The modern world is almost losing its capacity for astonishment. The rapid advances of applied science, more particularly in the manipulation of that force to which we have given the name of electricity, but the origin and essence of which are unknown and wrapped in the deepest mystery, almost took away the breaths of a previous generation, but they leave us comparatively unmoved. We feel, perhaps, that we are only on the eve of still more astounding discoveries.

Applied telegraphy dates practically from the year 1835, when Messrs Cooke and Wheatstone collaborated and presented to the world their five-needle telegraph system, requiring five-line wires, and since then rapid strides have been made, chiefly in connection with telegraphic apparatus. The five-needle system soon gave place to the double needle, an exceedingly useful instrument with two-line wires, and to the single needle with one wire. Then followed at successive intervals the Wheatstone A B C, Bright's Bell, Morse's Printer and Sounder (the most generally adopted handworked system of to-day), the Wheatstone Automatic, the Hughes Recorder, the Baudot, and other and more recent systems of direct printing telegraphy, such as the Creed and the Murray Multiplex. Finally wireless telegraphy was introduced, and its uses and capacities are in process of development. At first the use of the telegraph was almost entirely confined to railways, and it was not until 1846 that a private company was formed to undertake the business of transmitting telegrams. Various other companies followed in succeeding years, but considerable dissatisfaction was felt at the inequalities of service and rates which prevailed. Small towns were neglected, and as the telegraph lines followed the railways, many places were not served at all. It was becoming more and more evident that a uniform system under one administration was a public need.

In the year 1868 an Act was passed empowering her Majesty's Postmaster-General to acquire, work, and maintain electric telegraphs, and two years later the business and interests of the several telegraph companies were taken over by the State. There can be no question that this measure, which entailed a considerable monetary outlay at the commencement, has been of immense value to the general public. The purchase of the telegraphs by the State was a huge undertaking, but in many respects it was mismanaged by Parliament as well as by officials. For instance, the story of the cable to Scilly is a concrete example of how the public were fleeced. All inland telegraphs in existence on a given day were to be taken over on the terms and conditions laid down in the Act of Parliament. Three joint-stock companies were immediately formed—the Guernsey and Jersey, the Shetland, and Scilly Islands Companies; and they went to work “hammer and tongs” to get their cables laid before they could be stopped by the provisions of the Bill which was then being carried through Parliament. It was touch and go with these bastard companies, and the effort made to lay the Scilly cable is very amusing reading. Owing to bad pilotage every inch of the cable was expended before the operators got within five miles of the islands. Now unless the cable could be laid and certified as being in working order within a given number of days they would not be allowed to land at all. The electrician in charge cut the cable a few fathoms from the ship and steamed into Scilly towing the “fag end” behind. “It was a gala day with the Scillonians.” It was the dawn of a new era to them. They kept high festival, and the shore end was landed and hauled up over the cliffs by willing hands. And then, wonderful to relate, with the two ends of the cable lying several miles apart at the bottom of the Channel, the clever electrician produced messages printed in plain characters on the Morse slip, and on the faith of these signals the contractors issued their certificate. The inventive genius of the electrician had saved the situation. The Scilly cable was “in being,” and would have to be reckoned with when the time came for purchase.

The united cost of the transfer had been seriously under-estimated, and the telegraph service has always been more or less burdened by the expenditure incurred at the outset. The transfer, however, has been a great boon to the nation, and has enabled the postal and telegraph system of Great Britain and Ireland to become the largest and most complete organisation for the transmission of messages in the world. The immense increase in business would, however, have been impossible but for the advances made since the transfer in telegraphic apparatus, and in wire values, such as the introduction of the duplex, quadruplex, and multiplex systems, which allow of a single wire being electrically split up for the simultaneous transmission of a number of currents.

Previous to 1870 the number of telegraph offices in the United Kingdom was approximately 3000, as against 13,520 at the present day. The total number of messages dealt with in the time of the companies amounted to between six and seven millions annually. At the present time upwards of eighty-six million telegrams are dealt with annually.

The charges were high compared with the present time, as much as 7s. 6d. being required for a twenty-word telegram to Liverpool in the fifties, and later the average cost of a telegram to the public was 2s. 2d. per message.

On the transfer of the telegraph to the State a uniform rate of 1s. was introduced, and on the 1st October 1886 a further reduction to a minimum charge of 6d. for twelve words was made. The average cost to the public now is about 7¾d. per message. But the reduction to 6d., great as the gain to the public has been, is not profitable to the Department, and the revenue has suffered considerably. The transfer was also responsible for a considerable reduction in the rates for the Press, 1s. being charged for every 100 words transmitted between 6 P.M. and 9 A.M., and 1s. for every 75 words between 9 A.M. and 6 P.M., with 2d. for 100 or 75 words for each additional address.

In the days before the transfer, clerks in charge of telegraphic stations were forbidden to forward telegrams for the Press unless they were prepaid at the ordinary message rates, or unless they had received written instructions from the Secretary of the Company to allow certain messages to go at a different rate, or without prepayment. There was uncertainty and inequality of treatment everywhere, and the Press has perhaps gained more by the transfer than even the public. Foreign rates were also very high compared with those in existence to-day.

In the time of the companies a free delivery of a telegram extended only to a distance of half a mile. For distances beyond and within a mile a porterage fee of 6d. was charged, with 6d. for every additional mile, with increased rates for express delivery.

At the present time telegrams are delivered free within three miles of the office nearest the address, which is called the Terminal Office, and when that office is a Head Post Office, no charge is made for delivery within the town postal area, even if that extends for more than three miles. No charge is therefore made for delivery within the whole of the London postal area, which extends as far as Southgate, Woodford, Lee, South Norwood, Wimbledon, Hanwell, and Wheatstone.

Before the transfer, important towns such as Bournemouth, Dundee, Exeter, Inverness, Limerick, Scarborough, or Wolverhampton did not work directly to London, and as a consequence communication had to be gained by a number of re-transmissions and transferences over the various companies' lines. Serious delay often ensued. Now, however, the Central Telegraph Office in London, which is more particularly a transmitting centre, has direct communication with every town of importance in the United Kingdom, and with every telegraph office in the metropolis. The direct communication between provincial towns has also greatly increased. Even now, when there are breakdowns, the transmitting of messages sometimes exhibits curious results in re-transmission. Mr. Baines remembers messages being sent during a breakdown from London to Carlisle through Sligo thus: London to Dublin via Haverfordwest and Waterford, Dublin to Sligo, Sligo to Belfast, Belfast to Glasgow, and Glasgow to Carlisle. There is also a legend in the Central Telegraph Office that the wires to the North being stopped on one occasion, an urgent message from London to Newcastle was forwarded by way of Hamburg. Another story is of a special correspondent who, being unable to gain admittance into a newspaper office in Fleet Street, went to the Central Telegraph Office, and telegraphed to the Irish end of the special telegraph wire worked from the newspaper office to Ireland, requesting the Irish clerk to tell the Fleet Street clerk to come down and open the door.

Direct communication has also been considerably extended to continental towns. In 1889 the Post Office took over the working of the Submarine Company's cables, and direct communication is now established with a large number of foreign towns. At the present time there are some sixty wires with an aggregate of ninety-five available channels to the Continent. Five additional wires (six channels) are worked from Liverpool to towns in Belgium, France, and Germany, two wires are leased to the Anglo-American Telegraph Company for working to Belgium and Holland, and two to the Indo-European Telegraph Company for transmission of their traffic to South Russia, India, and countries beyond, via Germany. The remainder are worked from the cable room of the Central Telegraph Office in London to Austria, Hungary, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Italy and Switzerland.

The Hughes simplex and duplex apparatus is chiefly used for cable working. Some of the Hughes duplex circuits not infrequently deal with 150 telegrams hourly, and even this number has been exceeded. A Baudot circuit working four “arms” has at times of pressure disposed of from 250 to 300 telegrams in an hour. The annual daily traffic in telegrams to and from the Continent about the year 1870 was between 4000 and 5000: at the present time it is from 24,000 to 26,000 telegrams. In addition to this, some 3500 telegrams are daily handed over to the cable companies, with whose offices in London there are connecting pneumatic tubes.

Now to deal successfully with the vast amount of telegraph traffic which passes throughout the United Kingdom and to and from the Continent it is of course essential that there should be one large depÔt to act as the chief transmitting centre. This is naturally London, the capital of the British Isles. The first Central Telegraph Station was established about the year 1850 by the Electric Telegraph Company in Founder's Court, Lothbury. In 1860 larger premises were built in Telegraph Street, just off Moorgate Street, E.C., and at the time of the transfer, and up to January 1874, this building remained the Central Office. The rapid extension of business soon made a move necessary, and the staff and wires were transferred in 1874 to the new building in St. Martin's le Grand. It was thought that the spacious third floor in that building would be more than sufficient for that purpose for many years, but at the present time almost every portion of the big building is devoted to telegraphs.

The large central hall facing the main entrance to the building is set apart for the circulation of telegrams received from the various branch offices connected with the Central Office by pneumatic tube, and in the reverse directions for delivery from these offices. A large staff of telegraphists is engaged upon this work. The pneumatic tubes used for forwarding and receiving telegrams to and from certain branch offices in the city, western central, and western district offices, and so obviating telegraphic transmissions, are led into this hall. These tubes are laid at the depth of about two feet underground. They extend as far distant as Billingsgate on the eastern side, House of Commons and West Strand on the south-western side, and the western district office on the western side, and allow of the rapid collection and distribution of telegrams over a very busy area. The tubes make the various offices arms practically of the Central Station so far as telegrams are concerned. The message forms are enclosed in gutta-percha carriers covered with felt, and having attached to their forward ends a number of felt discs which exactly fit the internal circumference of the tubes and prevent any escape of air around them. An elastic band at the mouth of the carrier prevents the messages from escaping. The outgoing carriers containing the messages are propelled through the tubes from the Central Office by forcing compressed air into the tubes behind them at a pressure of about 10 lbs. to the square inch, the incoming carriers being drawn through by vacuum, so that the normal atmosphere exerts behind them a pressure of about 7 lbs. to the square inch.

All the tubes are worked on the block system, and by an electrical contrivance the traffic is regulated. In long-distance tubes delay would arise if it were only possible for one carrier to be in the tube at one time, and to meet this intermediate automatic signallers are inserted at various distances in the tube, so that as soon as a carrier passes one section, it automatically notifies the sending section, enabling a second carrier to be inserted. Thus several carriers equidistant from each other may be passing through the one tube at the same time. The power by which these tubes are worked is derived from large compound pneumatic pumping engines fitted in the basement, but eventually the power station which has recently been established at Blackfriars will supply the power required. There are at present thirty-seven pneumatic tubes connecting the various branch offices with the Central Office, in addition to seven which connect the offices of the various cable companies with the cable room.

Adjoining the central hall are the phonogram and the tube switch rooms. The former is set apart for telephone telegram business, and by its means telephone subscribers may speak direct into the head telegraph office. In this way they can dictate telegrams by telephone for subsequent transmission by telegraph. Telegrams are also sent in the opposite direction to certain subscribers who desire to receive their telegrams by telephone instead of by hand delivery from the nearest delivery office. The telephone circuits connecting the Post Office Savings Bank at West Kensington with St. Martin's le Grand, and used in connection with Savings Bank withdrawal telegrams, are also situated in this room.

In the tube switch room are placed circuits which enable telegrams received by pneumatic tube from the various branch offices to be signalled to officers in the Metropolitan District through the medium of the inter-communication switch which I shall mention later on. It also allows for the reception of telegrams originating at offices of the Metropolitan District intended for delivery from those offices connected to the Central Telegraph Office by tube.

The counter and delivery rooms are also on this floor.

The first floor, with the exception of one large room used as the telegraph school of instruction, is mainly occupied with the offices of the engineer-in-chief and his staff and the chief medical officer and his staff.

The second floor provides for the telegraph administrative offices, the cable room, and for wires working to provincial offices.

The third floor is devoted to the large central gallery and its wings, and here are placed the greater number of the provincial circuits. In addition the wires set apart for news working and for special events, to grand stands at race-courses, &c., are located here.

The Metropolitan and Home District circuits are on the fourth floor.

Now in order to combine the various floors so as to form practically one immense gallery, it is of course necessary that there should be a rapid means of communication between them. This is provided for by an extensive system of pneumatic house tubes, which makes it possible for telegrams to be circulated from point to point in the various galleries. For instance, it is assumed that a telegram is handed in at the Fenchurch Street branch office for transmission to Birmingham. This would in the first instance reach the tube hall on the ground floor by pneumatic tube. It would then be placed on the sorting table and taken to the tube connected with the central circulation table in the provincial gallery on the third floor. On arrival there it would be further sorted and taken to the section in which the Birmingham circuits are placed, and take its turn with other messages awaiting transmission to that town.

The area of each floor is so great that it is essential that the various circulation tables at particular points thereon should be directly connected by tube, thus allowing of the rapid transit of the traffic and preventing the confusion which would attend carriage by hand from point to point. In all sixty-eight house pneumatic tubes are worked throughout the day. In addition, continuous aerial cord carriers worked by electric motors are used for the conveyance of telegrams.

For the purposes of circulation, and for staffing and effective supervision, the three floors or galleries are divided into sections or divisions. For instance, the provincial galleries are composed of seven divisions, named respectively A to G, and the various circuits are grouped as geographically as possible in these divisions. The A Division embraces such south-easterly and south-westerly towns as Dover, Folkestone, Brighton, Bournemouth, Basingstoke, and Ventnor, and so on. In addition to these divisions there are the News Division, the Special Section, and the Intelligence Section. The former contains the news circuits over which press work is disseminated throughout the Kingdom. The apparatus in use for this class of traffic is the Wheatstone Automatic, which in the course of years has been so improved that whereas in 1870 it was only capable of transmitting some 80 or 100 words per minute, it is now possible, given good wire conditions, to attain a speed of 400 words per minute, although for working purposes it is not usual to exceed an average speed of from 200 to 250. This system is specially adapted for the transmission of general news, one batch of which, on specially prepared slips, is often forwarded to many different towns. A large proportion of this particular traffic is classified, being news of general interest, and is handed to the Department by the different news agencies, such as the Press Association, the Central News, the Exchange Telegraph Company, &c., for dissemination to the various subscribers in different towns.

Air pressure is largely employed in perforating with the requisite Morse characters the slips by which the Wheatstone transmitters are fed, and by this means a number of duplicate slips can be prepared at one operation. Stick punching is also employed, but more recently other systems have been introduced, such as the Creed and the Gell. These have keyboards similar to that of a typewriter with increased signs, &c.; but whereas, in using the ordinary hand perforator, each dot and dash of the Morse characters require to be separately made by the operator, the improved systems provide the required perforated Morse signals complete for every letter of the alphabet on the slip or ribbon, as each letter of the keyboard is depressed. The power employed is obtained by means of electric motors.

In the Special Section are placed spare sets of apparatus, and when race meetings, important political meetings, and other events of a special nature, such as a football final, university boat race, &c., are being held, the wires connecting the various towns and places of venue are temporarily joined to these spare sets, and the work is thus specialised and dealt with in this particular section. By this means it is promptly and effectively handled.

Adjoining the Special Section is the Intelligence Section, and here all the classified news work is dealt with.

It should perhaps be mentioned, that at many of the important race meetings, and special events, what is called the YQ system is adopted at the grand stand office, or telegraph office, in the town where the event is taking place. For instance, at the Ascot races a YQ wire would be fitted to several important towns, and those towns would be simultaneously served with the news supply, thus obviating re-transmission to London. A “special event” staff is withdrawn from London and other of the more important provincial offices and drafted to the place where the race or meeting is taking place. During such times as they are withdrawn from headquarters the various officers receive special per diem allowances.

Mention has already been made of the increased wire values obtained by the introduction of the duplex and quadruplex systems. Duplex and quadruplex allow of two and four messages respectively being signalled at the same time over one wire, one message in each direction in the case of duplex and two each way in that of quadruplex. The “Baudot” system, which in addition to being made use of for continental working has been recently introduced for inland working between London and Birmingham, allows of six telegrams being signalled simultaneously over one wire. This system, like the Hughes, which is also now used for inland working to Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow, ensures direct printing and does away with the transcription of Morse characters. There is little doubt that the use of the “Baudot” system will be extended between London and the more important towns and to continental working. The Wheatstone Automatic system has recently been arranged for continuous working, and is now in operation between London and a number of large towns.

Another system, the Creed, an adaptation of the Wheatstone transmitter and typewriter, has been introduced. This is also a direct printing apparatus, and does away with the hand transcription of Morse signals.

Long-distance telegraphy has been considerably improved by means of repeaters placed at convenient intervals along the line, and these automatically retransmit the signals.

Up to the year 1903 all the circuits in the Metropolitan District worked directly into the Central Telegraph Office, and it was essential for a telegram handed in, say, at Shepherd's Bush for delivery at Leytonstone to be signalled to the Central Office, transcribed there, circulated to the Leytonstone circuit, and transmitted from there. This necessitated a number of handlings at the Central Office. On the 5th January 1903, however, a system of through switching was inaugurated, and re-transmission obviated, so that now all that has to be done is for the office of origin to be switched through at the Central Office to the delivery office, and the telegram from one office to the other is signalled direct. The system of inter-communication has been very successful, and has not only greatly facilitated the transmission of this class of traffic, but has effected considerably economy in staff, stationery, &c. Direct switching of Metropolitan offices on to working sets in the provincial galleries has also been established. This enables telegrams to be received therein for onward transmission to provincial offices and vice versÂ, so doing away with the greater portion of the local tubing and circulation which was necessary when all Metropolitan telegrams were received at the Central Telegraph Office on one floor only.

Recently two concentrator switches have been established in the “H” and “I” Divisions on the fourth floor, and the wires connecting a large number of offices within a limited distance of London have been led thereto. The arrangement is as follows. Assuming Hatfield has a telegram with destination Leeds, the Central Office is called. This call is indicated on the concentrator by a glow light, and the board operator plugs the sending office through to one of the adjacent working sets of apparatus, where the telegram is received, circulated to the Leeds circuit, and transmitted. This system, by obviating separate apparatus and staff for each circuit, has resulted in considerable economy.

On the closing of a large number of the less important wires at night, and on Sundays, it is essential for reasons of economy that the circuits then open should not extend over so large an area as at busy times. They are therefore grouped together in small sections, the provincial offices on the third, and the Metropolitan on the fourth floor.

The current by which the whole of the circuits are worked at the Central Telegraph Office is generated at the Blackfriars Power Station, and conveyed by mains to the basement of the building, where the accumulators are charged, and the current distributed from these to the circuits.

I have been obliged to give a large number of somewhat technical details, and it would be almost impossible to describe the work of the Central Telegraph Office in any other way. But enough has been said in this chapter to bring out clearly the fact that in working the telegraphs the servants of the General Post Office keep in touch with the advance of science, and are not slow to avail themselves of every discovery which will benefit and add to the efficiency of the Service.