THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XII, Issue 698, 16 July 1859, Page 5

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN INDIA.

The charges against the Electric Telegraph Department, seem to me mainly connected with the over-working of the single wire lines, which constitute the telegraphic system in India. In a former letter written from Allahabad, before I proceeded with the army into Oude, I examined at some length the various charges made by the press against the department, and retracted some accusations directed by me against Sir William O'Shaughnessy, the superintendent. He had clearly proved that he ought not to be held responsible for many circumstances which, nevertheless, he admitted as justifying the remarks'! had made with reference tn the delects of the system. The messages which had been so unaccountably delayed, mangled, or 1 urked, last year, were sent by a hastily constructed line, which was run up by Lieut. Stewart while Sir W. O'Shaughnessy was absent from India, and gave way as soon as the monsoons set in; the whole of the communications were interrupted from time to time, and confusion created by the consequent accumulation of messages at outlying stations at the very time trat the despatches were most .frequent and important. On Sir W. O'Shaughnessy's arrival he proceeded to work, with the same energ}' which secured for the Indian Government the invaluable aid of the telegraph, to reform the abuses of the department, or at all events to improve its efficiency and to amend its defects so far as the means at his disposal permitted him. Indian telegraphs are, it must be admitted, liable to extraordinary accidents.

Not only do rebels cut the wires, but wild beasts repair to the posts under the impression that they are provided with the benevolent thoughtfulness which secured for the Duke of Argyll the blessing of his grateful countrymen, and when elephants allay cutaneous irritation by a good rub against a pole it generally comes to grief. Then, again, monkeys, under a- complete misapprehension of the objects of the telegraphic system, delight to use the wires for athletic sports and pastimes. I have seen half-a-dozen great monkeys or baboons at work on one feeble.stietch of wire, posturing, grinning, and chattering away in the highest spirits—some walking topsyturvy along ifc, others tugging it up and down with main force, considerably increased by the circumstance that other monkeys were hanging on by their tails, and others striving to df.tach the wire from the posts, so as to give their friends a sudden fall; white ants eat the base of the posts away; sudden gusts of wind blow miles of wire and posts flat to the earth, —in a word, there are special disturbing influences at work in India from which European telegraphs are exempt; and, in addition to these physical causes of interruption, there are moral impediments presented by the nature of the materials with which the superintendent has to work. It is very hard to be smart, active, wide-awake and intelligent, whin the thermometer is over 90 degrees, and, when it reaches 120 degrees in some miserable bungalow, it is no wonder if the frizzling European or collapsed Eurasian who is trying to prevent combustion by pouring tatties of water over his head is indifferent to a despatch from the Commander-in-Chief, and obstinately refuses to forward the 25th " defeat of Tantia Topee and dispersal of his followers." Then, again, the wire is, as I have said, overworked. Every official in Government service has the right greater or less to take liberties with the wire. The magnets axe not above talking of ' boots' and ' pickles 'in sly postcripts to' service messages.' The latter are enormous in number, and incessant in trahsmisson, and I own my only wonder is that mistakes are not much more frequent, disappointments not greatly more irritating, and the whole system not more disordered than it is. Why should not the Government have its own wire, and the 'public' have another? The public is a very small body in India, for, though it is a tolerably populous country, and has about 200,000,000 inhabitants, no one ever thinks of such a thing as an Indian public with a rete muscorum, but the Europeans are very much isolated and very fond of intercommunication, and a second wire might pay — at all events it would take off the pressure on the single line. But, all things considered, the electric telegraph may really contest with the foremost man and the best efforts of the English race the honour of having saved India. The Generals of our armies, the administrators of our provinces, the Governor-General and his subordinates, were all placed by means of it as it were in one councilchamber, and werepresent at every battle, directed every march, organized every expedition, knew its result. To Sir W. O'Shaughnessy undoubtedly belongs the merit of originating, organizing, developing, and superintending this great increment of our strength; and ie would; be in the highest degree unjust to detract from the reputation of a distinguished public servant who has reinforced every battalion in the field and informed every statesman and administrator in the ; closets, by affixing to him personally the "blame for faults which arise from matters over which he can exercise no supervision.— -jßussell's Letters.