APPENDIX B 343 



action — such as would establish in every town, whether there is 

 a demand for it or not, a telephonic exchange. 



To do so successfully, it is obvious that there must be at 

 least the nucleus of a system attached to the exchange, or there 

 would be no inducement to renters to join it. An exchange 

 with only one subscriber would be farcical. So it might become 

 needful, for the first year, to connect a limited number of clients 

 with the exchange at a reduced rental, or even free of charge. 



That, according to my view, should at once be done all over 

 the country, a certain number of connections with each ex- 

 change of trades and professions being guaranteed — twenty-five 

 m one town, a hundred in another. 



At the end of the year, everyone who had a purpose to serve 

 would desire to be ' on the telephone ' — the residents, because of 

 its convenience ; professional men and tradesmen, lest their 

 earning power should fall away — and the favom-ed renters would 

 have to pay full price or give up the connection. 



Then the villages should be connected with the post-town ; 

 not all at once — that would be impossible — but in a sequence, to 

 be determined by one of many simple tests. 



The Postmaster- General would announce that he was prepared 

 to connect villages with post-towns by a telephone along the 

 postal route, on a guarantee from individuals, or the parish 

 council, of working expenses ; and simultaneously to put on a 

 passenger mail-conveyance (a 'Bianconi' car), and carry post - 

 parcels locally at the favoured rate. 



On an application being received, the details adjusted, and an 

 agreement for a term of years being signed, the Postmaster- 

 General, either by his own officers or by a telephone company 

 acting as his agent, would construct and maintain the lines of 

 wires. The ordinary postal processes would put in force the car 

 and the parcel rate. 



The whole procedure would be quite simple — a single district 

 or a thousand might be taken in hand at once. They would all 

 be independent of each other. 



Then, as General Webber ui'ges, there would be this collateral 

 advantage — the chief, perhaps, in the official eye — the local 

 telephones would act also as feeders to the general telegraphic 

 and telephonic systems. 



