1 82 Telephone Systems of the Continent of Europe 



Subscribers have, as a rule, to accept the operators' records as to 

 duration of talks, &c., as correct ; but complaints of error or over- 

 charge are investigated, and if discovered to be reasonably well 

 founded, admitted. 



4. International trunk communication. The telephone has 

 crossed the frontiers at several points. Reichenberg-Zittau and 

 Warnsdorf-Grossschonau, both in Saxony, have communication 

 with a few of the nearest Austrian towns. Wiirtemberg and 

 Bavaria (see those sections), which, although members of the 

 German Empire, possess independent postal and telegraph ad- 

 ministrations, have both effected junctions the former, via 

 Pforzheim and Heidelberg, with Baden and the south-west of Ger- 

 many ; the latter with Frankfort-on-Main and the south-west of 

 Germany via Aschaffenburg, and with Berlin via Hof. The 

 isolated Bavarian Palatinate of the Rhine, which possesses ex- 

 changes at Ludwigshafen, Kaiserslautern, Neustadt, and Speyer, 

 is also connected to the Imperial Post Office territory, via Mann- 

 heim. The tariff from Berlin to Bavaria is two marks, or shillings, 

 per three minutes, double that which obtains within the limits 

 of the Imperial Administration. The distance from Berlin to 

 Munich, in the direct air line, is 310 miles, for which the charge 

 under the proposed British Post Office scale would be 4^. 6d. 

 The speaking on the loop is loud. Berlin is also connected with 

 Vienna, distant 616 kilometers. At present the communication 

 is limited to the Bourses and to such lines as are metallic circuits. 

 Communication existed for a time between Mulhouse and the 

 south of Alsace and Switzerland, but was discontinued by orders 

 from Berlin. An agreement has twice been all but concluded 

 with Belgium, but broken off at the instance of the German 

 Political Bureau. A trunk line from Berlin and Hamburg to 

 Copenhagen is now spoken of. Urgent talks at triple fee are 

 admitted to Munich and Vienna. 



5. Public telephone stations. These are fairly numerous. 

 There are twenty-nine in Berlin itself, and thirty-one in its suburbs, 

 all at post or telegraph offices. Other towns are not so well provided, 

 but still one can always be found at the central, and mostly also at 

 the chief branch, post offices. Automatic boxes for checking pay- 

 ments are not used, attendants being always provided, to whom 



