Facsimile PDF - Online Library of Liberty

286 METHODS OF SOCiAL REFORM,
a oapitel *count at dl., whioh may be either from the apibl
ntmk being inconsiderable in amount., or from its being out of
the hands and cere of Government officials. Now, this condition
o&n fortnnately be observed in the telegraph system.
The total fixed capit.al of the telegraph companies st present
existing is of but small amount. I find the paid up capital of
the five compsniee concerned to be as follows :
Electric and International ...... ,.. S1,084,925
British and Irish Magnetic ...... 621,456
United Kingdom ...... ...... 143,785
Private Telegrnph Company ...... 95,882
London Dist,rict Company . ........ 53,700
"
Total paid-up capital .+. E1,999,658
. __ ." -
The above statement includes, I believe, a11 the actual
working public telegraphs within the United Kingdom, except
thoso which the London, Brighton, and South Coast, and the
South Enstern Railway Companies maintain for public use
upon their lines. With the value of these I am not
acquainted.
Omitting the Private Telegraph Company, as it is not
likely to bo included in tho Government purchase, and having
regard to tho premium which tho shares of the Electric and
International Company obtain in the market, and the greater
or less depreciation of other companies' shares, I conceive that
the complete purchase money of the existing telegraphs would
not much exceed two and a half millions sterling.
To allow for the improvement of the present telegraphs,
and their extension to many villages, which do not st present
possess II telegraph stat,ion, an equal sum of two and a half
millions wilt probably be ample allowance for the present. The
total capital cost of the telegraphs will, indeed, exceed many
times the value of the property actually in the hands of the
Post Office, but then we must remember that the latter is but
8 very smell part of the capital by which the business of the
Post Office is carried on. The railways, steamboats, mail
coaches, and an indefinite number of hired vehicles, form the
apparatus of the postal conveyance, which ia all furnished by