The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the

1851-4] TELEGRAPHS. 251
the person immediately answerable for the right per-
formance of the duty.*
Telegraphs.
In the year 1852 I received (through Mr. Nichol-
son, of Waverley Abbey) a paper drawn up by his
son-in-law, Captain Galton, recommending that the
Post Office
telegraphic
should
system.
become manager of the whole
As the communication was
private, I replied accordingly, giving, however, a
favourable opinion of the project, and, of course,
leaving Captain Galton to take such further steps
as he should think best. I knew nothing further
of this matter at the time, but have recently learnt
that his plan was submitted by him to the Board
of Trade, and thence referred to the Post Office, but
objected to by the Postmaster-General of the day.
A few years later, however, the project was revived
within the office by Mr. Frederick Baines, who had at
one time occupied a post of considerable importance
under one of the Telegraphic Companies. This
gentleman drew up an elaborate memorandum, com-
this was referred by the
prising a complete plan ; and
Postmaster-General to the Treasury, but without any
result at the time. I need not add that this important
measure is now (1869) on the point of being carried
into effect, but must regret that it should be at a cost
at once so superfluous and so enormous as to make
it very doubtful whether the institution can be self-
supporting (that is, paying at once interest on money
borrowed, its direct working expenses, and a just
* Since the above was written, the error, for such I unhesitatingly pronounce it,
has been aggravated by admission into the subjects for competitive examination of
some quite foreign to the business of the office as Latin and Greek.