THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. (From the Edinburgh Advertiser, October 2.)

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 417, 13 April 1850, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. (From the Edinburgh Advertiser , October 2.)

At the meeting of Section Gof the British Aiiociation, which has recently concluded it* sittings in Birmingham, Mr: Wishaw delivered an address on the itate of telegraphic communication in England' |Pru aia, and America, from which i' appeared thut tin* cost of a telegraphic line in England is £]bO per mile in Ameiica under .£2O per mile, and in Prussia under i?2O per mile. The telegraph in Prussia consisted of one wire, extending over 1402 miles, is underground covered

with gutta percha, and offording many abvantages over the present lines in England. The instrument uicd in Piusaia is by Morse, and it it capable of transmitting 1000 words in an hour. In America there are upwards of 10,000 miles of telegraph Hue, and all worked in a cheap manner. In England there were only 2000 miles of telegraph line in operation, and the coit of transmission by it as yet was much higher than in other countriei. In this country the wires were exposed to the atmosphere, and the effect injurious. So long ai this valuable mode of communication was exposed above ground' and a long the line of railway as it is at present, so lone: rauit there be an amount of uncertainty about it. If the wires were placed under ground' it would be much more difficult to destroy them. In the late revolutionary movements in Prussia, the twenty milei of telegrabh above ground! were cut away twenty different times, while those under ground escaped untouched. Mr. W. stated that he had, with confidence) recommended the East India Company to adopt the under-ground telegraph for the 10,000 miles of line they were preparing to lny down in that country. In crossing 'rivers he proposed to coat the wire with gutta percha, and then place them in jointed pipes. , Mr Flanagan* of America, remarked that the simplicity and expedition with which our telegraphs are constructed must astonish the people of the old world. Locust or liburnutn poles' twenty feet long, are cut in the woods by the diffirent farmers along the line, and placed by them at their several stations; holes are dug three feet six inchei deep; the poles are set with glass insulators (instead of earthenware, as here,),'are attached to the poles within three inches of the top, the wire extended, and in a few days, at a comparatively trifling expense, whole linei are formed. The repairs of the posts and wires are entrmted to the farmers living at intervals of five miles along the lines, who are furnished with a few tools to effect the repairs— viz, a hammer, a small hand anvil, a pair of plyen a punch, and a screw, by which the ends of the wires are drawn together, a few small rings and small linen pins; with the cold chisel holes are punched in the ends of the wire, both ends passed through the ring and the linch pins put in, which completes the job, the farmer having for hii rewurd the privilege of making his communications by the telegraph free. We have no instance of malicious or wilful injury being done to either throughout the country. This is Recounted for in two ways— first, the anxiety on the part of all cissies to promote and encourage every useful improvement and invention throughout the whole extent of the land ; and next, from the fact that each farmer along the whole line who hat supplied either materials or labour for its erection becomes very willingly a shareholder to the extent at leait of the amount of the labour and raa« tei ills he has furnished. Hence the residents along the line have an interest in its safety, and in promoting iti success. To realise the regularity, the perfection, and, at the same time, the simplicity of the immenie lines of telegraph in America, they mnst be seen and examined to be thoroughly understood. In the east, where materials are high and labour not cheap, they are constructed at a cost of one hundred and eighty dollan, or thirty.five pounds sterling, per mile; in the west where materials are chenp and labour high, the cost of construction is about £30 sterling, or ISO doll, per mile. The line now surveying; and is contemplation, from St Louis, ou the Missouri River, to California,*on the Pacific Ocean, extending mote than 2500 miles, is estimated to cost not more than 150 d»ls.,or £30 sterling per mile. Within the last year Uousc.s newly-invented machine ii almort exclusively used, by means of which the communations aie printed on a nartow slip of paprrand unrolled from a cylinder like a continuous piece of ribbon, the contents of which as it comes off the cylinder, is registered in a book belonging to the office, and the actual printed slip itself put into an envelope and sent off directly to the party for whom it was intended. At the conclusion, a vote of thanks was given to the two gentlemen for the interesting statements they had laid before the Section,