II. BAVARIA 



HISTORY AND PRESENT POSITION 



LIKE Wiirtemberg, Bavaria has preserved the autonomy of its Posts 

 and Telegraphs, and consequently conducts its telephonic business 

 without interference from Berlin. In the early days of telephony 

 it steadily declined all applications for concessions, and everything 

 has been done by the State itself since, in 1882, it opened the first 

 Bavarian exchange at Ludwigshafen on-Rhine. Until recently the 

 opinion was held that single wires were adequate for local con- 

 nections, but it is satisfactory to learn that a complete change of 

 opinion in this respect has been brought about, and that all new 

 work is now designed with a view to the ultimate adoption of 

 metallic circuits. Munich, Nuremberg, and Wiirzburg are the 

 three chief telephonic centres of Bavaria, each being surrounded 

 by quite a galaxy of satellite switch-rooms. Lesser groups are Hof, 

 Miinchberg, and Berchtesgaden, while Augsburg stands by itself. 

 In the detached left-Rhine palatinate, Ludwigshafen forms the 

 centre of a group consisting of Speyer, Kaiserslautern, Neustadt, 

 and Lambrecht. With the exception of this last, with which 

 communication can only be had via Stuttgart and Mannheim, or 

 via Frankfort-on-Main and Mannheim, the different groups are 

 joined by trunk lines belonging to the Bavarian Government. 

 When it is stated that Munich (population 350,594) has close on 

 5,000 instruments connected to its exchange, and that Nuremberg 

 {population 142.590) has over 2,500, while Wiirzburg (61,059). 

 Augsburg (75,629), Fiirth (43,206), and Bamberg (35,815) have 

 800, 750, 620, and 400 respectively, it will be understood that 

 Bavaria is a very long way in advance of the United Kingdom in 



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