330 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



Not in my opinion alone, but in that of persons 

 who can speak authoritatively on the subject, is a 

 telephonic exchange needed in every to^Yn and in 

 every considerable village. A wire from town to 

 country, where poles are available, costs annually for 

 interest on first outlay, at two and a half per cent., 

 five shillings per mile per year ; for maintenance, 

 from ten to twenty shillings. Where new poles have 

 to be provided the added cost is five shillings for 

 interest, and from fifteen to thirty shillings for 

 maintenance. An expert holds the opinion that 

 twenty- four shillings will suffice to maintain both 

 the poles and the wire. A telephone made without 

 the middleman costs but a few shillings ; it need be 

 no more expensive than a Waterbury watch. 



So the annual cost of keeping up a mile of tele- 

 phone-wire ranges at the most from twenty-five to 

 forty-five shillings, and even allowing for the doubling 

 of the wire, three pounds would probably be an out- 

 side average. Perhaps even two pounds a year per 

 wire would in practice cover everything. 



The prime necessity of a liberal extension of the 

 telephone in the direction indicated, I mention here, 

 not as an original suggestion of my own, but as an 

 essential feature of the plan propounded in this 

 chapter. It has been urged in a general way more 

 than once by a Member of Parliament who has for 

 some years past directed public attention to details 

 of postal economy, and it has been advocated in 

 the public press, and before a Select Committee of 



