Austria 33 



Prague, Trieste, Lemberg, Graz, Czernowitz, Pilsen, Reichenberg, 

 and Bielitz-Biala ; and a company called the Linz-Urfahr 

 Undertakers (Unternehmung) established an exchange system in 

 Linz-Urfahr, which was also absorbed by the Government on the 

 first day of 1893. After that date, the only -company left was the 

 Vienna Private Telegraph, which maintained an independent 

 existence until January i, 1895, when the State finally became 

 the possessor of the whole Austrian system. 



The rates charged by the companies varied from 8/. 6s. 8< 

 in Vienna and y/. los. in Prague and Trieste to 5/. in the smaller 

 towns, out of which 10 florins or i6s. %d. per subscriber had to 

 be paid annually to Government. 



In 1887 the State began to open exchanges and construct 

 trunk lines in accordance with the provisions of a law promulgated 

 on October 7 of that year. Its first ventures were at Baden,. 

 Voslau, and Wiener-Neustadt, which were connected to Vienna 

 by single 3 mm. bronze wires. Soon afterwards, State exchanges- 

 were opened in Aussig, Teplitz, and Carlsbad, while Briinn was 

 joined to Vienna by two telegraph wires fitted with the Van 

 Rysselberghe apparatus. Subsequently, the extension of the 

 State system went on rapidly until, on December 31, 1892, the 

 day before the absorption of the first two companies, it comprised 

 sixty-one exchanges and twenty-nine metallic circuit trunk lines, 

 including seven international. At the date of writing (February 

 1895) practically all the Austrian towns of any note are in 

 possession of exchanges, and in the enjoyment of trunk line 

 communication. The Van Rysselberghe system has not been- 

 persisted in, so that the trunks are invariably metallic circuits 

 intended exclusively for telephony. 



The law referred to was a most important one, as it specified 

 the services to be rendered to the public by the Imperial Post 

 and Telegraph Department, the tariffs to be levied, and the 

 general rules to be observed, both by the State officials and the 

 subscribers. In future it will constitute the groundwork of 

 Austrian telephony. The late companies' regulations will be 

 brought into line with it as soon as existing agreements will 

 permit, and in a few years absolute uniformity will prevail. The 

 development of the Austrian system is likely to be rapid and 



D 



