German Empire 183 



fees are payable. Complaints have been made of delay in obtain- 

 ing communication from these stations, due to the amount of 

 preliminary ceremony that has to be gone through. A would-be 

 talker has to fill up a form with the name, list number, and switch- 

 room number of the person he wants. To this form, which he 

 must also sign, he has to affix postage-stamps to the value of the 

 communication demanded. The attendant then checks the form, 

 enters the particulars in a book, and finally permits access to the 

 instrument. In some towns local subscribers may use the public 

 stations free for local talks in the absence of any paying customer ; 

 a demand for the line from such a person leads to the free talk 

 being interrupted without ceremony. The attendants are in- 

 structed to receive complaints of interruption, &c., from sub- 

 scribers, and to telephone them on to the proper office. The 

 services from the public stations are limited to speaking over the 

 local, suburban, and trunk lines, telephoning of telegrams and 

 mail matter being inadmissible. They are consequently of less 

 public utility than those, for instance, of Denmark and Switzer 

 land ; but yet they are recognised public institutions which the 

 people know where to find and how to use. Germany is conse- 

 quently far in advance of Great Britain, where the Post Office has 

 ever made it a rule to forbid the establishment of public telephone 

 stations at the post and telegraph offices, or anywhere within the 

 bounds of the postal authority. 



6. Telephoning of telegrams. Subscribers may telephone 

 their telegrams to the local telegraph office to be forwarded, 

 and also receive those arriving for them through their own instru- 

 ments. 



7. Telephoning of mail matters-Subscribers may telephone 

 messages -to the central office to be written down and put in the 

 post as letters or post-cards. This is a very handy and useful 

 arrangement, as it virtually extends the time of closing the mail, 

 which may frequently be caught by a telephoned message when an 

 ordinary letter posted by hand would certainly miss. More 

 especially is this the case with suburban subscribers, who may 

 neglect the hour of closing of, say, the English mail at their local 

 post office, and get a telephoned message through to the head 

 office in Berlin two or three hours later in time to be included. 



