Sweden 



373 



Hours worked : in summer, 7A.M. till 7 P.M., with one and a half 

 hours for meals ; in winter, sunrise to sunset, with one hour for meals. 



PAYMENT OF OPERATORS 



General Company. 2/. 4*. id. to 2/. 155-. *]d. per month, ac- 

 cording to experience. Extra pay is given for night duty, which is 

 performed by the girls in rotation. The hours worked are nor- 

 mally seven per day, divided into two watches with an interval of at 

 least three hours between. Exceptionally the duty may be ex- 

 tended to eight hours, but never more. The girls, who are taken 

 on at eighteen years of age, get fourteen days' holiday on full pay 

 annually, and incase of sickness receive full pay for the first fortnight 

 and half pay for a second. The lady superintendents receive 

 from 3/. i -js. Sd. to 8/. 6s. Sd. per month, according to length of 

 service and the importance of their charge. 



State. i/. 135-. 2d. to 2/. 4-$-. id. per month for ordinary, and 

 2/. 155-. 7</. for trunk operators. Extra pay is given for night 

 duty. Girls are taken on at eighteen ; no examination is imposed. 



STATISTICS 



An enumeration of the exchanges in Sweden would be practi- 

 cally a list of the names of all the towns and chief villages in 

 the country. At the end of 1894 the General Company, in addi- 

 tion to its Stockholm switch-rooms, possessed 113 exchanges 

 within the 7 o-kilometer radius, having between them 2,012 sub- 

 scribers. Of these, Upsala (population 21,000), with 363 sub- 

 scribers, was the most important ; and Sodertelge, with 145, the 

 second. At both these towns the State is also established. The 

 Upsala rate is 2/. i$s. yd. per annum, without any admission fee. 

 At Sodertelge and the majority of the other places, the rate is the 

 same, but with an admission fee, also of 2!. i$s. -]d. In a few 

 instances this subscription covers only one hundred free connec- 

 tions per quarter, all over that number being charged i'$d. each. 

 In other cases, principally where submarine cable work is ne- 

 cessary, the admission fee is 2/. 155. -]d. and the annual subscrip- 

 tion 4/. 8s. i id. A few of the smaller places are worked at an 



