THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[January, 



niana^ement of the Electric Telefria|)li Company," "Shameful | 

 Oppression," " Shameful Ncirliycnce," '• Sliaiiieful .Monopoly," and 

 so forth, in which the real or fictitious correspondents declare the 

 dreadful sufferin<rs to which they have heen exjiosed hy tlie errors 

 nnd delays of the" telegraph clerks— how " owls ' were _ordere(l for 

 dinner, instead of " fowls,"—" pijreon " for " widj^eon," " veal " for 

 "teal," "cats" for "skates," "swipes" for " Hnii)es," and many 

 sundry ffrievances, which could not he com]>laiue(l alxput hitlierto, 

 »s there were no tele^raj)!! offices lo he Uehihi.ured hy the ([uerulous, 

 dissatisfied, and inconsiderate. The Udearaph tfrievauce will he a 

 great safety-valve to the railways, for the fornu'r will so occupy the 

 Times \m>\ I'lincU, as to leave no room for the last case of ncfflect 

 by Mr. Hudson, or the last instance of lieiuL'- five miimtes behind 

 time on the Eastern Counties. When telejrraphs come to be 

 abused as well as railways, it will be a sifjn that they have done 

 some service, and have merited well of the pulilic. 



The lowest eharife for the delivery of a message at present is 

 half-a-crown, for which thirty words are sent thirty nules— thouffh 

 it is to be hoped for the public accommodation that the prices will 

 be reduced. The charge increases, of course, in the double ratio 

 of the number of words ami number of miles. In many cases, the 

 charire will not be greatly above that which was made a few years 

 ago ifor general post letters for mercantile jiurposes; and, indeed, 

 merchants will have heen relieved from the charge of postage, 

 to give them a revenue for telegraph [uirposes. If there are any 

 who doubt that the mercantile classes will lie ready to avail them- 

 selves of the telegraph, they should be )iut in mind of the large 

 sums formerly disbursed for postage, and, indeed, of the large sums 

 still disliursed for Indian an<l foreign postage. 



The Electric Telegraph Company, as a matter of necessity, give 

 notice, that they do not hold themselves responsible for the speed 

 with which the messages are transmitted, nor for delay caused by 

 the state of the weather or ajiparatus. At present, the state of 

 the weather often affects the rate of working of the machines, 

 and sometimes to a serious extent. 



The rate at which messages can be transmitted is rather lower 

 than might be anticipated, "and this arises from using the needle 

 telegraph. It is found that about six words a minute is as much 

 as can be practically telegraphed at present, the words being 

 spelled literally. The last Queen's Speech was sent seven words 

 a-minute. By'using the codes, longer messages can of course be 

 sent. The number of words wliich can be written by short-hand 

 in a minute is seventy ; the number of words which can be read 

 rapidly in one minute is' 280. The number of characters passed by 

 Professor Morse is 117 as a maximum, 99 as an average. We may 

 be prepared for the much greater rajpidity of the electric telegraph 

 in other hands. Mr. Bain ])roiiiises, in the course of time, 1,000 

 characters : but the present rate of speed is ample for all present 

 purposes, though we have that faith in the extension of telegraph 

 business, that we believe it must be shortly increased. By using 

 well-trained clerks at the chief stations, and by fre(iuently reliev- 

 ing them, the utmost use will lie made of the telegrajihs ; and they 

 are likely to be worked night and day. For man)- classes of cor- 

 respondence, all the words must be sitelled, and no arbitraries or 

 codes can be used ; hut still a large mass of correspondence will 

 admit of profitable abridgment. Professor Morse, and many tele- 

 graphers, undertake to do a much greater number of words than 

 those assigned by us as the present rate in England ; but what one 

 individual can do in an isolated case, is very different from the 

 working of a miscellaneous correspondence, through a public office. 

 That the undertaking will turn out productive, we have no 

 manner of doubt, because, in many cases, the company have not 

 the property of the lines, which beiong to tlie railways, but work 

 them at a toll, while the revenue to be received must be very 

 great. A line between two principal stations will yield live thou- 

 sand a-year ; and as the outgoings are chiefly in clerks, it will be 

 seen that there must be a large surplus to pay the wear and tear 

 of instruments, the cost of management and superintendence ; and 

 after yielding a toll to the railway companies, atlord a very hand- 

 some return to the Electric Telegraph Com]iany for all the capital 

 they may be called ujion to emiiloy. They enjoy, too, the advan- 

 tage of a ready-money business. A thousand a-year wtiuld, how- 

 ever, yield a dividend. At present the company have not wires 

 enough for the public business, and great complaints are made of 

 the delay. 



The length of line laid down hy the Electric Telegraph Company, 

 or in progress, is now, we believe, about 2,000 miles; and the fol- 

 lowing is a list of telegraphs, with the date when laid down, and 

 the length of line, though the materials from which we have com- 

 piled it are imperfect. It will, however, in some degree, serve to 

 »how the progress of the system : — 



1839 Great Western 



181.2 Blackwall 



1844 Yarnioiitli ;uid Norwich 

 1815 South-Western 



„ Eastern Ciuinties 



South-Eastern , 



1846 



1847 



18+5 Norfolk Railway 



1847 



1846 Midland Counties 



York and North-Midland 



Hull and Selby 



York and Newcastle ... 



1845 Sheffield and Manchester 



1846 South Devon ... 



1845 London, Brighton, and South 



Coast ... 



1846 Preston and Wyre 



„ Eastern Union ... 



„ London and North-Western... 



London to Slough 



.. London to Southamji- 



ton 

 .. Cidcbester line 

 .. Cambridge do. 

 .. Ilertlord branch do. 

 ,. Ely and Peterliorough 

 .. "^I'liaiues Junction 

 .. London to Dover 

 .. Ilamsgate line 

 .. Margate do. 

 .. Maidstime do. 

 .. Tunhridge and Tun- 



bridire \Yells 

 .. Bricklayers' Arms line 

 .. Deal do. 



.. Norwich and Brandon 

 .. Lowestoft line 

 .. Dereham do. 

 .. Hugh)' and Derby 

 .. Birmingham & Derby 

 .. Derby to Normanton 

 .. Nottingham and Lin- 

 coln 

 .. Sheffield line 



.. York & Scarborough 



Durham line 

 Sunderland tlo. 

 Shields do. 

 Richmond do. 

 Summit Tunnel 



Blilea 



19 



S 



20 



99 

 51 



88 



7 

 29 



3 

 88 

 30 



4 

 10 



6 

 6 



y 



38 

 10 

 13 

 49 

 41 

 73 



41 



5 



23 



43 



40 

 84 

 2 

 5 

 8 

 9 

 3 

 20 



London and Croydon 

 Preston & Fleetwood 



Wolverton andPeter- 



borough 

 Syston and Peterboro' 



Hull and Burlington 



1847 Midland 



„ Leeds and Bradford ... 

 „ Manchester and Leeds 

 „ York and North-Midland 

 „ New<vastle and Berwick 

 ,, South Devmi Extension 



„ London and North-Western... London and Rugby 

 „ „ ... Rugby to Newton 



„ „ ... Liverpool and Man- 



chester 

 Crewe to Chester 



Bristol&Birmingham 



20 

 17 



57 

 40 

 IS 

 61 

 27 

 60 

 27 

 82i 

 lll| 



siA 



30| 

 60 

 90^ 

 46 



„ Southampton and Dorchester. 



„ Midland 



„ Edinburgh and Glasgow 

 The length of line laid down previously to 1845, was not more 

 than 45 ; in tliat year, about 500 miles ; in 1846, 600 miles ; and in 

 1847, 1,100 miles. The total done and in hand is above 2,300 

 miles. 



The towns to which communication will be made are above 

 si.xty, including London, Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool, Edin- 

 burgh, Leeds, Slieffield, Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle, Hull, 

 VFolverhampton, AYakefiebl, Derliy, Leicester, Norwich, Notting- 

 ham, Portsmouth, Northiun]iton, Bradford, Coventry, Dover, 

 Canterbury, Halifax, Rochdale, Maidstone, Southampton, Glou- 

 cester, Clieltoidiam, Yarmouth, Cambridge, Colchester, Ipswich, 

 York, Darlington, Margate, Staflord, Barnsley, Hertford, Rams- 

 gate, Deal, Folkestone, Rotherham, Tunhridge, AYinchester, 

 Dorchester, Peterborougb, Huntingdon, Chesterfield, Wisbeach, 

 Lowestoff, Chelmsfcn-d, Berwick, Scarborougli, Burlington, Stam- 

 ford, and St. Ives. With Brislid, tbe comnniiiicatiou is circuitous 

 round by Birmiiiixham and Glouirester, as the Great- Western, 

 although first in I be field with the Slougii line, have neglected to 

 apply the telegraph throughout, which seems to arise from dis- 

 satisfaction witli the needle telegraph, for they have allowed par- 

 tial a|)plications of two other systems. Every town in the country 

 having above one hundred thousand people, is l>rought into com- 

 munication with the metropolis ; and the only groat towns still 



