302 TlMEHRI. 
and thus connected the Government line on the 
Corentyne Coast of Berbice with the wires of 
Demerara and Essequibo, thereby providing dire6l 
communication between Skeldon and Sparta, a distance, 
overland, of some two hundred miles. Shortly after 
making this acquisition, the Government began business 
on the East Coast of Demerara, and Telegraph Offices 
were added, one by one, in other parts of the colony, 
until, by the end of 1884, there were some 36 stations in 
full working order in town and country. 
The Wheatstone A. B. C. was the instrument first used, 
and but a sorry result it gave. Its supersession was 
delayed in consequence of doubts being entertained by 
an official, himself a native of the colony, as to whe- 
ther a staff could be found in the colony to work the 
Morse instrument. Then, the colony was lucky enough 
to secure the services of Mr. GEORGE CuSHMORE BEN- 
SON, an Electrician with a special genius for Telegraphy, 
and a man whose enthusiasm for the Service mere money 
could not secure. The Morse instrument was soon 
introduced by him, and so far from any difficulty being 
found in the working of it, lads of all shades and sizes, 
down to the small boys employed as Telegraph messen- 
gers, learned with facility to use it. The ear for Music, 
for which the African is noted, must necessarily serve 
our natives in acquiring the knowledge of a system which 
is founded upon the interpretation of sounds ; and the 
spread of Education, at that time, undoubtedly contribu- 
ted to the successful and economical carrying out of the 
Government Telegraph Service. 
Cheap Telegrams were not, however the vogue when 
the colony first entered upon this business. The rates 
