on the Leicester wire which carried the 

 Queen's Speech at the rate named messages were being transmitted 

 in the opposite direction by the duplex arrangement at the same 

 time. 



In submarine telegraphy ample scope still exists, as I have 

 endeavoured to show, for the ingenuity and enterprise of the 

 telegraph engineer ; but here again the free exercise of these 

 faculties is threatened, not by legislative action, but by a powerful 

 financial combination. It is intended by this combination to 

 merge the interests of all oceanic and international lines and the 

 construction of new lines into one interest ; but it seems hardly 



VOL. III. N 



