Sweden 



337 



telegram service, or even, in some cases, to intercommunicate on 

 any terms with its own subscribers in the same locality. 



In many of the smaller towns and villages co-operative 

 societies still afford the only means of telephonic communication, 

 but they are gradually disappearing under the encroachments of 

 the State. At the end of 1892, the latest available statistic, there 



* f Of 



STOCKHOLM 



' Primary Exchange 

 Secondary 



1. The North .. 



2. The Exchange for the 

 Central part of Stockholm 

 -.5. The South Exchange 



FIG. 113 



were 158 co-operative exchanges, of which thirty were in towns 

 and the rest in villages and rural communes. At the same date 

 there were 466 telephone exchanges and 27,658 subscribers in 

 Sweden. When it is recollected that the population is under five 

 millions ; that there are only eight towns of more than 20,000 

 inhabitants, and eleven more of between 10,000 and 20,000, this 



