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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5582, 18 February 1879, Page 2

It has always been fashionable to abuse Government departments. Latterly, interested persona have professed to be sorely exercised concerning the administration of our telegraph system. The officers of the department have been abused in unmeasured terms for all manner of sins—both of omission and of commission—and altogether they have had a lively time. More especially has this been the case since the advent of the “ special wires,” the result from the use of which has been of a somewhat “mixed” character, and not exactly of the nature anticipated by the promoters. For this state of things the Telegraph Office is alleged to be responsible, and all manner of indignities are hurled at the unfortunate officers. Should atmospheric disturbances interfere with the special wires, delaying the transmission of messages, or should profuse telegraphing (which seems inseparable from the use of the special wires) be the_ means of blocking the wires and rendering it impossible for all messages to be sent between the hours during which the special wires are available, the telegraph officials are held to be blameworthy. Again, if a message should be of unusual length, or perhaps received late, and cut off in the middle by the terse but decided in-

timation : “ One o’clock ; time’s up,” the explanation ia that the telegraph management is faulty, and the system decidedly behind the age. These charges are easily made, and in doing so the detractions' are.both general and vague. With them, facts are an almost unknown quantity. If they have no circumstances on which to base facts they readily., make their “ facts” to suit circumstances. Thisstyle of criticism israore than objectionable, and should be condemned by every right-thinking person. No one but those who have an intimate knowledge of the practical working .of telegraphyjean have any idea what.tpifes may lead to the most serious errors, and of- ti-c difficulties which have to be surmounted in guarding against these recurring contingencies. This, will be hest understood by a perusal of the following extract from the report of the Postmaster - General of London for 1878. Those who are desirous of dealing fairly with the Te'egraph Department should hereafter hesitate to make personal charges of a general and vague character without due regard to facts and circumstances:— The close attention necessary on the part of telegraphists while in the act of receiving messages, in order to interpret accurately the delicate symbols conveyed either to the eye pr to the ear, and the nice operations of the instruments by which the symbols are delivered cannot of course be generally understood ; and errors which to the public may occasionally seem gross and inexcusable, are sometimes to be traced to failures of the most trifling kind. The following are illustrations of such mistakes. A pleasure party telegraphing to some friends stated that they had “ Arrived all right,” but the message was rendered “We have arrived all tight.” The words “ right ” and “ tight” in the Morse code are as follows: rig h t .

t i g h t and the error was due to an electrical defect causing the three members of the Morse letter “r ” to run together, forming the letter “ t.” In another case, a poor person desiring to state that her daughter was ill, wrote on her message, “ Mary is bad.” ’ This was rendered “ Mary is dead,” the sense being changed by a slight imperfection of spacing, thus—doa . d instead of— • b ad In a third case, owing to failing signals, possibly from so slight a cause as the intermittent contact of the wire with a wet branch of a tree, or a particle of grit or dust finding its way between the points of the instrument, the import of the message was altogether changed. Thus -“Alfred doing well, enjoyed egg today,” was received “ Alfred dying, enjoying G G to-day.” That other errors are frequently attributable to the indistinct writing of the senders; and it would aid greatly in expediting transmission and securing accuracy if a general improvement were effected in this respect.