The post office and its story an interesting account of the activities of a great government department

In the year 1868 an Act was passed empowering her Majesty's Postmaster-General to acquire, work, and maintain electric telegraphs, and two years later the business and interests of the several telegraph companies were taken over by the State. There can be no question that this measure, which entailed a considerable monetary outlay at the commencement, has been of immense value to the general public. The purchase of the telegraphs by the State was a huge undertaking, but in many respects it was mismanaged by Parliament as well as by officials. For instance, the story of the cable to Scilly is a concrete example of how the public were fleeced. All inland telegraphs in existence on a given day were to be taken over on the terms and conditions laid down in the Act of Parliament. Three joint-stock companies were immediately formed— the Guernsey and Jersey, the Shetland, and Scilly Islands Companies; and they went to work “hammer and tongs” to get their cables laid before they could be stopped by the provisions of the Bill which was then being carried through Parliament. It was touch and go with these bastard companies, and the effort made to lay the Scilly cable is very amusing reading. Owing to bad pilotage every inch of the cable was expended before the operators got within five miles of the islands. Now unless the cable could be laid and certified as being in working order within a given number of days they would not be allowed to land at all. The electrician in charge cut the cable a few fathoms from the ship and steamed into Scilly towing the “fag end” behind. “It was a gala day with the Scillonians.” It was the dawn of a new era to them. They kept high festival, and the shore end was landed and hauled up over the cliffs by willing hands. And then, wonderful to relate, with the two ends of the cable lying several miles apart at the bottom of the Channel, the clever electrician produced messages printed in plain characters on the Morse slip, and on the faith of these signals the contractors issued their certificate. The inventive genius of the electrician had saved the situation. The Scilly cable was “in being,” and would have to be reckoned with when the time came for purchase.