EARLY TELEGRAMS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 68, 7 April 1937, Page 12

EARLY TELEGRAMS

Growth of New Zealand System A MESSAGE OF 1862 A copy of one of the earliest telegrams despatched in New Zealand is in the possession of a Wellington resident. It was sent on July 26, 1862, from Lyttelton to Christchurch by tho ^ captain of a coastal schooner to his wife in Christchurch. The telegram itself contains nothing of Eistorio interest, but the conditions undet which it was handled provide a vivid reminder of how New Zealand 's telegraphie system has developsd in 65 years. This early telegram was sent within . six weeks of the line being opened between Lyttelton and Christchurch. At that time the only other telegrapb circuits were between Port Chalmers and Dunedin (eontrolled by the Provincial Government of Otago) and from Auckland to Druiy (tinder the control of the military authorities). The cost of this telegram was 2/6, for •which a maximum of 25 words was permitted, and there was free deliveiy within the town of Christchurch. ; It caine to the recipient on a formidablo blue form, foolseap size, bearing a large representation of the Boyal coat-of-arms in red ink. The message was written in ink in the clear handwriting common to those pre-typewrit-ter days. Times of transmission in 1862 were limited to half an hour from 8 a.m. and from 10 till 4 p.m., and it was a regular requirement that the sender must write the telegram in ink on a printed form duly supplied. The development of the telegraph proceeded at a fairly fast pace soon 1 after the sending.of this early message, for in 1865 the Bluff -Nelson trunk line was bro^ght into operation with thirteen stations, and in 1866 a cable was laid aci'oss Cook Strait, There was at this date a big gap in communication, and it was impossible to telegraph to Auckland, the line froln the northern city only extending south tnto the Waikato. Telegraphic communication between the two chief eities of the North Island was estbalished in 1871. To-day the telegraph has a healthy rival in the handy telephone giving opportunities for closer contact with distant points, even far overseas. Howover, the telegraph is still ko . valuable a medium of communication that the Post Office handles nearly f ive million messages nnnually, excluding its cable business, and the system is now so well organised and equipped that it dealt with a rush of Christmas and New Year greetings involving deliverey of 341,000 telegrams within a few days. The old hand-key methods of telegraphy commenced to disappear in New Zealand in December, 1921, when the Murray-Multiplex printing system was introduced at the four chief centres.

It has been considerably extended since and a further development to facilitate quick and accurate handling of business on many other circles was the introduction of the Creed printing telegraph system of which forty-eight are in operation. The result is a network of printing telegraph systems linking together all the busiest offices in the Dominion. The operators instead of tapping off the message by the Morse code, now use typewriters, perforating narrow tapes which pass through a transmitter and automatically reproduce clear printed characters . at the distant point. Experience has shown that the modern method of transmission enables a sldlled operator to deal with exactly twice the number of telegrams by the printing-telegraph system as he could have handled under the old Morse key system, and this without increased effort although with a greater degree of concentration. The appearance of a telegraph operating room to-day boars scarcely any resemblance to that . of twenty years ago. In the old days there were rows of long tables of Morse telegraph instruments, and a large number of telegraphists * worked side by side in operating this apparatus in the old f amiliar, hand-telegraphy way. To-day, the equipment in the instrument room is of a more intricate nature, and is an indication of what has been done towiards the mechanisation of the telegraph. The instrument tables now contain motor-driven equipment, elaborate balancing apparatus and twinlc- • ling lighjis to give a visual indicatisn to the supervising officer that the apparattis is functioning satisfactorily.