Proceedings. 497 
The cheapest telegraphic instruments are those which make signals by 
the motions of light magnetic needles. The double-needle instrument 
generally used in Britain costs about £12, the single-needle instrument 
about £7, and the additional cost of an alarm-bell apparatus is about £5; 
but the double-needle instrument of course requires two wires; and the 
single-needle instrument, although extremely useful for transmitting o, 
limited number of signals, such as those relative to the working of a rail- 
way, is too tedious in its operation to he adequate to the rapid transmission 
of news and commercial messages. 
I therefore recommend the adoption of the electric-magnetic instrument 
used in America, and known as Morse’s, which works with a single wire, 
and transmits messages by marking dots and strokes on strips of paper, 
for although this instrument costs about £45, the additional expense, at the 
moderate number of stations which will probably be required, will be much 
more than compensated for by the great efficiency and rapidity with which 
messages are transmitted by it. 
Second.—Probable cost of the proposed Hobart Town and Launceston 
Electric Telegraph. ; 
The instruments, insulators, and wire for the proposed telegraph must 
of course be sent from Britain; and it will be necessary to send in charge 
of them a skilful mechanic, who will superintend the erection, and instruct 
the workmen who may be engaged in Van Diemen’s Land to assist him. 
_ It may be advisable also to send an Assistant along with the Inspector, to 
take his place in the event of his dying or being disabled. The passage 
money of this Inspector and his Assistant will form an item of preliminary 
expenditure. 
The instruments will, as I have stated, cost in Britain about £45 each, 
The cost of offices or station-houses can of course be estimated on the 
spot. E 
The insulators, of which thirty will be required in each mile, 
estimated at about 1s. 8d. each. 
In the present fluctuating state of the British Iron Mar 
chiefly by the operations of speculators), it is difficult to form a precise 
estimate of the cost of the galvanized wire, or, indeed, of any other artiole 
ofiron. The present price is 40s. a cwt. of the best quality, and I haye 
inserted this in the annexed Estimate; but it may safely be anticipated 
that before the execution of the Telegraph an Opportunity will occur of 
making a contract at about 20 per cent. lower, that is, about 82s. per cwt, 
I wish it, therefore, to be understood that, although I have estimated the 
wire at the present high price, I think it probable that the actual cost may 
prove to be about one-fifth part lower, 
The weight of the wire per mile is 3} ewt., but to allow for stays and 
other extras, I have estimated the quantity required at 4 owt. per mile, 
The posts, of which there will be thirty to the mile, can be estimated 
on the spot. 
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