Holland 225 



and timed ticket bearing the name and telephone number of the 

 person who wants him. Trunk talks are subject to the same 

 charges and regulations as those made from subscribers' offices. 



4. Telephoning of telegrams. This is an important service, 

 but, owing perhaps to the higher charges and less elastic regulations, 

 the traffic does not attain the proportions reached in the neigh- 

 bouring kingdom of Belgium. In 1894 the total number of tele- 

 grams handled by the Netherlands Bell Cofcnpany was 104,367, of 

 which Amsterdam was responsible for 66.348. Senders of telegrams 

 have to deposit the estimated value of their traffic in advance, and 

 are not allowed to outrun their deposits. The company's operators 

 attend at the telegraph office to receive and transmit telegrams by 

 telephone ; the State charges nothing for the space occupied, nor 

 for lighting or warming. In connection with the State telegraphs 

 there is a little facility granted to the public which appears peculiar 

 to Holland. Senders of telegrams from any of the Dutch towns, 

 when addressing a telephone subscriber in any of those towns in 

 which the telegraph office is connected to the telephone exchange, 

 may order their message to be telephoned on its arrival to its 

 addressee even when the latter does not subscribe to the ordinary 

 telegram service. To take advantage of this regulation it is only 

 necessary to write the letters T. B. in brackets before the address 

 and pay for them as two words. Should it not be possible to get 

 the addressee to answer his bell, the message is delivered by 

 messenger in the ordinary way. 



5. Time service. All the Netherlands Company's exchanges 

 receive the correct time from Amsterdam Observatory once a day. 

 Subscribers wishing to regulate their clocks are told the time on 

 demand. Nothing is charged for this service. It is nevertheless 

 not without an importance to those subscribers who use the trunks 

 a good deal and like their monthly accounts, made up from the 

 operators' registers, to tally with their own notes. 



TARIFFS l 



i. Rates for local exchange communication. The rates 

 levied by the Netherlands Bell Company were approved by Royal 

 1 One florin = is. j^d. 



Q 



