i8o Telephone Systems of the Continent of Europe 



exceeding one and a half kilometers, with an ascending scale for 

 the exceptionally longer lines. On the other hand, for cities like 

 Berlin and Hamburg ;/. los. may be admitted as reasonable ; but 

 the fact only accentuates the injustice done to the inhabitants of 

 small towns and villages, whose telephones must necessarily be 

 much less valuable than those of the Berliners and Hamburgers. 

 When a 5/. rate is found sufficient in Stuttgart, the capital of a 

 German State, there is certainly ground for complaint under the 

 Prussian rule. The efforts made in Wiirtemberg to restrict the 

 user of telephones to their actual hirers are not made by the Im- 

 perial authorities, whose official instructions to the subscribers are 

 silent on the point, perhaps wisely, for when such restrictions are 

 imposed they soon become dead letters. The subscribers get 

 annoyed at what they regard as an unjust and unreasonable regu- 

 lation, while the officials become tired of trying to enforce rules 

 which produce nothing but ill-temper and friction. Imperial 

 subscribers are simply prohibited from accepting payments from 

 outsiders for the use of their telephones. Subscribers are bound 

 to insure their instruments, together with all leading wires and 

 fixtures connected with them, against fire. Would-be subscribers 

 must produce a written way-leave from their landlord authorising 

 the fixing of all necessary wires and apparatus ; in the absence of 

 such a way-leave no person is accepted as a subscriber. Sub- 

 scribers whose communication has been interrupted for more 

 than four weeks are allowed a proportionate rebate. Subscrip- 

 tions will also be refunded should the Administration, in the 

 exercise of the powers conferred by Parliament, close any ex- 

 change or line permanently or temporarily. Subscribers removing 

 are liberally dealt with, no charge being made unless the new 

 premises come under a more expensive section of the tariff. 

 Peremptory powers to remove instruments are possessed in the 

 event of non-payment of subscriptions when due, damage to 

 apparatus, and improper language addressed to the operators. 

 The proprietor of a building let off as dwellings or workshops to 

 different tenants may pay for a wire to the exchange under the 

 usual tariff, and by providing an attendant at his own expense to 

 operate a switch-board supplied by the Administration is allowed 

 to have instruments fixed in any or all of his tenants' places and 



