Introduction 1 7 



not be, or, at least, the terminal fee ought to be ascertained before 

 the agreement becomes law, and the gross cost to the customer fixed. 



The proposed trunk rates, even without the terminal charges 

 which the agreement authorises the company to levy, are, with- 

 out exception and by far, the dearest in Europe. 



The table on p. 16 drawn up from official data contrasts the 

 proposed British with the trunk rates of all countries in which 

 trunk lines are actually working. 



It will be seen that, saving for a few of the shorter distances, 

 the British rates are far higher than any of the others, with the 

 single exception of Roumania's. In that country all telephone 

 rates, local as well as trunk, are phenomenally dear, and the 

 natural result is shown in the fact that Bucharest, the capital, 

 possesses only 100 subscribers after several years' exploitation. 

 Italy and Spain are the next dearest, but in neither country has 

 any considerable experience in trunk work yet been gained. The 

 lines opened are short and of recent origin. The tariffs have been 

 made in advance, and are not, consequently, of the same value as 

 guides as those of Sweden or Germany, which have been in 

 operation over long distances for several years. The French rates 

 average about half the British and are yet amongst the dearest on 

 the Continent. 



At four hundred miles, say the length of a trunk from 

 London to Glasgow or Edinburgh, the British charge is $s. 6d.. 

 against is. M. Austria, is. Bavaria, 2S. q\d. France, is. Germany, 

 3-f. ^\d. Italy, 35-. Spain, and lod. Sweden. At six hundred miles 

 Britain is &s., Austria is. &d., France 4^., Germany is., Italy 

 45-. iod., Spain 45-. 2*/., and Sweden is. i\d. In fact, the British 

 tariff, it is to be feared, will not give telephonic traffic a chance 

 to develop at the longer distances : it is likely to prove prohibi- 

 tive for all but stockbrokers, a class of the community very esti- 

 mable no doubt in its way, but not sufficiently so to entitle it to 

 the monopoly of lines erected at the public expense. In con- 

 sidering the trunk question it should be borne in mind that in 

 several countries large reductions on the tariff rates may be 

 obtained by subscribing for a number of talks in advance. This 

 is the case even in Roumania, Britain's only rival in dearness. 

 There is no indication of any intention to reduce trunk 



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