28 Telephone Systems of the Continent of Europe 



holm (see Swedish section). With it each telephone ordered 

 drops into its place naturally and economically. A large portion 

 of that traffic which Mr. Morley fears, would riot pass beyond the 

 local exchange (or shop) at all ; and there exists no difficulty 

 whatever in dealing with the whole, however extensive it may be. 

 With such a plan in operation, whole suburbs of London would 

 not be totally cut off from telephone exchange intercourse as at 

 present. 



In the speech already quoted the Postmaster-General (' Daily 

 Chronicle,' March 2, 1895) told the House of Commons that the 

 charge for telephones in London is only io/., exactly one half of 

 the actual figure, and that rates rose as high as 4o/. and 5o/. in 

 America, meaning, no doubt, the United States. These high 

 American rates are confined to a few towns, and there are special, 

 although not very satisfactory, reasons for their existence ; but 

 why should the Postmaster-General, when instructing the House 

 of Commons, mention high rates, which are exceptional, and omit 

 all reference to the low rates which are almost universal else- 

 where than in Britain ? Is the British Post Office really unaware 

 of the existence of these last ? The author thinks not, and for the 

 following reason. In October 1894 the author in the course of 

 his continental tour of investigation made formal application 

 through the British Consulate at Berlin (a procedure he was 

 advised was necessary) for permission to inspect the Berlin tele- 

 phone system. He was informed that this could not be permitted 

 without an introduction from the British Postmaster-General. At 

 the same time the German Government wrote to the British Post 

 Office inquiring whether it approved of the application or had any 

 objection to its being complied with. It may read strange that the 

 German Government imagines that a British electrician is neces- 

 sarily in the leading strings of his Post Office, and stranger still 

 although somewhat flattering to the national vanity that the Im- 

 perial German Post Office considers itself under the orders of St. 

 Martin's-le-Grand ; but so it is. W T hat the tenor of the reply was 

 the author knows not, but the result was a refusal to allow any 

 inspection or to impart any information. It would not be com- 

 plimentary to the intelligence or patriotism of the Post Office to 

 imagine that it would, without an object, deliberately obstruct a 



