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man might espect to makc money by scliing cleaper than he
buys. The cas0 will nppcar all the more hopeleas whsn we
consider that the working expenses harc advtrnced ovcu since
the introduction of tho wonderful invention of duplex k]egmphy,
by which tho carrying power of many of the mires has
been doubled at a stroke, with very little cost.
The Treasury Cornmission n~ake sevend stlggcst,ions to
the motle in which the revcuuo of tho departrncnt could
l-ait-oil to nu ackquate point. The inclusiou of addres..;es in
t11o twenty words, a tariff of 6(1. for ten ~ords, and t:wiff of
Id. pel* word, nrc snccessiccly suggcstcd. Of tileso the third
seems to me crpprc~.~ivcly anJ ncecllessly Iligll; tho second
mould prol~nblr causa more loss tlmn pin, and still mOrO
hopelessly damage the re~euue of the dcpartmc.nt. The first
is surely the trnc coursc. It is found tllat at present tho
adJress of tho sendcs cousist.s, on tho average, of four worCZR,
mhcrens two or three would be sufficient. 'I'hc :ddI*ess of tho
receiver occnpies, on tLc avc'rngc, eight wurcls. No less than
fourteen words are rcqllirctl for the privntc scrvice instructionu
of the operators, and with sevcnteoI1, tho f~vernge nutnbcr of
words in a ~ncss:lgc, t'Ilc totrll nunlbcr of n~o~ds transmitted
for each shilling, on all average, is forty-tllree. At present, a
person having very little to say is temptod to word his messago
fully, aud fill it out, so as to mako ncarly tweuty ~ords, tho
charge being no greater. If the acid~.es~cs were included in
the twenty wolds, t,hey would be abbreviated, say nine or
ten words in all, leaving ten or eleven words for tho message.
This number of worils would be sufficient for a considorable
proportion of t,elegrams, when properly condensed, and the
needless filling out would be checked for the most part. The
average number of words transmitted for each shilling mossagc.
would probably be reduccd by ten words, or ncnrly twenty-five
per cent., and the cost of transmission thus, in Rome degree,
lessened. At tlle same time, tlle surcharge upon longer messages,
whether charged at the rate of 3d. for five extra words,
as at present, or Ad, per extra word, as I ~hould propose,
would produce a distinct addition to the receipts. It is quite
doubtful, however, mhethcr these changes would make a good