On the Electric Telegraph between England and India. 51 



Grovernrnent through whose hands they have to pass. It may be 

 said they could send their messages in cipher, but cipher messages 

 are anything but safe, as the alteration of a single letter may alter 

 the sense and meaning of the whole despatch. 



The working of the lines through India has been by no means 

 satisfactory, as may be gathered from the official reports of the 

 Director- General of Telegraphs in Calcutta. The average time 

 occupied in the transmission of messages between Bombay and 

 Calcutta was forty-eight hours ; now this to me appears per- 

 fectly incomprehensible, unless the operators try all they can to 

 retard the business instead of facilitating it. 



In these colonies take the Northern circuit for instance, from 

 Sydney to Townsviile, nearly the same distance, I have seen 

 replies to messages received in Sydney within the hour by hand- 

 repeating at Tenterfield, and this may be considered a busy cir- 

 cuit, there being only one wire for the whole of the bnsiness 

 between this colony and Queensland and the intermediate mes- 

 sages for 34 stations. 



There is certainly one very great difficulty which presents itself 

 even on well-conducted lines — that is in bad weather, or during 

 atmospheric disturbances — the impossibility of making the instru- 

 ment record the signals correctly. The atmospheric wave when 

 a thunderstorm is near will completely neutralise the battery 

 current, causing the letters, every now and then, to be jumbled 

 up in a most grotesque manner, turning A's into T's, M's into 

 L's, 9's into 5's, &c. ; so that, unless the instrument clerk is 

 assisted a little by the context, the messages would be sent out 

 very similar to those which have passed over the Indo-European 

 lines. 



If this difficulty exists with highly trained English tele- 

 graphists, what must it be with badly educated foreigners who do 

 not understand a word of our language ? Then the lines are 

 not sufficiently insulated, the line men not understanding the 

 circuits or the difference between conductors and non-conductors, 

 so that you will frequently see the main wire tied to an iron 

 bracket, or perhaps an iron post witb a piece of galvanized bind- 

 ing wire, which being a good conductor, renders the line utterly 

 useless, all the messages being at once conveyed down the post 

 to the earth. In the early days in this colony similar stupidity 

 was practised, the line sometimes tied up to a post with rope, 

 which in wet weather would become a conductor and carry off 

 the current to earth. 



The line from Calcutta to Moulmein, where the Indian tele- 

 graphs at present terminate, has been liable to many interrup- 

 tions, more particularly during the S.W. monsoons, the line, in 

 my opinion, having been carried too near the coast ; but I was 

 informed by Major Murray, the Deputy Director- G-eneral of 



